The Buzz

Each year approximately 20% of the Proctor Academy's graduating class goes on to compete in NCAA athletics at the collegiate level. The Class of 2016 is no exception with 22 of 95 members of the class pursuing careers at the collegiate level, including a remarkable eight NCAA Division 1 athletes! Thank you to all members of the Class of 2016 for their contributions to Proctor's athletic programs over the past four years. Thank you, also, to James Neylon '16 for helping put this article together on the majority of our Division 1 athletes, and to Rich Tilton P'16, '18 for the photography. 

Look across any of the practice fields or the tennis courts and you know they are here. Arms swing, heads shake, faces are slapped as the pesky scourge of spring arrives in New Hampshire. I’ve read somewhere that there are over 1,800 species of black flies, but most of us could care less and just want to know where the bug stuff is and whether it will work. You’d think that living in New Hampshire one would gradually become inured. Not so. DEET, that toxic compound we deride during most of the year, becomes our friend. The black flies, part of every year, are simply to be endured. 

Wilderness Orientation and Senior Project bookend the Proctor experience for students. They are incredibly different, but require many of the same traits: a sense of adventure, confidence, passion, and a willingness to disregard comfort zones for the sake of authentic learning. Enjoy this window into Senior Project 2016! 

Each week in our Parent Page newsletter, we profile a faculty or staff member in order to help our internal community get to know each other on a different level. This week's Parent Page will feature a profile on Brooks Bicknell '77 that we thought we would share on The Buzz as well! Check out other Faculty/Staff profiles on our past Parent Pages HERE! 

This week’s blog reflects on our trip to Spain last week but before I go into that, since we didn’t have a blog last week to say this, we would all like to thank Tina and Benoît Tari, aunt and uncle to Boomer Vazquez, for an awesome day at their house and vineyard.

Mountain Classroom is cruising east! In Colorado we focused their studies on Allan Savory's Holistic Resource Management while discussing the grazing practices at Chico Basin Ranch. Driving north we spent time with JR White Hat, longtime Proctor friend, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. We then drove through Kansas to learn about the Land Institute's pursuit to develop perennial wheat varieties. Now the students are perfecting their techniques for setting up tarps in preparation for solos in the hills near Green Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

We all run for a reason. We run to get exercise. We run to relieve stress. We run because our dogs love to run. We run because we crave that feeling of the wind whistling past our ears. We run because we're too impatient to walk. Others, however, run because they never thought they would be able to run again, and each step they take is a gift. 

There is much in the news about independent schools these days, and I write to share some of my thoughts about the current landscape.  The recent stories in the New York Times, The Boston Globe, and AP wire services about alleged sexual misconduct by employees at several boarding schools are appropriately generating significant interest. An anticipated article, or series of articles, on misconduct at elite schools by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team adds to that interest. Collectively, schools and their boards recognize this is an important dialog to be in, a necessary and critical one. While to date Proctor Academy has not been contacted by the Globe or any other news organization, nor are we currently aware of any current or past students expressing concerns about faculty or staff sexual misconduct, we are sensitive to the issues raised in the media and want to ensure that we are considering all of the right community responses. How do we find the right balance of community introspection and community day-to-day momentum?