The Buzz

With the rain this week, potentially more on the way next, water flows again in the small creeks, the Blackwater River rolled over its banks Wednesday, and we went from muggy to much cooler. It’s a fickle season with frosts, heat, floods, and a blood moon this week. On the same day the river flooded, I chatted with Corby Leith '92, art teacher and kayaking coach, and he was ecstatic about paddling the rising water. “Oh yeah, this is what we want. Definitely. It doesn’t get any better than this.” There’s always delight and opportunity in the contrast and change.

A week ago, family, advisors, and friends waved goodbye from Gloucester Harbor as the Roseway sailed into the Atlantic and Ocean Classroom began its term at sea. Tomorrow, the group departs New London, Connecticut and sails into the Long Island Sound, keeping a careful eye on Hurricane Joaquin as its path unfolds along the eastern seaboard. Already, the lives of the twenty-two students aboard are being transformed. Read student reflections from the first week below. 

Today we mourn the passing of Honorary Trustee and past parent, Mark Cangiano, who was a part of a family that has made Proctor’s heartbeat for seventy years. Mark’s more than thirty-five years of service as a member of the Board of Trustees, his sister, Brenda Godwin’s twenty-six years of service as a teacher at Proctor, and their father’s 41 years of service as a board member represent an extraordinary commitment to Proctor Academy.

“I was quite shy as a kid and used to gaze out the window and daydream quite a bit. In third grade, my teacher told me told me, ‘Quit staring out the window, because when you grow up, no one will pay you to sit there and just look out the window’. I guess I showed her!”  

On April 11, 1977 one of Proctor’s most iconic buildings was destroyed by a fire. The entire community stood and watched as the center of campus was ravaged by flames. Not only was Cary House the residence of four faculty families and thirty-six students, but it also housed the school’s kitchen and dining hall. Read this old Chuck’s Corner for more details about the fire and its impact on Proctor. 

The Profile of a Proctor Graduate describes the traits we hope each graduate possesses as they leave Proctor and move into other communities. In order to take these characteristics with them, students must first be exposed to how they are put into action here. Today was a day driven by core values as the effort of students, faculty, and staff allowed Proctor to serve as the host to the 2nd Annual Rail Trail Rally.

On Thursday parents, students, and friends traveled to Gloucester, Massachusetts for the send off of Proctor’s Ocean Classroom voyage on Roseway. The smells of the waterfront, the slap of halyards, and the keening gulls swirled in a gyre of beckoning and possibility. The mix of nerves and excitement, that fuel for adventure, was palpable on deck as families hugged and pictures were snapped. After a little more than an hour of mingling, prowling through quarters, meeting the crew, checking out the galley, parents and guests were asked to leave. Gently but firmly. The engine rumbled, lines were cast off, and the Roseway slipped into the gold of late afternoon light. A farewell cannon clap startled the well wishers on the docks and a final cheer stretched across the harbor.

In their first two weeks in Spain, the Proctor en Segovia Fall 2015 group wastes no time in fully immersing themselves in Spanish language and culture. Luke and Haley write this post!