The Buzz

For the first time ever, Proctor Academy offered a winter Ocean Classroom program. Based in St. Croix, the program partnered with the World Ocean School to offer eight students the opportunity to study, explore, and serve others within the St. Croix and surrounding island communities. Read student journal entries from the past two weeks below. A huge thank you to the World Ocean School, Holly, Ocean Classroom director Brooks Bicknell '77, and the crew of Roseway for making this adventure happen! 

For Proctor’s drama department, it has been exactly one year since students last took the stage. With the annual spring musical canceled due to Covid-19 last spring, director Jen Summers is thrilled her company will produce Peter and the Star Catcher this week for the community. An extended production run over four nights this week has provided the cast and crew the invaluable feedback of a live audience, something every performer and lover of the performing arts has missed over the past year. 

February 15 2021: After a hearty breakfast it was time for the long awaited and highly anticipated solo briefing. After being constantly reminded over the course of the term that “all questions about solo will be answered at the solo briefing”, we were extremely curious and prepared. Quinn and Erica explained what we were doing and how solos would work. Three nights in the wilderness in complete solitude. Upon being briefed, the room was filled with mixed emotions, some were excited to have some quality time to themselves to relax and others were anxious to be left alone in the wild with no one to talk to. I was somewhere in between. 

What began as a summer professional development trip by late faculty member George Emeny to learn about Native cultures has evolved into a forty year relationship with the Lakota Sioux. For eight summers, George learned alongside Lakota professor Albert White Hat at Sinte Gleska University in Mission, South Dakota before their friendship brought Albert and his family to Andover, New Hampshire in the Spring of 1985. For one of Albert’s children, Emily '94, receiving the news of moving to New Hampshire was hard to hear. "I remember exactly where I was when my father told me we were moving to New Hampshire. I was in third-grade, and I thought my world was ending. But, when it was time for us to leave and return to South Dakota, I knew Proctor was a place to which I might return."

At the core of Proctor is human connection, a group of talented educators ready and willing to help adolescents through their high school years. Each Proctor journey includes its own challenges, and it is the navigation of these moments of difficulty alongside caring faculty that most powerfully shapes the student experience. For Justin Donaldson ‘01, the intersection of human connection and supportive adults during his time of crisis not only defined his time at Proctor, but laid the foundation for his work supporting others today.  

This last week of the European/Southwest art classroom has been bitter sweet. We kicked off the week by going to Santa Fe, New Mexico, knowing that once the trip ended we would all be going home, but that did not stop us from having fun.

In a term that bridged remote learning, on-campus quarantine, and in-person instruction, Proctor’s Arts Department has shown the entire community what perseverance looks like. On Friday evening, the Dance Team and Jazz/Rock Ensemble shared their talents with the community in back-to-back performances, and while rehearsal time was roughly half of what it would have been during a “normal” term, the students shone as brightly as the full moon over campus this weekend. 

While Head Coach Maggie Kennedy has been out on maternity leave for the majority of the season, coaches Hunter Churchill ‘01 and Rachel Moore have been hard at work with the Girls Varsity Hockey team. Although they have had a challenging start to the season in terms of their win/loss percentage, the team is determined to right the ship and end the season on a positive note.