Proctor Academy's Ocean Classroom program has arrived in Savannah, Georgia after a long passage from an extended stop in Norfolk, Virginia due to inclement weather off the coast. The crew continues to live, learn, and work aboard the 135 foot schooner as they travel south. Ocean Classroom director, Dave Pilla, will be joining the crew for the next several days in Savannah. Below find student and crew reflections from the past week aboard the World Ocean School's Roseway!
Midterm grades are due tomorrow as we look ahead to Fall Family Weekend and yet another beautiful stretch of weather. As we prepare for the weekend, we want to share with our families a complete guide to the weekend's festivities and a few pieces of advice. Read more below!
Today’s Ninth Grade Hike to the Proctor Cabin is a moment early in the school year where we take ownership of our school culture and teach our students what is most important to us: trusting relationships, connection to the wilderness, exercise, community and the ability to talk candidly with those around you. This tradition of hiking to the Proctor Cabin as a class began in 2011, and has quickly grown into a fun, culture shaping opportunity for our youngest, most energetic, inquisitive students.
Coaching, teaching, advising, and working with adolescents energizes each of us. It's why we decided to work at Proctor and to choose education as a career path. But, as any educator will tell you, sometimes the rhythm of the school year becomes a bit too familiar and routine starts to squeeze out joy. Saturday’s Special Olympics Fun Day was just what we all needed on a foggy Saturday morning in early October.
Sometimes it is a simple piece of paper, a skittering scrap blown across a walk or lodged in the taller grass. Sometimes it is the tape at the end of a game, rounded up and tossed under a team bench, or an orange Gatorade top hovering on the green grass, or the water glass left on a table after a meal. We notice these bits of community flotsam, and each time there is that mini-debate inside: Should I pick it up? Will it make a difference?
Near record temperatures settled on campus over the weekend with highs in the upper 80s, and even warmer weather forecast through tomorrow. In the midst of this late September heatwave, we check in on all that happened over the weekend and marvel at how many different activities are available for students to plug into each weekend. This morning's assembly was filled with announcements of appreciation and highlights from the weekend.
After nearly two weeks of unofficial starts to the school year, the first day of classes has finally arrived. All 371 students are in classes (except Ocean Classroom students who depart a week from Friday), we’ve had our first assembly of the year, have met with advisories, held our first dorm meetings, and gathered with our athletics/afternoon activity groups for the first time. As we begin to settle into a rhythm this fall, we recognize the opportunity a new year provides to define ourselves both as individuals and as a community.
Proctor’s athletic teams welcomed 127 new and returning students to Preseason Sports Camp 2017. While official varsity tryouts will not take place until after Wilderness Orientation returns allowing all new students an opportunity to try-out, these five days of training are crucial to building a foundation on which Proctor’s athletic program will operate during the upcoming season.
