As the forecast for Friday morning waffled between rain and potential clearing, we decided to move our planned outdoor assembly for Fall Family Weekend into the Wilkins Meeting House for the first time since the fall of 2019. Only the parents of our four-year seniors had experienced assembly in the theater, and we realized in that moment how much we had missed the shared energy of this space.
If you spend enough time in the New England woods, you will run across old stone walls bisecting a dense forest. Follow those walls and you will likely find an old cellar hole that will immediately transport you back in time to a different era when Proctor’s 2,500 acres were clear cut pastures sprinkled with farms of hardworking families scraping a living off the rocky soil.
For two summers, I had the privilege of building dry stone walls with fellow faculty members Josh Norris '92 and Peter Southworth. It was hard work, but the results were tangible. We would walk away from the job site each day seeing what we had built; the well placed foundation rocks, tetris-like fits locking the wall into place, flat tops and square corners. There was an immediate gratification and instant feedback with this summer job that stood in stark contrast to the usual delayed feedback experienced by educators.
Three times a week we gather in the Wilkins Meeting House for an all-school assembly. The agenda for assembly varies each day, however, the purpose remains clear: come together as an entire community to hear announcements, spend intentional face-to-face time together, connect with advisories, and remind ourselves that we are in this journey of learning together, as an entire community, even though we are often going a million directions on our own.
Any given day at Proctor is filled with a thousand interactions: teachers, friends, dorm parents, roommates, parents, coaches, teammates, advisors, dining staff, housekeepers in dorms. It is these varied conversations, and the energy they generate, that make up the many pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is our life at Proctor.
When we truly commit to something, we deeply invest ourselves in it. We see a greater purpose in our work, in our connections, in the lifting of each other up. We see an application of our mission, not just a lofty statement that supposedly guides us. Through little, daily actions, we show others what it means to be a part of a community, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
As Proctor prepares to welcome new and returning students to campus for the start of the academic year, our community also welcomes new faculty and staff to Andover. This group of educators has been working hard to get to know Proctor during new faculty orientation. Please welcome these new community members to Proctor. Learn more about them below!
When our schools are so deeply rooted in that which makes us, us, the mere prospect of change can be a scary endeavor. In order to seek a vision for our future, we must honestly assess our present, acknowledging that which is core to our being and that which must evolve. This is the good, hard work we are doing right now as a community.
