It’s good to have a thought for the day, something to turn and twist like a Rubik’s cube to unlock some life pattern. Ian Hamlet gave us one in Thursday’s assembly and I’ve been turning it over ever since. Thursday’s was a reflection about identity: How do we come to the labels that we affix to ourselves? How many are put there by others? How many do we put on ourselves? And are they healthy?
On the same evening as our beloved New England Patriots convincingly won the AFC Championship over the Pittsburgh Steelers 36-17, we welcomed Eric Barthold back to campus to speak with faculty, student leadership, male athletes, and our ninth grade boys about redefining masculinity in today’s society.
On Monday, we gathered as a community to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. alongside guest speaker Dr. Derrick Gay. Together, we continued the never-ending work of understanding our own identities within the constructs of a global society. As we engaged in a series of activities centered around our exploration of self, we worked to understand our blind spots and to better understand, and acknowledge, alternate perspectives.
Shifting back to a regular schedule following vacation never is easy. We are incredibly fortunate to have spent the last two weeks living life at a slower pace as we enjoyed time with family and friends around the holidays. As we scroll through our social media feed this morning and see friends outside of our Proctor bubble complaining about returning to work, we are reminded how fortunate we are to live and work in a boarding school environment. Our transition back to work does not sacrifice family time, but rather expands it as we welcome students back into our lives after a two-week hiatus.
There are countless moments that define a school year. We try to capture as many as possible on video in order to share them with those in our greater Proctor Family. As 2016 winds down and we gear up for all that 2017 has in store for us, we share with you the Top 10 most viewed videos of 2016. Many thanks, as always, to the talented Ethney McMahon P'16, '20 for sharing her videography and editing talents with our team. Enjoy!
One of the perks of vacation is taking time to look back through the 283 blog posts we published as a community over the past year (wow!!!). Each of these posts, written by faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni, represents a piece of Proctor’s story. As a whole, they provide a wonderful narrative of a school deeply committed to providing an education that operates at the intersection of individualized academics and experiential opportunities within a strong, nurturing community. Today, we share the Top 10 most read blogs of 2016!
It’s a bell sitting on the edge of my desk, an old sleigh bell dug up on Proctor property by Maintenance Team members Dana Newton and Dave Elwell, two dirt fishermen as they like to call themselves. It was found across from Ives house in the vicinity of an old majestic oak that rises up forty, fifty feet. Maybe at some point in a winter long past, a sleigh crossed snowy ground and the bell jostled loose, fell to the snow to melt quietly deeper through the winter cover, disappearing for good during mud season. No matter, the dirt fishermen found it. And now it sits on the edge of my desk, still with its jingle, a reminder to look for the small marvelous and the spirit of the season. Here’s a little of what I have found this week:
As you sit on your couch this evening and procrastinate your holiday shopping yet again, do yourself a favor and CLICK HERE! If you didn't click and are still reading, we'll work on you a bit more before asking you to click the link again at the bottom of this post. Proctor's alumni network is expansive, and as we seek to strengthen this network of talented, creative, driven individuals, we thought we would take the first step in creating a micro Proctor economy online. We introduce to you: Buy Proctor!
