We all run for a reason. We run to get exercise. We run to relieve stress. We run because our dogs love to run. We run because we crave that feeling of the wind whistling past our ears. We run because we're too impatient to walk. Others, however, run because they never thought they would be able to run again, and each step they take is a gift.
Proctor's Spring Formal is the one time a year students dress up and gather as a community to celebrate the year before seniors depart for Senior Project. Sunny skies, warm temperatures, and a slight twist to the Spring Formal resulted in a wonderful night of good food, dancing, and enjoying each other's company.
Last week I wrote about faith, this week I shift attention to Proctor’s Eaarth Day, and interconnectedness. Mitakuye Oyasin.
Each spring, Proctor celebrates Earth Day with an entire day dedicated to learning, experiencing, and loving the natural world around us. While we don't observe Earth Day on the official day, the impact of our celebration on our community is very real.
Why offer students a time in their days to sit quietly, focus their thoughts, quiet their bodies, set their intentions, and just have a time of reflection, relaxation, and rejuvenation? In a world such as ours at Proctor, which might be seen as a magnificent bubble away from the greater culture around us, our students are challenged to do their very best. And this can become stressful.
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of working at a boarding school are those moments throughout the course of the year when you are able to experience tangible moments of transformation. Spring Family Weekend is one of those moments (as are Fall Family Weekend, Commencement, and Reunion Weekend). Our family comes together and we are reminded of the hard, very real, work we all are doing alongside our families to help our students navigate adolecence.
During today’s assembly, nine School Leader candidates shared brief speeches on Proctor’s core values of respect, responsibility, honesty, and compassion. Over the past week, this group of rising seniors has stepped out on a limb to be considered for School Leader by their peers and by faculty. They have taken part in two student panel conversations and have risked failure in a very public manner. Today, we take a closer look at what one of our core values: compassion.
They make it exceedingly difficult to write these blogs. How am I supposed to put into words the experience that we are having here. Sure, I can explain it to any one of the people here, but how is it possible to convey something so incredible to someone who isn’t here experiencing it?
