It may be 83 degrees and humid today, but summer is over. At least it feels that way. Local public schools start this week and there are hints of orange starting to appear at the top of maple trees around campus. This time of year is filled with mixed emotions as we hate to say goodbye to summer, but at the same time, cannot wait for the 2015-2016 school year to start at Proctor Academy.
Proctor's campus during the summer months is far from quiet. Building projects, prep work for a new solar array at the Proctor Ski Area, and hosting weekly Gordon Research Conferences keep everyone quite busy.
At its inception in 1848, Proctor Academy's mission was to serve the children within the community of Andover, New Hampshire. Today, our community now includes students from nineteen states, fourteen countries, and six continents. Proctor’s shift to being primarily a boarding school in the early 20th century brought with it the development of programs designed specifically for boarding students: Saturday classes, off-campus programs, evening study hall, required afternoon activities/athletics, and weekend activities.
In six short weeks roughly 360 students will arrive on Proctor Academy’s campus to start the 2015-2016 school year. The majority of these students will be returning to Proctor, while 130 students will be commencing a journey at Proctor with Wilderness Orientation.
We talk often about the importance of relationships in education. It is perhaps the most difficult quality of a school to articulate through a website or blog. A school’s culture is something so wholly unique, students must be immersed in it to truly appreciate it. At Proctor Academy, we believe the boarding school relationships formed between faculty advisors and students are central to sustaining the school culture that makes Proctor so special.
Every July 4th, thousands of visitors flock to Proctor’s campus in the center of the village to celebrate Independence Day. While last year’s festivities were rained out, cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-70s welcomed crowds from neighboring towns for the annual flea market, parade, raffles, and various local food vendors.
Just two weeks ago we wrote this post on the desire for our graduates to possess Balanced Virtues in their lives. It featured David Brooks and his recent book, The Road to Character. While we never want to highlight one person's views too much, Brooks recently gave Dartmouth’s Commencement address sharing powerful words we just had to pass on to our school community.
When I was appointed Director of Admission in the spring of 1983, the office secretary--a woman named Rose Chapman--decided it was time to quit and move to Florida. I immediately began interviewing candidates for a position that demanded an extraordinary set of diverse skills. Charlie Durell did more than fill that position; she reinvented it to exceed all expectations.
