As we encourage recently accepted students to attend Proctor’s Revisit Days, we share stories of the wonderful accomplishments of our students. We highlight the amazing academic courses, off-campus programs, and unquestionable sense of community that is Proctor. We focus on the good because it is what attracts students and families to our school. We must not forget, however, to acknowledge the struggles each of us feel at some point during our lives and how Proctor helps each student navigate life as an adolescent.

Over the past months, Proctor's admissions team has worked hard processing well over 600 applications for the 2015-2016 school year. Last night at midnight, acceptances were emailed to prospective students who we think will enrich Proctor's community. Congratulations to the newly admitted students, we hope each decides to be #proctorbound! 

I am thrilled to be the one that gets to write about our final week on European Art Classroom. As the term comes to a close, there is sadness but also cheerfulness around the house. I think I speak for everyone that we are all excited to be going home, but we are also sad that this great adventure whipped by and has come to an end. Secretly, deep down we know that after a few days of being at home, we will start to miss our second home in Aix.

The end of each term provides an opportunity to see the collective brilliance of Proctor's artists. The weekend of February 13 and 14, Proctor's theater department staged To Kill a Mockingbird and did an outstanding job! This past weekend the end of term Art Show preceded a monologue performance by Proctor's acting class and the Jazz/Rock Ensemble performance in the Wise Center. 

Another four inches of snow fell last night. Temperatures are once again going to dip below zero the next two nights. Winter continues, but we will not let it keep us down here at Proctor! Take a journey through a winter day in images with us! 

I am not a musician. I played the requisite songs on the recorder and fumbled through the finger moves at ten, took drum lessons at thirteen, and failed miserably at both. I don’t sing, not even marginally well, but have taken enough lessons to appreciate the gifts of those who do. I grew up listening to the piano, and even today my mother, with a little brush up, has nearly eighty classical pieces within grasp. When I was growing up she practiced with the discipline of a concert pianist, so notes were always adrift in the house. I can’t quite muster my way through “Chopsticks.” Never could.

Proctor's theater department has worked hard all term to prepare the winter play, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. With a cast of seventeen students and an additional eleven students working on costumes, props, set building and lighting, director Jen Summers has worked wonders staging a magnificent, and truly powerful show.

Saturday evening, Proctor celebrated one of its most unique facilities: The Proctor Ski Area. For decades, Proctor's love of skiing has fueled the development of one of the finest privately-owned and operated ski areas by an independent school in the nation. As hundreds of local community members drove down Blackwater Lane Saturday afternoon, we were reminded just how special this place is!