What is it that drives us to the ocean, to shorelines, out on the water where the blues turn to grey, the ripples build to waves, the zephyrs strengthen into gales? We are a landlocked school, tucked up next to rock-ribbed granite of New Hampshire. Our proximity is to rivers and lakes, to ski mountains and biking trails. And yet, as today’s launching of Ocean Classroom reminds us, we are drawn to the ocean, to harbors, waterfronts, lighthouses and passages that bear us outward. Today nearly two dozen students will go to Boston and find the Roseway, Captain Flansberg, a World Ocean School crew, and two Proctor educators. They will walk the decks with their duffels over their shoulders to ease down gangways and find assigned berths below. They are beginning their term at sea. That beckoning to adventure and discovery, that call to the sea, is in us all.

About a week from now, the 2017 Proctor Magazine will be arriving in mailboxes around the country. A theme woven throughout this year’s magazine centers on the necessity of building a strong foundation for each of our students. Understanding the complex lives of adolescents, the often conflicting priorities they feel (which is more important: sleep or studying?), and our role as adults helping them navigate the daily decisions they make are all critical to nurturing a vibrant learning community.

We’re here! Michael, Matt, Chloe, Caitlyn, Zina, and Mila have arrived in Segovia, Spain. It was 5:00am in the morning Spain time, but it was 11:00pm local time in the U.S. So you can guess we all looked like the walking dead. After meeting our host families and getting settled into our new homes for the next two months, we were left to sleep much of the day because of the time change. As you can imagine it wasn't hard to completely collapse into our new beds.

Crossing campus today, mindful of the shifting weather and some of the trees that have caught the slightest tinge of fall, the arrival of new and returning students over the next 10 days is much on my mind. You will come in waves: early wilderness orientation, sports camp, regular wilderness orientation, and returning students a week from Sunday. Some of you will walk onto the campus for the first time, put on a pack, and head into the wilderness. Others will come for their senior year, pulling together a final college list and starting to tinker with applications. But no matter the length of time at the school, no matter whether student, faculty, or staff, we stand on one piece of common ground that we collectively share: Proctor.

Dominique Jordan Turner explores poverty as a superpower in her TedX Talk recorded earlier this summer (see video below). Her insights into the skills and strengths obtained by young people growing up in poverty not only prove valuable to us as educators of a diverse student body, but her underlying message applies to all of our students. We all share an understanding that young people need to experience an intersection of belief in their lives in order for learning to take place; belief in themselves, others believing in them, and belief in something bigger than themselves.

Each July, Blackbaud K-12 hosts a user conference in Boston that draws educators from around the country together to discuss technology, learning, and the tools we use to help our students unlock their worlds around them. Last year’s keynote speaker, Julie Lythcott-Hames, inspired THIS BLOG POST on how we need to help our parents raise adults, rather than children. Today’s keynote by Dr. Natalie Nixon of Figure 8 Design Thinking sparked an inspired conversation on the future of learning in our society.

Each year, the Proctor community bids farewell to retiring faculty and staff. On June 30, Susan Currier will answer her final phone calls and emails from those of us needing technology or database assistance, while Brenda Godwin, Laurie Zimmerman, and Phil Goodnow each taught their final classes, coached their final games, and said a final goodbye to their advisees in May. Combined, these four individuals have given Proctor 112 years of service to Proctor’s students. While the 2017 edition of the Proctor Magazine (published in September) will have a full feature highlighting the impact of Susan, Brenda, Laurie, and Phil’s time at Proctor, here are few highlights from their respective careers. 

A group of twelve Proctor students and three faculty members are entering their second week in Guatemala on one of Proctor’s Summer Service trips having spent the past seven days working alongside staff of Lemonade International. This trip marks the fifth year Proctor students have traveled to La Limonada, one of the poorest slums in Central America, to serve alongside some of the most gracious, joyful individuals on the planet. Faculty leaders Chris Bartlett ‘86 and Kayla Wagner have shared reflections from the first week on THIS blog, and we encourage you to check them out.