During an interview with a potential consultant to help guide Proctor through an upcoming strategic visioning process, a group of faculty and staff representatives asked the consultant how she would describe Proctor's educational model. Her reply resonated with us: “I’ve witnessed that Proctor has an entirely unique vision of how we all should ‘do school’.” We happen to wholeheartedly agree.
In this final post of the winter 21-22 term, Proctor en Segovia students write about just how much their perception of the world, their place in it, and themselves changed over the course of just one trimester abroad, in Segovia, Spain. They reflect on personal growth, forming deep relationships with strangers, and developing a sense of place while far from home.
European Art Classroom teaches each student how to be an avid traveler, as we are constantly immersing ourselves in various cities that hold new cultures, languages, and cuisine. As Florence, Italy was the third and final weeklong trip, each of us had the routine down to a tee.
Proctor’s Winter Ocean Classroom program took on a new theme this year as we joined forces with the MET School of Providence, Rhode Island and Sailing Ships Maine to design a shared trimester at sea program that would sail from Charleston, South Carolina around Florida to Mobile, Alabama. Along the way, students from Proctor and the MET School studied historic Southern ports, involuntary servitude, and the lasting impact of slavery on both economic and social systems throughout America.
Proctor Academy's winter 2022 Mountain Classroom program has come to an end after ten weeks of exploring, adventuring, learning, and bonding as a group. The off-campus experience is like none other, pushing students so far outside their comfort zone that individuals learn to rely on each other, and to understand fully the impact of their individual actions on the well-being of the group. For this Mountain Classroom group, like all groups, that learning has laid a foundation for the rest of their lives. Read more from Colin '22 and Calista '22 in these final reflections from the term.
Ciaran ’22 reflects on the Proctor en Segovia group’s final long excursion of the term, to Sevilla and Córdoba and the southern region of Andalucía. Coursework in Proctor’s off-campus programs employs place-based learning, and students explore connections between course material and experienced history, culture and, of course, language. In the case of Proctor en Segovia, this learning occurs in the home base of Segovia (Castilla y León) but also in several of Spain’s distinct regions when students travel on excursions.
I will be graduating in less than 100 days. This monumental transition has been making me reflect on my time at Proctor and it’s helping me seize every single day here on European Art Classroom. No other school has a program like this in the entire world.
Sundays in Spain have a particular rhythm. They are largely an opportunity to find the time and space to slow down, spend time in community, and reflect on what is truly important. Eliza ’23 and Katharine ’22 write about their recent Sundays in a small town outside of Segovia and the capital city Madrid, respectively.
