Proctor Academy's Mountain Classroom program began their ten-week cross country immersion learning experience in New Hampshire. After three days of driving, four days backpacking on Cumberland Island, and three days canoeing and camping in the Okefenokee Swamp, the group departs for winter break. Read more about the group's first three weeks on the road below.
Ocean Classroom 2019 is complete, but the memories and friendships will carry on. While the crew of 21 Proctor students has now been home for just over a week, and will be welcomed by a fresh foot of snow on campus when they return Tuesday evening for the Winter Term, they will have these blog posts, Ship's Logs, and thousands of photos to bring them back to the Caribbean waters of Puerto Rico, St. John, and St. Croix. A big thank you to Ocean Classroom educators Matthew Ecklund, Claire Callahan, and Holly Buresh for capturing photos, student writing and video along the way.
The power of Proctor’s academic model lies in both the breadth and depth of academic pursuits. A single student’s path through Proctor may take them on multiple off-campus programs, summer internships, AP courses, Project Periods, and a summer service trip. They will customize their journey by taking a minimum of three art courses and three technology courses in addition to English, Social Science, Science, Math, and World Language classes, all while benefiting from the nation’s leading integrated academic support program - Learning Skills. Despite over 135 course offerings, individual classes do not differentiate Proctor from other independent schools. Instead, the entirety of the Proctor experience, and the collective opportunities available to students, set us apart.
At the heart of Proctor’s educational model is the belief adolescents learn most deeply when they engage hands-on with their learning. Five years ago, Proctor launched a biannual Innovation Night to elevate the great work happening in our classrooms. Each fall and spring, we gather as a community to not only celebrate the work of our students, but to learn about the important issues they are wrestling with in their classes.
After more than ten days on the open ocean, Proctor's Ocean Classroom program aboard Schooner Roseway spotted land! While this post contains Ship's Logs that are now more than a week old, we are playing catch-up from the group's transit and will include one final blog post next Tuesday with the remainder of ship's logs from the journey as the group finishes out their term at sea with a final stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday, November 22.
Thursday morning we began our long journey to the province of Andalucía in Southern Spain. A bus, metro, and train ride later we got to the city of Granada. We had just enough time to shower and change before being thrown into the Andalucían culture in one of the most traditional ways, a flamenco performance.
I am traveling this week, criss-crossing the country from Atlanta to San Francisco, which is where I am today near Union Square. I can’t help but wander over to the Apple Store at times, venturing in to ogle the newest products. How could I not? There, on the front of the store, a huge photograph advertises the AirPod noise cancelling headphones, the newest iteration of a wildly popular little knobby white knuckles people are popping in their ears all over the world to listen to music and podcasts and to talk on the phone. I had to try them out, and I have to admit to being impressed. But this got me thinking about whether education is simply a product that goes through iterative phases. It made me a little uneasy.
Today’s blog post from Ocean Classroom serves as an account of the first half of a nearly two week transit from Charleston, South Carolina to St. Croix. Proctor’s crew of 21 students has arrived in St. Croix and we will soon post the remainder of their Ship’s Logs and more photos/video, but for now, enjoy this window into life at sea.
