Our two-month adventure in Europe started in the United States, specifically in Boston after we said goodbye to everyone’s parents and Kayden. There was obviously a very indisputable sense of excitement among us that night. We left Boston that evening and after hours of flights and layovers, we finally found Dave and Jen waiting for us at the airport, along with Fifi and Liv. At last, we were all united.
More than 150 families will attend our three Admission Revisit Days over the course of the next week. Each will walk away with an authentic sense of who we are as a school. More importantly, perhaps, each will have the chance to talk to our students about how Proctor’s educational model has transformed their lives.
Hello all from California! Our Spring Mountain Classroom group is growing in spirit and unity every day. As we drove from the airport towards our first campsite, called Mission Creek, we overheard our instructors Peter and Lori engaged in a conversation about genetically engineered foods, or GE foods, which immediately set the bar for our expectations of the term.
As a boarding school in rural New Hampshire, we often hear people talk about how we must live in a 'bubble'. While our campus in Andover, New Hampshire is safe, secure, and filled with good people, at Proctor we refuse to live and learn in a bubble.
While we obviously must avoid placing our students in danger, we must allow them to explore their world. We know there is no better way to learn than to live, and there is no better way to build confidence and courage as a learner than to actually be responsible for navigating life. At Proctor, we seek to provide a living education, not an observational one.
In the early 1970s, Proctor underwent a transformative period in its history as it launched off-campus programs, became co-educational, and embraced a new era of leadership. Faculty acknowledged attitude and effort played a key role in learning. They saw each student enter the learning process with different skills and varying prior knowledge. To simply assess students on their academic ‘performance’ as defined by a quiz or test score seemed inadequate.
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.
Henry Vaughan '74 first pulled into Andover, New Hampshire in the fall of 1969 for an interview at Proctor Academy. As a prospective ninth grader, the Beverly, Massachusetts native already had his mind set on going into the forest services or municipal fire fighting. From promotional materials, he knew Proctor offered both forestry classes and had a small, albeit very active, on-campus fire department. As his family drove toward the intersection of Routes 11 and 4 on his way into town, he witnessed Proctor’s fire department in action as they pulled up to a small fire along the side of the road in their antique fire truck. At that moment, Vaughan thought to himself, ‘I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. This place is unbelievable!’
