It is not easy starting a new journey.
A blend of excitement and anxiety accompanies the new, but when families arrived on Tuesday for registration, when we gathered under the big tent to talk about wilderness orientation with the rain gently drumming down, you could sense the collective willingness to grow.
It requires stepping outside of comfort zones and leaving the familiar behind.
Early Orientation for preseason athletes and Transition Days for new international students at Proctor are nearing completion. As we prepare for the arrival of all new students and their families tomorrow, we revisit Friday’s welcome of new students for Early Orientation. The perfect mix of nervousness and excitement accompanying the start of the year was present, and we had an opportunity to explain why every new student starts his or her experience at Proctor hiking and camping for five days in the White Mountains learning the value of experiential learning.
Central to Proctor's educational mission are our core values: respect, responsibility, honesty and compassion. Whether in the classroom, the dorm or the athletic field, teachable moments to reinforce these values exist. We are very proud that Proctor graduates are collaborative, ethical individuals, ready to contribute productively to their communities and Proctor's CORE Program reinforces these ideals.
We have reached the midpoint in the summer. There are nearly as many days until students arrive as there have been since graduation. Fourth of July has passed. Students and faculty have returned from service learning opportunities. Students are working summer jobs, traveling, and of course completing their summer reading! New students and families are starting to think about their Proctor experience that will begin in just a few short weeks.
Our lives are layered. As a boarding school, understanding the interconnected nature of our students’ lives is critical to the education we provide. Our diet is linked to our health, which is directly connected to our energy level, and consequently our ability to learn. If you disrupt any piece of this sequence, every step is impacted. Developing an approach to education centered around active learning, exercise and healthy social interactions will result in increased learning, and even increased intelligence.
