In his end of season remarks to the community at last Friday's athletic awards assembly, Gregor Makechnie '90 shared an excerpt from Mike Krzyzewski's autobiography, A Season is a Lifetime, recounting the remarkable journey an athletic season provides its athletes and coaches. As much as things may remain the same from year-to-year within a team, never does the same group of individuals share the same journey. With Sunday's 53-48 win over St. Andrew's School (RI), Proctor's girls' varsity basketball team arrived the same destination as they did last year (NEPSAC CHAMPIONS!), but the journey itself was wholly unique! 

Last Sunday afternoon I walked through the Norris Family Theater to the sound of power drills and pieces of the set for The Foreigner thumping to the ground. The living room, the fireplace, the windows, and the doors – everything was gone. Where the night before there had been the beckoning magic of Cooper and Amanda conjuring a separate reality, now screws clattered to the floor and lumber was being stacked. Jacob pushed through with a broom, a visual cue to the lessons of deconstruction. Moment passes to moment, season to season, term gives way to term. 

Head of School Mike Henriques shared a few words at the start of Monday’s assembly about the richness of the past weekend as he went from one event on campus to another. Student performances have been on display (in athletics, arts, and academics) over the past two weeks, with the center of attention at the Wilkins Meeting House and a celebration of the arts at Proctor!

Proctor Academy's boys' hockey, girls' basketball, and boys' basketball teams have earned the opportunity to play in the NEPSAC Tournament for their respective classes this week. Each of the teams will play their NEPSAC Quarterfinal game at a neutral site on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 PM as they seek a run at a New England championship. Read on for details on each of the teams and their tournament chances and links to Livestream video of games!

The longest and often most challenging of our three trimesters is nearing its completion with just four class days remaining before final exams and the reward of a two week Spring Break. Not only does our latitude limit our daylight during the winter months, but a shift in academic schedule to accommodate the 50% of students participating in snow sports creates inconsistencies in the academic week that unintentionally silos our community when we need each other most. 

The past 72 hours have been among the busiest of the year! Proctor's Board of Trustees gathered on campus for their February Board Meeting, we welcomed alumni back for our annual Alumni Hockey Game, hosted a record-setting American Cancer Society Fundraiser in the Teddy Maloney '88 Hockey Rink, celebrated skiing at Proctor with the 10th Annual Proctor Ski Area Event, hosted back to back ski races, and hunkered down as Winter Storm Orson hammered campus all day Sunday. Today, we (thankfully) are able to downshift and enjoy Head's Day! Check out a recap of the weekend in images below! 

Over the last week we have been relatively busy processing discipline infractions: a dismissal, an appeal of another dismissal, and other blips on the discipline front that kept Drew Donaldson busy. I addressed the school in last Friday’s assembly prior to the weekend and spoke to the needs of the community, the need to collectively step up. Ours is not simply a community of rules, overly prescriptive, and we know relationships create the fabric of community and give it texture. So what does this last week say about Proctor in February?

It’s good to have a thought for the day, something to turn and twist like a Rubik’s cube to unlock some life pattern. Ian Hamlet gave us one in Thursday’s assembly and I’ve been turning it over ever since. Thursday’s was a reflection about identity: How do we come to the labels that we affix to ourselves? How many are put there by others? How many do we put on ourselves? And are they healthy?