We know coming back from vacation can be challenging, especially after relaxing with family and friends. With the start of the Winter Term, we kick off a new athletic season (perhaps the most exciting at Proctor!), new classes, and have a chance reflect on the first term. A little solace for those students making the return trip to campus today? They are not the first, nor will they be the last, to arrive in Andover after a Thanksgiving vacation! 

While no one is arriving by way of the Boston Maine Railroad (like the students below were in the 1950s), the feelings remain the same: excitement, anticipation, nervousness. Thirty students who spent the Fall Term on Ocean Classroom and in Segovia will step foot on campus for the first time this year. Each returns a different student than left campus last spring. They have gained independence, maturity, and worldviews only a study abroad program can provide. These students fill the void left by thirty others who are now off on their respective Mountain Classroom, Proctor en Segovia, European Art Classroom, and Proctor en Costa Rica terms abroad. 

This ebb and flow of the Proctor community may seem odd, but we have become accustomed to it over the past fourty years of running term-long off-campus programs. It makes each term a wholly 'new' experience; a fresh start for some and a continuation of momentum from the fall for others.  

We can't wait to kick off the Winter Term as students arrive back on campus this evening!