As students learned the truth about bottled water last year, the groundswell of revolt grew. If the water in a Dasani or Poland Springs bottle is less regulated than our town water, and the plastic bottle has a half-life we don't care to know (assuming it isn't burned, increasing air-born toxicity,) why are we spending money for something that is inferior? Just a few days into the school year, Proctor Environmental Action truly acted, and asked the Head of School to sign a Declaration of Independence from Bottled Water. Mike was delighted to oblige in front of the whole community.
The Declaration doesn't prohibit individual freedoms, or allocate punishments. It's just a call to action for sensible and cost efficient behavior. This is a Spanish class.
This is the tip of the melting iceberg. The school is about to adopt an Environmental Mission Statement that will identify Proctor for what it is: a prototypic school....a national leader that walks the talk. This is biology.
Laurie Zimmerman has been submitting some of her poems in international contests and juried competitions, only to win two major prizes in recent days! Here, she holds a Themes in Literature class at Proctor Pond on a glorious September afternoon.
I don't see any bottled water here.
Ocean Classroom, which has to be the most exciting thing happening at any high school anywhere, will be departing from Boothbay Wednesday evening, and many of us will be there. In the meantime, the forty students who will be sailing the schooners Harvey Gamage and Spirit of Massachusetts from Maine to San Juan, Puerto Rico introduced themselves to the school (to new students, at least) in assembly this morning.
For all of the returning students who have not seen these friends until this moment, the reunion after assembly was a lovefest. For new students, the allure of Ocean Classroom must be irresistable.....
