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|  | | Non-competitive Afternoon Activities Non-traditional Academic Courses | |
| Here is a fact on which everyone agrees: we learn best by doing. Academic material learned actively is hard-wired into the brain. More than any other prep school, Proctor has taken this principle to a logical extreme. Here, students learn Spanish in Spain, French in France, study Native American culture and desert ecology in the American West, tropical ecology in Costa Rica, marine biology and maritime history sailing the North Atlantic. This spirit of adventure-based learning is true on campus, too! Forestry and wildlife science students are managing a 2700-acre woodlot. Courses in wood shop, metal shop, boat building, recording and photography are easy examples of hands-on education, but check out “traditional” biology, U.S. history and English classes, and you’ll see labs, debates and role play exercises that demonstrate Proctor’s reputation as the nation's leader in experiential education. |
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| | "Proctor is a distinctly human community, built not of bricks and stone, but of relationships that optimize student growth." |
Proctor is a distinctly human community, built not of bricks and stone, but of relationships that optimize student growth. This definition of the school—relationships that work—is introduced to new students through Wilderness Orientation.
Almost forty years ago, the school recognized the power of small groups—working cooperatively—in new and challenging environments. Since 1972, we have oriented new students to Proctor through a five-day backpacking camping trip in the White Mountains. Groups of eight students hike with two adults through some of the nation’s most beautiful wilderness, supporting one another, enjoying successes together and exercising the values that work back on campus every day: honesty, respect, responsibility and compassion.
Orientation is challenging. We cannot control the weather or the steepness of the trail, but—whether in the woods or in classrooms—we overcome tough realities together. That is Proctor, and it is introduced from Day One. |
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