A Culture of Service

"We do not have a service requirement," History Department Chair Brian Didier told the Proctor community during a recent assembly announcement about a monthly technology help initiative Proctor students and members of our professional community run at the Andover Community Hub. "What we have is an expanding culture of service opportunities – and many kids who willingly step out of themselves, step out of the Proctor campus, and go out into the wider world to make it a better place."

The distinction between culture and requirement matters, especially at a moment when researchers studying adolescent development argue that one of the central challenges facing young people is not stress or academic pressure but the lack of purpose – a sense of connection to people and communities beyond themselves. At Proctor, that culture is built deliberately; it is scaffolded through community days, MLK Day, and off-campus programs. Showing up for others becomes instinct rather than obligation, and one of the ways students find meaning.

The reciprocal relationship between Proctor and the town of Andover is not new. For generations, the school and the town have shared resources, venues, and common goals. Proctor alumni and U.S. Olympians Jed Hinkley '99 and Carl Van Loan '98 credited their development not to two separate institutions but to one community working toward the same goals. "It was never Andover Outing Club vs. Proctor," Hinkley reflected. "It was Andover Outing Club AND Proctor."

That spirit is visible each Tuesday and Thursday this winter when Abby '27 stayed at the Proctor Ski Area for an additional hour and a half after her Nordic practice to work with local athletes on the Nordic side of the Andover Outing Club's youth program. When the two seniors who had run the program graduated last spring, Abby stepped in, working with kids ages five to fourteen – running games, building balance, keeping a wide range of experience levels moving together down the trail. "For all the kids at Proctor, we see Proctor Ski Area as our ski hill where we train," Abby said, "but in reality, it's used for so much more and for so many people, different members of the community. I feel like it's really great that Proctor is able to bring people together like that."

There is one athlete she has been watching since last year. He came in with no experience, and this season she has gotten to see him learn to ski and start to enjoy it. "I'm not a coach. I'm a junior in high school," Abby said. "But it's really fun to get out and ski with these kids and try to teach them something that I enjoy." What she has taken from the experience is less about skiing than she expected: "It's definitely learning patience – just sometimes having to take a step back and be like, you know what? You're enjoying yourself. It's okay. We're just here to have fun."

A similar partnership has taken root across the street at Andover Elementary and Middle School (AEMS), where Proctor students visit second- and third-grade classrooms to help with reading and math, a program that students themselves have kept alive and passed forward. The program is now coordinated by sisters Brooke ’27 and Avery ’27, who started as volunteers as freshmen before being asked to take over at the end of their sophomore year. Brooke describes the work as variable by design: "When we volunteer at the elementary school, we usually help 2nd- or 3rd-graders with math or reading. What you're helping with depends on the day and time you go over and volunteer. Sometimes you get to play outside with the students." 

What Avery has watched develop goes beyond any single session: "We get to see the connections that are made between the Proctor students and the younger generations, but also the influence each Proctor student makes on the AEMS kids." The program's reach, Avery notes, extends to the adults in the building as well: "The program is super helpful for the Andover teachers as well, because of the positive influence the Proctor students have."

The reach of Proctor students into the Andover community extends to new initiatives as well. Once a month on a Sunday afternoon, students make their way to the Andover Community Hub, where anyone in the community can drop in for free help with a phone, a laptop, or whatever technology has been giving them trouble. Brian Didier, who coordinates the sessions alongside colleague Cheka Ventura-Sanchez, frames the need: "The Hub identified a need amongst many people in the Andover community – many of them happen to be older – who have problems with technology. They can't find the camera on their phone. They don't know how to fix or update their laptops. We've even had people coming in to get help with their dash cams or new smart glasses."

For Kyara '26, who volunteers regularly, it was a natural extension of her hometown community. Growing up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, community involvement was simply part of how she was raised. "I wanted to bring that into Proctor," she said. On her first visit, she found herself explaining Google Sheets to a community member – something she had never used herself. "Granted, I have never used Google Sheets in my life, but it was a learning experience, and I had so many laughs to the point where that same person came back again." Beyond the practical help, Kyara sees something else happening in those sessions: "Definitely a stronger connection, and just simply putting a smile on someone's face. It is always great to make a new connection, hear their stories and their experiences." For herself, there is an additional benefit: "A sense of purpose. Something that seems so simple and easy to me can greatly improve someone's daily life from here on out, and I cherish that."

Not all of this work happens at snowsports venues or our local community center. In the Culture and Conflict course this past winter, students examined the U.S. prison system – policies, scale, and the human realities behind the data. Working with Nancy Allenby of local nonprofit Kearsarge Neighborhood Partners, the class spent an afternoon baking cookies to send to residents of nearby men's and women's halfway houses. Their intention was simple – to let people navigating a difficult season of transition know that someone sees them and cares. The act of doing something tangible to help real people, brought those people behind statistics to life.

This spirit of service extends to other groups and well beyond our campus in Andover. Athletic teams and afternoon activity groups show up at neighbors' homes to stack firewood or do yard work. When communities near and far have needed support, Proctor students have organized response efforts for people they have often never met. Each summer, a group visits the Lakota Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations in South Dakota, a program rooted in a reciprocal relationship between Proctor and those communities that spans generations. And in Segovia, Monteverde, and on Mountain Classroom (several of Proctor’s term-long Off-Campus Programs), students carry the same spirit of service. While living with host families or as guests of local communities, they find ways to contribute. This past weekend, during the first part of our Earth Day community celebration, students fanned out across Andover for trail work, highway clean-up, baseball field preparation, and the clearing of a new walking trail.

Proctor's mission asks students to become positive contributors to their current and future communities. On a Tuesday afternoon in the winter on a snow-covered Nordic trail, in a community center on a Sunday, or in the dining hall kitchen baking cookies for strangers, they are already doing exactly that.

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