Just over a week ago, white and green caps sailed into the air outside the tent on Farrell Field, marking the end of Proctor's 178th Commencement and the moment the Class of 2026 became the newest members of our alumni community. Within hours of the recessional, after our Dining Services team had fed thousands and the last cars had pulled away from the overflow lot on Carr Field, our campus went quiet. That stillness gave us time to reflect on the Class of 2026, the unique community they built during their years at Proctor, and the contributions they made to a culture that will remain long after their graduation. And before we knew it, we turned our attention to welcoming alumni, from the Class of 1966 to the Class of 2021, and many years in between.
Buildings change and evolve. The more than 7,000-square-foot new Health and Well-Being Center will come online in the fall of 2026 and will be crowned with the original steeple from the old Health Center (and the Andover Congregational Church before it). During Reunion weekend, alumni stopped outside former dorms as memories flooded back in – some even spent the weekend sleeping in the same room they occupied during their student days.
The physical campus changes with each decade. What proves far more durable is the culture. Culture runs underneath a community, like an operating system, mostly out of sight, until moments of challenge and celebration bring it into view – it is present in difficult conversations with a student in the middle of February, during the celebrations of Commencement Weekend, and as alumni return to campus for Reunion.
Schools often describe themselves as relational communities. What distinguishes Proctor is the depth and consistency of those relationships across generations. Perhaps the most striking thing about Reunion Weekend is watching alumni reconnect with former teachers, coaches, advisors, dorm parents, and each other. Whether five years or fifty years have passed, many of those relationships pick up where they left off.
A deep belief in students, carried by the adults who teach, coach, and live alongside them, was the common theme of the weekend, connecting alumni from five years out to fifty-five.
No one put it better than Steve Pope, whose Class of 1976 returned for its 50th reunion.
"It's not what, it's who. When I think back…something fascinating happened here and still happens here. For a lot of us, that was the first time we were believed in… If they can believe in us, I can believe in myself. And I did, and so do many, many other students here. And I want to thank Proctor for the most formative years of my life, and everything since then has been built on that platform."
~ Steve Pope '76
Steve Pope's description would fit the Class of 2026, the Class of 2021, or any class in the intervening decades just as well. Continuity of culture showed itself again and again during Reunion Weekend 2026 as graduates both fifty years and five years removed described Proctor in remarkably similar terms. Buildings will continue to change, but the relationships that brought alumni back to campus this weekend endure.
Check out more photos from Reunion 2026 on Flickr!
- Alumni
- Community and Relationships