Spending the 4th of July in Andover, New Hampshire should be a prerequisite to understanding the value of living in a community. Our little town of 2,300 people bursts at the seams as thousands of visitors flock to the village green in the heart of Proctor’s campus for a flea market and carnival-like atmosphere. At noon, we ring the bell in Maxwell Savage Hall to signal the start of the parade. Local fire companies, floats, and bands weave their way through campus along North Street before looping back down Main Street. The day ends as thousands more people gather on Carr Field to watch fireworks over the Proctor Ski Area.It is a day that celebrates both America’s independence and the interdependence required of small towns.
Donned in red, white, and blue, the community comes together to fly flags on strollers, horses, and every other means of transportation as quintessential summer temperatures melt snow cones faster than children can consume them. The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, and God Bless America blare over the loudspeakers throughout the morning. A healthy patriotic pride reminds each of us of the freedom we have to gather, worship, and speak our minds as Americans.
At Proctor, we take great pride in our nation’s independence, as well as our independence as a school. As an independent school, we set our own curriculum, can start new programs, and shift direction with relative agility. We celebrate ‘learning’ differently, with our own flare of independence, acknowledging the work we do as a school would not be possible without the support of our families and those within the local community who come to our aid when we need it most. If our students were to leave Proctor having only learned one thing, we hope it is a deep understanding of what it means to be a part of a community. No matter how independent we feel, in our own lives or as an institution, we will always rely on the support, counsel, and connection of others as we seek to be our best.
Independence walks hand in hand with responsibility; a responsibility to ensure our freedom never blinds us to our weaknesses and that we do much with that which has been given to us. This is one of our biggest challenges - as a country, as a town, as a school, as individuals - how do we celebrate the best of who we are without ignoring our shortcomings? How do we move out of our binary, polarizing existence where we believe it impossible to simultaneously hold seemingly conflicting beliefs?
We must believe it is possible to possess deep gratitude to the veterans who fight to protect our nation’s freedom AND to speak out against the atrocities around the globe that sadly contain America’s fingerprints. We must believe it is possible to fly an American flag with pride AND to disagree with specific policies of our government. We must believe it is possible that Proctor’s educational model is perfectly suited to impact adolescents AND there is room to refine our work further as a school. We must believe it is possible to disagree without questioning each other's humanity.
The moment we fail to use our critical reasoning abilities to form our own opinions, to structure our own beliefs and to share them openly, we willingly accept society's blinders to our weaknesses and compromise the very independence that we hold so dear.
Independence is an incredible gift, one that carries with it great responsibility to preserve it for generations to come and to always balance our desire for independence with our need for interdependence with others in the community. At its core, for all of us who call Andover home, the 4th of July is as much about interdependence as it is about independence. It is about celebrating the friendships, trust, and hard work that goes into building and sustaining a community.
Small towns, like independent schools, do not function without people stepping up and into areas of need. May we each do our part to make our community - in the Town of Andover and within our immediate community at Proctor - stronger, more understanding, and more attuned to the needs of those around us.
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