The space between - between one activity and the next, one conversation and the next, one location and the next - fills us when there is uncertainty or unpredictability associated with the transition. As a boarding school, this liminal emotional and physical space for our students fills much of their day; the moments between classes, on the periphery of meals, after classes conclude before afternoon activities begin, following dinner before extra help sessions and study hall, and then following study hall before lights turn off and the day is done.
The vast majority of the photos, video, and writing we share on social media and our website focus on our educational, athletic, and off-campus programs. We struggle, as most schools do, to fully capture the liminal space for our students, even though it is in those “between” spaces that life happens for our students. It is the conversations with friends, the game of pool in the Wise Center before class, the walk to JJ’s for a breakfast sandwich, the hanging out on the turf, in the gym, or in the dorm where a student’s residential life experience happens. Our goal for our students is to provide as much predictability, certainty, safety, and comfort to those between times in their life.
As we considered how to articulate Proctor’s residential life program to prospective families, we asked students and dorm parents about their experiences living, learning, and monitoring those in-between times in daily life at Proctor. The video below emphasizes what we feel each day as we live alongside our students: relationships and connection are absolutely central to the residential life experience at Proctor.
As we work to create a school community that supports students and all of the complexities they bring to their adolescent years, we double down on the importance of ensuring our students feel connected. Whether it is through simply sitting with a student in the dining hall, saying hello by name during passing time, or diving deeply into conversations in a dorm common room around tough life issues, connection serves as the lifeblood of our community.
It is in those little moments in that liminal space of life at Proctor that we help our students understand that life is complicated and that being “happy” all the time is not actually healthy, but being connected to others is. We help our students realize that it is through shared human connection that we have the opportunity to find purpose and meaning that we are all craving.
Learn more about Residential Life at Proctor!
- Residential Life