Following the December Admissions Open House, prospective families streamed out of the Wilkins Meeting House, Wise Student Center, and Stone Chapel. Some lingered, deep in conversation with members of the Admissions team and current student panelists. Others headed toward Brown Dining Commons, walking with current Proctor students. The morning's panels raised a question that lies at the heart of every family's school search: What kind of education do we actually want for our students?
Most students and families arrive at Proctor with specific motivations – a hands-on learner seeking instruction that prioritizes experiential learning, a student seeking the right balance of challenge and support, or a young person drawn to a community where they can explore new interests without being pigeonholed. Beneath these motivations lies a shared unease with achievement culture – the relentless pressure to cultivate a high school "resume" and performance metrics that can narrow what "success" means.
Quinn '26, one of our Open House student panelists, described his experience before Proctor: "I did two years of public school before coming here. There were a lot of cliques between friend groups. The hockey players can't be friends with the theater kids because of some unspoken rule." He paused. "Here it doesn't exist. You can be friends with anyone. You can do anything you want. You can be anyone you want. And you'll still be accepted." He continued, "I got to go on Ocean Classroom and then Proctor en Segovia. It helped me a lot with finding out who I am as a person."
Hazel '26 spoke about arriving at Proctor planning to do theater tech. "I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I was planning on working behind the scenes." But during a read-through, the director took note. "He really liked how I read this one character. So he asked me to be in the play, and I ended up playing three characters in that show." She continued:
"Over my four years here, I've just gotten a lot more confident in who I am and my abilities. I ended up growing so much that I wrote, directed, and acted in a show this fall."
~ Hazel '26
These themes – of becoming and self-discovery – were present in many student reflections. It points to something education research increasingly validates. Engagement, driven by curiosity rather than external outcomes, is the most powerful predictor of long-term success. Tellingly, no one mentioned grades or college applications, outcomes that follow naturally from this kind of engagement. Instead, students spoke about their experiences and about being in a place where curiosity and growth are the endpoint, not the means to some other end.
When prospective families ask what makes Proctor different, perhaps the answer is best articulated by our students. They speak not of programs but of permission – to be curious, to explore, and to expand their sense of who they are within a community of adults who genuinely know them, believe in them, and care about them.
"We really do care about each other," Head of School Amy Smucker told our visiting families. "This is a community that we really value."
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