Nearly three months have passed since the last blog post on this page. The Class of 2012 has graduated and arrived at their respective colleges, with many already reporting back how much they love the next stop on their educational journey. On campus, we welcome 130 new students to campus this fall.



The community will be different. Classes will cover new content, juniors will be seniors and sophomores will suddenly be juniors. Dorms will each have a different 'feel' than they did last year. Four new faculty members will forge relationships with students in their classes, on their teams, in their advisories and in their dormitories. New synthetic turf fields will revolutionize afternoon activities and faculty are well on their way to exploring iPad technology that will be integrated school wide in the fall of 2013.



New courses will be offered for the first time this year as AP Economics, Advanced Math for Engineering, and new upper level English seminars will challenge students to not only develop new skills, but to put their knowledge to work through direct application.



Similarly, a new Freshman Seminar will integrate ninth grade academic and residential life curriculums into a program that will work to support our youngest students as they transition to Proctor.



While much is new and all of that change brings with it an incredible excitement to campus this fall, the core of who we are and what we do remains unchanged. As Head of School welcomed faculty back during the last week of August, he communicated a message of balance; a theme that runs deep within the roots of Proctor's academic culture.



We will continue to challenge students academically, while also providing comprehensive support to those students who need it. We will continue to have students excel in the sciences and math, while many of those same students will produce breathtaking artwork. We will have students who achieve at the highest levels in the Social Sciences (like members of last year's AP Human Geography course who all earned 4s and 5s on the AP exam) and English who are also enrolled in Proctor's Learning Skills program. We will have students who are able to pursue a passion they have had for years through advanced coursework, while others will uncover a new love through their work in the Skills' curriculum outside of their other academic classes.



Mike's message of balance applies not only to Proctor's mission as a whole, but specifically to the academic experiences of each student. Over the next nine months, be sure to visit this blog often as we show how that balance plays out in the academic curriculum at Proctor!