In a recent blog entitled Organization has its effects, marketing guru Seth Godin observes the power of reinforced messaging within groups. His remarks are highly applicable to residential schools, and certainly to Proctor. 
He writes, "If you take a group of people...and expose them to focused messages again and again, you will start to change their point of view."



He goes on, "If you augment those messages with exposure to other members of the group, the messages will begin to have ever more impact."



As if speaking directly about our community, he notes, "If the group becomes aligned, and it starts acting like a tribe, those messages will become self-reinforcing."




"And finally, if you anoint and reward leaders of this tribe, single them out for positive attention because of the way your message resonated with them, it will become fully baked in."



"That's a lot of power." In an attempt to share their victory in the year's first Class A New England High School Mountain Biking race, Speight and Jack crossed the finish line hand in hand.



Consider what Godin's words mean to the core values we exercise at Proctor.




We don't just talk about them; we practice them. In a recent assembly, a teacher whose spouse had a serious medical scare noted that he sensed the compassion of the community (he's not a Proctor employee) simply by the way we supported her.








Beyond the core values of honesty, respect, responsibility and compassion, consider the subtle values we reinforce daily, in and out of classrooms....