On Saturday morning we held the second of two admission Open Houses for the families of prospective applicants. Visitors park by the field house and find their way across campus to the Wilkins Meeting House, where they register, schmooze with parent volunteers and teachers and consume coffee, fruit and assorted sugary treats.



At nine o'clock we herd them into the theater for welcoming remarks by Mike Henriques and Anne Swayze, followed by a well-scripted, fast-moving, introductory slideshow touching on educational philiosophy, major programs and ethos of the school....all delivered by Interim Director of Admission Christina Dotchin; (Chris Bartlett is on sabbatical). At nine thirty, a throng of student tour guides arrive, and the crowd sets off in small groups to see classes, studios, dormitories, etc. Let's join them!





In the music studio, Bill Wightman demonstrates how students patch different tracks to engineer professional-quality recordings.



Shirley Hall provides the easiest access to classes in action. 



The tone is purposeful, busy and active.





A world history class employs role play to illustrate Mahatma Gandhi's technique of nonviolent civil disobedience.



In engineering, students are constructing robotic machines in preparation for a competition with students from other schools next Saturday.



Following another coffee break we gather back in the theater for a thoroughly unscripted student panel. Visitors lob out questions exploring teacher-student relations, day student integration, non-traditional activities like kayaking and rock-climbing, Orientation, and academic structure, and students pass microphones back and forth to offer honest responses.



Whatever visitors learn about Proctor during a Saturday morning, they certainly gain a sense of the authenticity of this school!





Oh....I forgot.... Visitors might have seen this.....