Today's page springs from our archives. With the exception of this paragraph, this Corner appeared on March 19. It offers some relatively informative text, some dandy images and comments that still carry significance today. Here goes:

The Admission Office recently sent letters of admission to about 150 terrific kids. With this in mind, I'm crafting some pages that are more informative than the usual random, scatter-brained nonsense I post here. Today's topic is skills courses.

In ancient times, Proctor students could choose a college preparatory track or a "general" program of study that was more mechanical and utilitarian in nature. When the school became wholly college prep more than 40 years ago, courses like metal shop, woodshop and boat building continued as arts electives known as Skills Courses.

Today, the number of these non-academic electives is staggering, and the human resource dedicated to the greater arts is one of Proctor's extraordinary qualities. The fact that courses in photography, music, drama, weaving, ceramics, fine furniture, voice and jewelry meet in spaces scattered across campus is symbolic of how integrated skills courses are in our daily lives.

The brilliance of Skills Courses is that they avoid any conflict between the arts and academics or sports. Students who grow passionate about a specific activity may elect to take it as an academic major, whether it is ceramics, photography or drama: