At some point over the past year, we coined the term "visioneering" (it's a gerund) to capture our process of anticipating and planning for the future. It is a grand undertaking that has included extensive faculty consideration, dialogue and debate, and this week, we brought trustees into the fun. Below, Athletic Director Kathy Noble outlines the faculty's work accomplished on the challenges and opportunities for Proctor athletics over the next decade.

This is a time to think outside the box and test fresh ideas against known realities and unknown possibilities and probabilities. For trustees, the event is intensely educational and stimulating, as teachers' passions become known and appreciated.

First, the school's great assets (clear market position, healthy budget, physical plant, etc.) are considered. Ironically, for all of the talk about "moving forward," this confab is called a "retreat." We break the throng of 90 into smaller groups to consider residential life, educational programming, experiential education, faculty culture and athletics. Admissions and development will be considered against the backdrop of this week's work.

The venue for this week's retreat was a sprawling estate in South Sutton named "Fox Chase." Many of the breakout groups found spaces in former horse stalls in the barn.

One of the persistent, healthy tensions is the acknowledged need for a human community to grow and change, when we know that so much at Proctor is working, and working well. What will the impact of soaring fuel prices be on our programs?

How do we nurture faculty culture--so critical to any school community? What defines experiential education? And--that ubiquitous issue--TIME.

After long, productive hours and a barbecue dinner (followed by more group reports,) it's time for a dance party with Nick's Other Band.

This band invites participation. Here's Board Chair Mark Loehr helping out on "Louie, Louie."

A key theme in Proctor's vision for the future is environmental sustainability. The construction of the biomass furnace promises to save the school $400,000 dollars against the current oil plant, while cutting emissions by 90%, but it is Proctor's extensive woodlands that make a carbon-neutral footprint a legitimate goal. Responsible stewardship of our forest land can offset our restricted carbon emissions. This topic is receiving great attention at Proctor, and this week's "retreat" may truly be seen as an environmental advance.