With only twenty percent "day students," Proctor is generally classified as a boarding school. The essential distinction of boarding schools is time. It's not that we have enough time to accomplish our goals, (we do not,) but that--ironically--we do have so much. 

 

Even the eighty day kids (who commute from local homes) are so sucked in to the activities....sports teams, drama productions, social events, etc.....that we serve up, that the concept of "residential life" is a predominant topic at all levels of administration. When you think about it, it is all about time spent together on campus: how much we work, what we eat, how much we sleep, how much we exercise, and--separate from exercise--how much we simply play. Ultimately, I believe, no one category is most important, because--in a residential setting--we need them all to support one another.




 

With some exceptions, we spend twenty-four hours, seven days a week together as a community. Roughly eight hours per weekday is dedicated to the business of school; eight hours, we hope, is spent dormant, and eight hours is spent.....how? A big block of time is dedicated to sports and other afternoon activities, and mealtimes. But there are significant hours protected for extra help sessions or simply hanging out: being with friends...riding bikes...fooling around. After all, if these kids were going to public schools at home, we know that they would find ways of occupying hours of free time, right?



Two nights ago, I found a crowd having fun with members of the student fire department, who were involved in a hose & nozzle exercise at Proctor Pond.


 






My point is about time. As a residential school, we have so much of it, yet there is never enough. We don't have the class hours we really want to complete specific curricula. So we do something that kids who know nothing about boarding schools find hideously astonishing: we have academic classes on Saturday morning. It's 8:55, and we're studying floral stamens.


 



Caleb (and Tyler, far right) dissolve potassium nitrate before observing its recrystallization temperature.



Saturday morning classes are not a popular part of Proctor life, but time is of the essence, and it is precious. Happily--due to long-standing momentum--they proceed with productivity that many teenagers would find unbelievable. Spanish 2:

 

After Saturday morning's class there is a block of time for multiple uses, including campus-wide collection, sorting and delivery of recyclable materials. 

 

That's residential life...life lessons...taking time to pick up after oneself.

Take the time to read Seth Godin's blog Incoming!. Great stuff as we consider the bombardment of messaging we receive every day!