Land Use Manager Dave Pilla points out that snowstorms during the spring maple run are known to woodsmen as "sugar snows." Those keen to get on a lacrosse field, baseball or softball diamond or tennis court may groan, but Friday's heavy, wet snow couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of forty-something revisiting families and their student hosts.

 

The day began with visitors paired with Proctor kids for the first two classes of the morning.

 




Many visitors are understandably anxious about the whole process, but these jitters don't last long.

 




Meanwhile, we herd parents to a welcome session in the theater followed by a "speed dating" activity in which they connect with different teachers and coaches for quick, ten-minute chats.

At ten o'clock, parents join the whole school in the theater for a forty-minute assembly that features fun announcements, several videos and a spontaneous rap performance by senior Will Cudahy. Proctor students then say good-bye as hosts, and go off to classes while visitors connect with current parents over coffee and snacks in the lobby.

 

No doubt the most powerful activity of the day is the student panel that follows. Another school might select an elite hand full of students for a panel, but ours is ten kids, representing a diverse cross-section of the student body: day students, seniors, sophomores, artists, AP students, kids who have been to Costa Rica, Spain, Ocean Classroom, Mountain Classroom and China.

 

Their responses to visitors' questions reveal the core values of the school, articulated with genuine pride, maturity and love. The mother of a visiting girl remarked, "At another school we sensed that they take great kids and move them on to the next level; at Proctor, you seem to be transformative...."


 

After lunch, we delve into an activities fair in the library. Families browse from one activity station to the next, connecting with students and coaches who share passion for that sport.

 







Finally, families wander to specific on-campus locales to witness activities in action: painting, ceramics, jazz/rock rehearsal, maple sugaring....    Jake, a senior, demonstrates the control board to a visiting family in the Recording Studio:

 

Despite an April snowstorm, Friday was a great day for Proctor. On Tuesday, we will do it again!