In the Communications Office, we often speak of the "thirty thousand foot perspective," meaning that we're rising above details to appreciate the big picture. I just had the opportunity to appreciate Proctor from the eighty-five foot perspective, as I took my camera above the Farrell Field Complex in a large cherry picker lift.





Thirty years ago, we adopted an unofficial motto of sorts: "Attitude Is Everything." It's a valid, important phrase. We can not control all of life's circumstances, but we are completely responsible for how we react to them. And how we react to life's circumstances can change those circumstances profoundly.

On Friday, we welcomed twenty-seven new students (they're here early for a Wilderness Orientation that precedes sports camps,) and we'll greet another ninety or so Tuesday. Our systems for orientating new students to Proctor--its people, values and procedures--has been honed over forty years, and they work. But the attitude that those students bring is a critical variable we cannot control. Happily, the attitude we witnessed Friday is superb. Again and again, one senses that families appreciate Proctor as a privilege to join.



Sure, some jitters are inevitable. So much is new that the transition is hard to fathom. But--in recent years--it seems that new students arrive absolutely psyched to make the leap.






To be sure, I can not know that this is going to be another great year, but the stars are aligned favorably. We open the year with one of the finest athletic field complexes anywhere; we're acting on our environmental mission by installing the region's largest rooftop photo-voltaic arrays; we're raising money for a beautiful, new sixteen-student dormitory, and we have a student population demonstrating the attitude that will drive their success. It sure feels good!