Proctor is not a single place. You can be sailing a schooner on the North Atlantic, climbing a rock wall at Joshua Tree, California, sampling tapas in Segovia, harvesting coffee beans in Costa Rica, sketching in Aix-en-Provence, or factoring quadratic equations in room 14, and you're at Proctor.

We are more a human entity than a place, and that social reality has three dimensions. First, we are a community...a relatively egalitarian community comprised of 370 teenagers and 90 teachers. Approximately 340 of those students are here in Andover each trimester. Three times per week, we convene for assemblies that are remarkably open and free-flowing. Anyone can come forward and speak. This spontaneity promotes a wide range of emotional experiences (and a lot of laughter), thereby reinforcing a set of shared values and norms.



We sit by advisee group, meaning that seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen are blended. This makes sense at Proctor, because we don't promote much hierarchy, seniority or class privilege.
Student leaders took their turn to welcome the crowd Monday.



And so, there is this dimension of the whole.














Another social dimension that distinguishes Proctor is the cultivation of the individual. It starts with informal relationships that eliminate hierarchy, seniority and status and allows adults and adolescents to know each other without pretense and artifice. In addition, the breadth of the curriculum gives each of us the power to design and create our own experience. Some concentrate in the arts; some elect multiple terms off campus; some build boats; many exhibit leadership within specific arenas such as environmental responsibilities, athletics, dorm function, etc.





A third social dimension--and this is significant to our function--is small groupings. Advisees meet with advisors four times per week; teams and classes have size limits, and 20 dormitories average 12 students. The advisor-advisee relationship is key to our ability to identify and respond to concerns before they become obstacles.









And so, we're back in business--as a whole community that cultivates individuals utilizing small group dynamics.