I had lunch with a young woman visiting for admission and Jay Goulart asked her, "What attracts you to Proctor?" Without missing a beat, she replied, "This school balances academics, the arts and athletics in a way that's right for me." She knew her stuff.

The people with whom I work have lots of gurus, including Doug Heath (Schools of Hope), Ben Zander (The Art of Possibilities), Tom Peters (Circle of Innovation), Tom Asacker (Sandbox Wisdom), and Gessner Geyer, who will deliver the Commencement Address on June 5. Gessner applies neuroscience to neuropsychology, education and optimal learning. He tells us that we learn and grow best when we balance good, hard work with different experiences, including exercise and play. This afternoon, a class of Themes in Literature was assigned to write poems on playing whiffleball.

Gessner holds two advanced degrees from Harvard. Today, a current parent emailed me an article from the N.Y. Times regarding a president's committee at Harvard that is recommending--among other things--that the curriculum be revamped to include more international learning and experiential education. If Harvard adopts such changes, the article states, other colleges will follow. At Proctor, we would support this development in higher education.

Also today, a graduate of the Class of '94 writes to alumni, "We are all so privileged to have had the opportunity to attend such a wonderful school. Not many people in the world are presented with that luxury. Try to explain your experience to friends at work and you will understand what I mean. They can’t even comprehend! How do you explain going to a boarding school in New Hampshire, living in Spain for a semester, and Mountain Classroom. You can’t...."