HORNET’S NEST Proctor Academy | May 5, 2023 | Vol. 8 | Issue 5 I have seen her put her students first. Terry has impacted all of our community by being kind and making students feel safe and loved. Terry reflected on her Proctor career. Your favorite moment? “Watching kids and faculty friends blossom and grow. I have millions of favorite moments. They are almost all about the “Aha” moment when someone makes a breakthrough into their truest selves.”
Red Converse By Cosi Gregg
How has Proctor changed you over the years? “I came to Proctor as a freelance actor, writer, director, theater educator, and designer with an absolute devotion to making theater with young folks for young folks---believing that theater was the perfect vehicle for learning about being human, being healthy, being kind, finding ones’ truth, being part of a collaborative, and believing in oneself. I leave my time at Proctor with new ways of doing the important work of being with young folks. Horses, psychology, topics around health, finding personal peace, topics of well-being, and above all only love and kindness.”
She’s on a new path to nursing, moving from a teacher to a student. After spending twenty-nine years at Proctor, Terry Stoecker has made our school a brighter, kinder community.
Another huge part of her life is her horses and the afternoon program she runs.
Terry started her career here as the Director of the Drama department, she taught classes and directed plays and musicals. She had a background in drama and acting; she worked as a professional actor after college. Throughout Terry’s time at Proctor, she has also worked in the social science department teaching psychology, Mindfulness and Meditation and freshman and sophomore seminar classes in the Wellness department.
Could you talk a little about what it means to be able to be around your horse and being able to share the love with the Proctor community?
Terry has decided it is her time to move on from Proctor. She will be working as a Medical Technician at the New London Hospital, being in charge of checking in patients, taking their vitals, blood pressure, and updating charts. This decision has been in the making for six to seven years. She said she loves to work and still wants to be busy once she leaves Proctor, noting, “I’m gonna miss my work and my kids.”
“Well, here comes the idea of being blessed again. In 2004 I was diagnosed with cancer. Proctor stood by me during the healing process. It was during my healing that I realized how much I missed having horses in my life. It had been decades. Then Stoney, Tex, Clowny, Oliver, Andy, Sunny, and now Danke Schoen and Stuart teach me every day how to be in the moment, to have courage, to care deeply, how to watch, how to listen, how to be open to nature, and how to express gratitude with a full heart. Now one of my very favorite things is to watch young riders glide as if on wings of sweet air defying gravity with bonded trust and courage. I have learned to breathe into my soul the heart filled nuzzles of a warm soft snuggly horse hug.”
Winnie Walker, a three-year junior and an advisee of Terry’s shared her views of Terry. How has she changed the Proctor community? “She has changed the community with positive energy and encouraging words!” What do you think Terry does best for her students? “Terry is a very gentle and understanding teacher at Proctor Academy. She is always willing to listen and hear out students’ struggles or troubles. She does the best when she is with her students and making them feel seen.” As a student who has taken a class with Terry,
Terry continued, “Proctor has been and always will be a God-send in my life. Without having had children of my own I have been blessed and blessed and blessed again with lasting relationships with students from the earliest days of making theater with kids. Proctor has been a place of growing love and personal unfolding that would not have been possible in any other place on the planet.” Thank you for twenty-nine years of inspiring students Terry, we wish you the best on your next adventure.