Hornet's Nest | Vol. 3 | Issue 1 | October 20, 2016

HORNET’S NEST Proctor Academy | October 20, 2017 | Vol. 3 | Issue 1

NEW SCHOOL YEAR, NEW ENERGY

TRAVIS ( LEFT ) AND HIS ORIENTATION GROUP

Faculty Spotlight: Travis Glennon

By Neal Shivakumar

The new school year has started and there are a lot of new parts to our community. One of which is new teacher Travis Glennon. Along with being the head coach of Varsity Lacrosse, Travis is part of the social science department and is also a dorm parent. I was able to conduct a short interview with Travis in his experience so far as a new teacher:

How has the proctor community been for you so far coming in as a new teacher?

Incredibly welcoming, it has been a pleasant comfort to join such a charismatic and caring community!

As head coach of the LAX team, how does it feel to be filling in the role of long time coach Tucker Prudden?

Lacrosse has always held a special and integral role in my life and I consider it both a passion and a commitment of mine, one of which I’m very grateful to call ‘my job’. Tucker has helped build a wonderful program from the already storied history that those before him worked diligently to create; many of whom are still an integral part of the Proctor community today. I’m looking forward to continuing to build the legacy of our program out of the foundation built before my time joining the Proctor Lacrosse family!

What kind of of things drew you to proctor?

Having grown up both in New Hampshire and in the boarding school community, I’ve always held an affinity to Proctor. The value behind Proctor’s educational mission to provide a worldly sense of purpose and experience in learning is something that I hold close

to my values as an educator. When I heard there was an opportunity to join such a strong community that shared the values of learning that I did, both in the classroom, on the field, and in the school community, it was an immediate excitement. I love that a Proctor student can achieve on the field, in the classroom, across the waters of Ocean Classroom or the American countryside in Mountain Classroom, all while being an artist, an athlete, scholar, leader, and entrepreneur. You don’t come to Proctor to go to school, you come to gain an education and that’s what makes it such a special place to ‘work’.

What are you excited about for this upcoming school year?

Simple; making Proctor my home. Well, that and I suppose bringing home the Lakes Region wouldn’t be too bad either!

Are you ...’s Sister/Brother ?

By Lauren Ho

Every year with the departure of summer and the turnover of the leaves welcoming fall, Proctor’s campus bustles with new students from all over the world. Among this year’s group of incoming students, there are many phenomenal athletes, talented musicians, skillful artists, and a plethora of other students, each with their own passions and gifts to contribute to the Proctor community. Whether they start their first day with a twelve hour cross country drive, a seventeen hour flight or a fifteen minute drive, the moment each new student steps onto campus and makes their debut, they start creating an unique experience.

For some students, this experience can be slightly or largely affected by the role of their siblings: whether they entered Proctor together for the same academic year, or if one started at Proctor before the other, or if the sibling graduated and became a recent alumni. Does having someone who is or was at Proctor to pave a path for you make the transition easier? Does it give you an unwanted and/or unrealistic advantage? And finally, does entering during same year create opportunities for conflict and competition?

As first year junior twins, Audrey and Caitlin Colgin made an easy transition to Proctor. They noted that the transition was smoother with someone they know well by their side. Prior to school starting, they had gone to Chile with the Proctor ski team and had said they’d only stuck to each other for the first few days, but then started to make friends with the Proctor students who were kind and welcoming. It would’ve been much harder those first few days if they had been without each other. On another note, they also said there’s always been a competitive aspect to their relationship who gets better grades, who starts in soccer, who has a faster ski time - starting on a ‘clean slate’ here gave them both the chance to prove that they’re better than the other.

Incoming freshman, Torrie Ball, the younger sister of 2016 graduate, Katie Ball, says “it’s been great and [she’s been] having so much fun with orientation, getting to know other students and familiarising [herself] with the lifestyle here”. On having had an older sister here before her, she says she loves it when people come up to her and ask “are you Katie Ball’s sister?”, and clearly notes that it was much better starting Proctor already having known a little bit about it from her sister.

In my experience, being a younger sibling of a recent graduate has had it’s perks, and it’s also had some drawbacks.

In some ways, having a brother who went here has made the transition easier, because people come up to me and introduce themselves as his friends. He’s a resource that I use almost on the daily - asking him about all the people I meet, questions about courses I’m taking that he sat through two years ago, and how to make the most of my time here. It’s made it less daunting, because I’ve been to campus before met some incredible people prior to starting as a student myself. It’s made me feel like I’m not a complete stranger. It’s interesting being known to a lot of people as “Nick’s sister”, not in a particularly good or bad way, but it feels in some ways like people expect us to be similar and that makes it a bit hard to start completely fresh.

To end on a high note, we hope all the new students are integrating themselves well into the community. We’re all looking forward to a great year of laughter, friendships, learning, growing and adjusting for first year (and returning) students!

CLASS OF 2021 FALL HIKE

EYES

Dantong Xu I look into your eyes Beneath the sun They reflect something vague and vast.

Is it the ocean?

Is it the desert?

Is it the forest covered with feathers and furs?

Is it the dying star leaving us on the horse of time?

I think not.

I couldn’t tell If it’s the reservoir of love, Or the habitat of hate.

Perhaps it’s a mixture, Of the cold Atlantic current And the warm Pacific bay.

But who am I to tell?

The eyes belong to you, Not me.

I merely looked into them, Something you will never be able to do Unless you dare, To look into mine.

Then you will find A reflecting soul, illuminated by the sun.

Like a moon hanging in the long, gentle nights Of October sky.