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Wilderness Orientation: A Continuity of Culture How does the culture of an organization sustain over time? Is it the people? The mission? What is it that empowers a continuity of culture at Proctor that spans generations of students, employees and parents? We believe the way we choose to intentionally step into each school year plays an invaluable role in creating and sustaining our culture. Each September, new Proctor students arrive on campus and immediately begin their Proctor journey in the same way every other Proctor student has since 1971: Wilderness Orientation. The brainchild of former Head of School David Fowler and Assistant Head of School Chris Norris, Wilderness Orientation weaves mission, program, and people into an incredibly powerful, complex, cultural underpinning of the school. The endeavor requires all members of the community to do their part: faculty orientation leaders engage in SOLO Wilderness First Aid training and lead small student groups for five days through the wilderness, Orientation Support staff plan food, prep gear, permit routes, and organize transportation to send 130 students and 36 leaders into the White Mountains, while students and parents trust us to execute this task safely. Every student has their Wilderness Orientation tale, often with the challenges and feats of accomplishment growing exponentially over time. Stories of downpours, wet sleeping bags, burned food, and blisters complementing unforgettable views and friendships that sustain to this day. These individual narratives become our collective story. They become us. Quite simply, we believe Wilderness Orientation catalyzes the relationships that serve as the foundation of Proctor’s culture, and it is worth our time, energy, and investment to ensure we are prepared, trained, and equipped to have the best start to the year possible. Collectively, we have kept Proctor’s mission and the benefits of Wilderness Orientation clearly in focus. We have resisted the temptations to stray off the path, to take the easy trail, to bend to the fears of those who do not fully understand why we do what we do. There have been (and will continue to be) moments when the execution of a program like Wilderness Orientation simply feels like too much. But, when we have a mission that centers us, and a community that believes in that mission, we hold the course. We do the hard things because we believe in their impact on our community and their contribution to our culture. We prepare our bags, lace up our boots, pack our sleeping bags, and embark on the best, hardest five days of the year.
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