HORNET’S NEST Proctor Academy | November 8, 2016 | Issue 5
A TIPI OUTSIDE SLOCUMB STANDS TALL AND WHITE, AT ODDS WITH THE NEUTRAL BROWNS AND ORANGES OF A NEW ENGLAND FALL.
Proctor and the Native American Connection By Katie Ball
Proctor’s relationship with Native American cultures and communities remains a subtle stitch in the fabric of the school; only a devoted few work to keep the connection alive. With this valiant constituency’s efforts, Proctor’s connection to the Lakota people is making a resurgence. Despite fading into obscurity in the years following the departures of George Emeny and David Fowler (the founders of the Proctor-Lakota relationship), this year marks one of the most diverse that Proctor has seen in some time. Students today can participate in a variety of ways to strengthen a relationship deeply rooted in Proctor’s identity. What is essential to maintaining and building this precious element of Proctor? “The connection is grounded in friendship.” says Lori Patriacca, director of the program. Lori, who traveled to South Dakota over the summer to the Rosebud Reservation, continues: “In the last two years we
have been steadily reinvigorating the connection by investing in our relationships… We are so fortunate to have such authentic relationships with people like Jon Jon Around Him and Emily White Hat. They are both willing to have tough conversations with us. The key is to approach each person and each topic with deep compassion and humility.” The larger Proctor community supports these relationships in a variety of ways, such as having JR White Hat visit campus for Earth Day, Mountain Classroom visiting the Rosebud Reservation and meeting with the people working to bring back the Native American Connection, and Tom Morgan’s class connecting with Jon Jon Around Him’s class in Baltimore. The Proctor Native American Connection isn’t only for learning about other cultures and their history; it is about meeting the people, about striving for an understanding of their reality. As Lori said, it is first about compassion. There is a painful history surrounding Native Americans, one that can be difficult to talk about. The real value of the Native American Connection is revealed when one realizes that it affords a univer-
sal learning opportunity, one where the lessons learned can be applicable to many different experiences. Indeed, compassion is immeasurably important to learn and unquantifiably hard to teach. Proctor students have a truly unique opportunity to practice compassion and open mindedness through the Native American Connection. For students interested in celebrating the Native American connection: an excellent way to get to know others involved, inside and out of the immediate Proctor Community, is to participate in an Inipi Ceremony. Held on select Sundays at the Elbow Pond sweat lodge, the Inipi ceremony is also known colloquially as “a sweat”, for that is what participants will do. Within the insulated, low-ceilinged sweat lodge, hot rocks are placed in a central hole and water ladled over them to create waves of heat. When the blanketed flap covers the entrance, the lodge becomes perfectly dark. Steve Lamb conducts this ceremony. Lamb is a local man who has traveled to the Rosebud Reservation with the Proctor faculty group and whose knowledge surrounding the Lakota traditions is invaluable to rebuilding the
Native American connection. During the Inipi ceremony, Lamb talks the partic ipants through the Lakota philosophy and explains parts of the ceremony as he goes along. He drums and sings Lakota songs, and his rhythmic chanting and the energetic beat reverberates in the chests of everyone huddling, panting, and wiping sweat out of their eyes. There are moments when the flap to the lodge is thrust open, and even the waning light of the late afternoon is blinding against the thick, heavy darkness of the lodge. And at the end, participants emerge drenched with sweat, shivering in the cool autumn air. But everyone is smiling, feeling refreshed and renewed. It is a cleansing, culturally valuable experience that completely lacks a counterpart in western society. The future of the Native American Connection remains ‘hopefully ambiguous’. The program is moving in a positive direction with the annual service trip to the Rosebud Reservation, but there remain many more venues to explore expansion. Lori comments: “Proctor used to host a powwow, there used to be a spring term exchange program with the Pine Ridge School, there was a Lakota Language and Culture course taught in the spring, and Native American Studies was at one time an elective.” The program is strengthening, evolving to the needs of the school at this time, and with the support of students, faculty, parents, and alumni, there is no reason to believe that the Native American Connection can not be brought back to it’s full strength and beyond. Practicing compassion, building meaningful relationships, and learning to overcome past wounds are all lessons Proctor and Lakota students can learn together. The Native American Connection emphasizes experiential education, the core values, and renewing something that is an integral part of our own history.
The New Dorm By Neal Shivakumar
A new dorm is coming. Since Thoreau House tragically burned down this summer, the school has scrambled to find beds for all of its boarding students, making the new dorm a high priority. This new dorm has raised a lot of questions however: when will it be finished? How is
CALEB, DREW, AND GEO
CONSTRUCTION OF NEW DORM
it being built so fast? What will its name be? Is it a boys dorm or a girls dorm? Thanks to John Ferris, all of these questions now have answers. “The school had already been planning a dorm there. So one of the things that enabled us to expedite this construction [was that] we already had construction drawings - so it was already planned out. That saved us a couple of months.” Ferris added: “For the construction method, we went to modular, which means all of this was built with a company called Preferred Building Systems in Claremont, New Hampshire. They built everything inside a temperature and humidity controlled building. The dorm came in ten different pieces.” Once these pieces arrived, John said that the building was assembled with a crane, almost like legos. “When the building [is] delivered, all the plumbing is installed, all the wiring is installed, all the data cables are installed, even all of kitchen cabinets are installed.” When the ten pieces arrived, they were, for the most part, finished on the inside. This method of building saves a lot of working out in the cold and is a much quicker way to assemble. As Ferris remarks: “It’s crazy that a truck can carry pieces of building like this.” Besides wondering how the dorm was built so fast, many students have inquired as to who will live in the dorm. According to Ferris, the new dorm will be a boys dorm. He also shared some other interesting information as well. According to Ferris “This dorm is for eleven students. There are three singles, four doubles, and an attached faculty apartment that has three
bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. There is also a common room downstairs in the dorm area and . . . a study room upstairs.” Ferris also shared an interesting fact about the showers, “There is a great ratio of showers to students. The dorm has about 3 students to one shower.” With that kind of ratio, waiting in line for a shower will be a thing of the past. When asked about the name of the dorm, Ferris said that it had not been named yet, and that as of now it will be called the West End dorm. The dorm is on schedule to open at the beginning of Winter Term. It seems that modular building can be the right way to go for many buildings—it’s cost effective, saves time, and saves extra work that otherwise would have had to be done outside. The West End dorm seems very exciting and may be worth considering for next year for anyone who wants a nice quiet dorm and hates waiting in line for the shower.
Committed Athletes By Sarah Ferdinand
With the recent passing of the first college application deadline, the seniors of Proctor are slowly inching closer and closer towards paving the pathways of their next few years. For a unique group of these seniors, this pathway has been under construction since an early age. To compete in athletics at a collegiate level is a major cognitive and physical commitment, not to mention the extensive periods of time dedicated to conditioning and training.
For several years now, these athletes have been balancing academic and athletic rigor. Finally, the time has come for some of our students to reap the fruits of their dedication and hard work. We are proud to acknowledge the members of the Class of 2017 that have already entered this new phase of their life by committing to play at the collegiate level. For Geo Baker, Caleb Green, and Tshiefu Ngalakulondi, committing to play basketball at the collegiate level marks the beginning of a new adventure, yet it also marks the sixth, and final, season that these athletes will be playing with each other out on the court. During interviews with Geo Baker and Caleb Green, thoughts were shared about the challenges and rewards that go along with being a student athlete at Proctor, their individual recruitment process, and the challenges that higher level competition will entail. Geo Baker, a Rutgers University commit, stated that the most difficult part about being a student athlete is managing his time. “I remember a lot of times last year where we would choose to go straight back to our dorms after practice to start homework instead of hanging out with friends,” he said. Seconding this, Tshiefu Ngalakulondi, a basketball commit for St. Bonaventure, added that, “People don’t always recognize the education part of student athletes lives, they assume that athletes only focus on their sports. I see that differently, I think that education is what makes you a student athlete; if you don’t focus on your education, the sport you play doesn’t really matter.” A major influence in these three men is their uer Athletic Union) Thompson. All three of
the lives of AAU (Amatcoach, T.J. these players
have been under the coaching and mentorship of Thompson since before the seventh grade. The men credit Thompson as their most influential mentor throughout their recruiting and decision process. Caleb Green, a Holy Cross commit, told us: “Ever since middle school, [Thompson] has been guiding me through school. He was the person who actually got me to look into attending Proctor. He is pretty much the reason [why] I have the opportunity to become a Division One athlete.” Ever since his sophomore year at Proctor, Drew McInnis, another male basketball player to have already committed to a school, knew it was his personal goal to play basketball in college. “I committed to Clarkson because I felt an instant connection with the coach. The type of player that he was looking for is exactly the type of game that I play.” However, the balance between academic success and competitive athletics is equally as important to McInnis. “They have a great business program at Clarkson as well, which was a huge plus for me when I made my decision, because I knew I could play basketball while also excelling academically.” All of the committed athletes have opportunities, role models, and teammates to be grateful for. “Before high school, I never really took basketball seriously. Now I believe that without basketball, I probably wouldn’t have thought about attending a Division One college.” Ngalakulondi stated. With admittance to college completed, these athletes also have to start to prepare for what lies ahead of them. “Looking forward, I wouldn’t say what I am feeling is necessarily fear, because there is so much for me to prepare for: getting bigger, stronger, and faster. Right now, I’m just trying to mentally prepare for that process,” Green told us.
For Chandler Devaney and Dillon Fitzpatrick, playing lacrosse at the collegiate level was practically inevitable. “I’ve known that I wanted to play lacrosse at the collegiate level for some time now, pretty much from when first picked up a lacrosse stick,” said Devaney. Now committed to USAFA, Devaney will be playing Division One Lacrosse starting next spring. “It has been a goal of mine for many years to serve in the military and defend the rights of people who have given me so much. At the same time, I’ve always wanted to play Division One lacrosse, so this was the ideal route to take.” After deciding to pursue lacrosse over alpine skiing, Fitzpatrick was equally sure of his decision to play lacrosse in college. “I always enjoyed the team aspect of lacrosse more. Winning in an individual sport such as ski racing brings great self accomplishment, but being able to win on a team with forty of your closest friends is something else,” he said. Unlike most seniors, all of the athletes mentioned in this article already know where they’ll be attending next fall. This commitment lifts a huge burden from the shoulders of these students, however, the pressure to stay at the top of their game is equally overwhelming. There was a general consensus between these men that, for students with their
TSHIEFU NGALAKULONDI
hectic schedules, time management is key. “You have to find time to be practicing, weight-lifting, [and] keeping up with your academics,” said Devaney. “After committing to a sport, there’s a standard that you have to maintain, both physically and academically, in order to be successful in [any sport] at the next level.” According to Fitzpatrick, the added pressure to improve on top of other such time commitments can make it difficult to strike a balance. “Utilizing my free time to my advantage was a struggle for me at first, but motivating myself to become the best I can be after committing is very important,” Fitzpatrick said. Fortunately, students feel supported by the network of teammates, coaches, friends, both in and out of the Proctor community. “By the end of the year or season, teammates know exactly how others play and how we work together, either on the field or court. I think that really goes to show how much bonding there is on the team sports here at Proctor. It’s the ultimate best part about being on a team,” Baker said. When we asked McInnis who he viewed as his most influential mentor throughout his recruitment process, he told us that his coach, Gregor, introduced this process to him, and then continued to help him throughout the entire process. “He has pushed me over the last few years and has turned me into the player that I am today. He is someone that really I look up to for support and advice.” Fitzpatrick echoed a similar sentiment, referencing the support of the community and his teammates. “That’s what really makes you feel like you are part of something special here at Proctor.” Other committed athletes in the Class of 2017 that were not interviewed for this article include Amanda Torres, Reilly Walsh, and Jack Hounchell. Amanda Torres will be playing Division One basketball at University of New Hampshire next year. Reilly Walsh has committed to Harvard University, where he plans to play ice hockey. Finally, Jack Hounchell will be playing for the Wheaton College Men’s lacrosse team next year.
Lego Leggings By K Irving
A teacher asked me a few days ago, after noting my leggings, if I would feel comfortable walking around campus with no pants on at all. And when I confusedly confessed that I would not, that I would prefer to be clothed, she told me that in that case, I shouldn’t feel comfortable in my leggings. This is a problem. And it’s a problem I’ve spent hours staring at my blinking cursor trying to configure into some sort of coherent tirade. Evidently, it is extremely difficult. But I’m going to try. I intend only to be a voice for the students. And the general millennial consensus is this: leggings are as formal as any other dress-code-permitted pant. They are far from sweatpants, and not to be confused with tights. They are black pants, they are respectable, neat, and clean, and we like them. Unfortunately, this is not widely agreed upon among enforcers of the dress code. Which is not to say that anyone is intentionally attacking anyone else -- in fact, quite the opposite. I have known (and lived with) educators long enough to know that they always want what is best for their students. They do not reprimand for the sake of punishment, and they never scold for the sake of humiliation. So why is a rule so universally despised by students being continuously enforced to greater and greater extents by their mentors? Why are students so desperately pulling at sweatshirts to cover their thighs for fear that that area is being scrutinized? Why is this community, that has been through so much together, being diminished to fragility, cracking under the pressure of a certain clothing article that has a bit more spandex than cotton? I haven’t quite figured it out yet, and won’t pretend I have. I can only suspect that such a palpable division will be detrimental to our community in the future. Throughout my four years at Proctor, I have found that we show professionalism with our actions and leave outward appearances to individuality. I have felt comfortable setting out for class in my grandmother’s old flannel or wearing my camo-crocs to dinner. I don’t have a particular interest in changing that. I don’t
want to pin my cardigans and I don’t want to take a ruler to my kneecap or be held after class or stopped in hallways. I want comfort and security of clothing choices to be a guarantee for all members of the community. I sincerely hope that our values will be reevaluated in the future and that our dress code will reflect these. Until then, you can find me in my leggings.
ARTHUR MAKECHNIE AT THE SITE OF THE NEW DINING COMMONS
Staff Spotlight: Arthur Makechnie, Dining Services By Nick Ho
Arthur Makechnie was born on May 15, 1937, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He grew up in the Boston area, and went to Ohio Wesleyan University for undergrad. He attended the University of Wisconsin, studying history for his graduate degree. In 1985, he found his way to Proctor, and has been working in dining services ever since. Students and faculty can often find Art working tirelessly in the dining commons, pouring his love out in the food he prepares. Many don’t know that Art once had aspirations to pursue a career as a history professor. Even fewer, however, know that as a boy, Art dreamed of being a veterinarian. His love of animals prompted his father to purchase a small farm of two pigs, four sheep, a cow, and over a hundred chicken. “It was an amazing experience, and it helped… quicken my desire
to become a veterinarian,” says Art. Unfortunately, due to family finances, the farm didn’t pan out and Art’s family moved back to Lexington, Massachusetts, near BU where his father worked as dean.
that he discovered his love of cooking. He recounts how lucky he has been to be able to work at jobs where he can explore his passion, as food service director both at the Cambridge School and at Proctor.
After graduating from Lexington High School, Art attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he ran cross country, often playing the role of the team displacer. He excitedly recalls how being a part of the team enabled him to travel, seeing more of the country than he could have previously imagined.
After Heather’s passing this summer, Art moved in to Gregor and Amy’s house, and is becoming accustomed to his new living arrangements. “Making the passage from living with Heather for forty-five years and giving up the house was difficult, [but] they’ve been very welcoming. The kids are constantly saying, ‘I love you,’ which is so great.” Art expresses how moved he was that Gregor reached out to him and took initiative in the transition process. “It’s really a wonderful opportunity to mesh with Gregor’s family, and to extend myself to other families… This is going to give me further opportunity to be a good grandfather beyond Andover.”
After completing graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Art married Heather Kellenbeck. “We had a short courtship, and much to my surprise, she wanted children right off. A few months into our marriage, she was pregnant, and along came Gregor.” Art recalls how he began to face financial struggles after grad school, primarily due to the fact that there was minimal demand for history teachers. “My friends were all going into the career paths that you might expect. Some went into law; some went into government. But I always thought that my second career, if it came to that, would be food service. I decided to break loose.” Art moved to Maine with his family, and began work at a summer camp there. With the help of his father, he found another job as a baker at Boston University, where he worked until he landed a job as the food service director of the Cambridge School of Weston. Five years later, Art and Heather made the collective decision that it was once again time for change.
Art extends a closing piece of advice to the members of the Proctor community, “Find out what it is that arouses your passion. Don’t think about how lucrative a job might be. Think of what captures you, what draws you in, what [causes] you to lose track of the time, because you like the work so much that time flies. That’s when passion becomes involved.”
Special Olympics
By Joe Grunberger Special Olympics: New Hampshire is an organization that helps persons with intel-
lectual disabilities participate in organized athletic competition. On Saturday October 1st, Proctor Academy hosted their third annual Special Olympics event, which raised money for the Special Olympics. Special Olympic athletes and Proctor students were given the opportunity to participate in multiple races: a 4.5 mile family cycling ride, a 20 mile cycling race, a 5K race, and the unified 1.5 mile run; where Special Olympians, Proctor students, and faculty raced together. A total of 216 students, faculty, and staff volunteered for many different tasks that made the entire event possible. There were a total of eighty Special Olympians and eightysix students, faculty, and staff participated in the races. Despite the raw weather, the attitude amongst everyone who showed up was positive. Students constantly cheered on racers and maintained their enthusiasm throughout the entirety of the event. Gregor Makechnie, received the Spirit of New Hampshire award for his volunteer work with Special Olympics. We asked Gregor for a short refleion on the award. “It is exciting to financially support mission driven organizations like Special Olympics that serve meaningful societal needs. More exciting, though, is the opportunity the Rail Trail Rally presents us as a school community to have fun and to share that which makes us special with others. In our partnership with Special Olympics we are afforded opportunity to forge relationships with people we might not otherwise meet, and who, through their resilience in the face of intellectual challenge, teach us much
In March of 1985, Art came to Proctor Academy to interview for a job. Chris Norris was the interim headmaster at the time, standing in for David Fowler who was on sabbatical in Spain. “I came up here and had a nice interview with Chris Norris and Steve Thoreau. It progressed from there, one thing led to another, and I landed here at Proctor.” Art has worked in Proctor’s kitchen for more than thirty-one years, but his passion for food service took roots well before arriving on campus in 1985. As a college student, Art worked at summer camps, preparing meals for campers, and it was there
GREGOR MAKECHNIE RECIEVED THE SPIRIT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AWARD FOR HIS VOLUNTEER WORK WITH SPECIAL OLYMPICS
about empathy, grace and perseverance. Our partnership with Special Olympics is mutually enriching.” Recently, Proctor, with the help of Gregor and many others, has created a unified soccer team of Special Olympians and Proctor students; the team practices together in preparation for matches against other schools. Coming up is the Prep School Plunge where students from many schools come together to dip into freezing cold water to raise money for Special Olympics: New Hampshire. Gregor expresses his gratitude towards the Proctor community for all their hard work, and positive energy throughout the event. He hopes to see continued support in the months to follow, especially in the Prep School Plunge.
compared to other activities, is that it takes the ability to master the dances completely, leaving no room for errors or mistakes. Mimi Humphrey, a sophomore on the Girls Varsity Soccer team, said: “If you make a mistake in soccer you can easily recover from it by working hard to get the ball back.” However, Milah Davies is on Dance Crew and she says: “Dancing is a culture that brings people together, it’s less like a sport and more of an expression of feeling and emotion. Every step, every move, every beat is like a sentence structure, with pauses and emphasis at every point.” Dance is an activity where concentration is key, and a dancer must be focused on everything they do. All of the steps and moves must be precise.
Dance Article
The dancers work hard during their afternoon rehearsal period, learning new choreography every day, both improvised and rehearsed. The dancers have to always be on task during rehearsal so they don’t miss a key step that will be important in their final show. Milah says: “One thing I really love about dance is that it is an art where you can express yourself through movement, rather than words.” Milah is this year’s Hip-Hop dance captain. Her responsibilities include coming up with choreography, picking out the right music, and making sure the dance moves match the beat. Dance is an excellent activity that is offered here at Proctor because it allows people to be creative in their own way while teaching a hard work ethic and leadership.
By Charlotte Johnson
“Ok, One and two, three and four, lift your legs, I see you back there! Five, six, seven and eight. Alright let’s do that one more time.” Have you ever thought about how much effort goes into preparing for a final show? Some people may not realize how much effort the girls and guys on the Dance Team put into to dance every day. A lot of people may underestimate all of the hard work the dancers do and how strenuous dance can be. Proctor’s dance program offers many different styles of dance, including Hip-Hop, Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical, Tap, Modern, and Musical Theater. One reason why they offer so many styles is to attract all different types of dancers and to show the students that you don’t have to be good at every style of dance. If you see a style that interests you, go for it. Instead of having many dance competitions, the dancers work extremely hard to learn, perfect, and master sixteen different dances for the final show in November. The people who choreograph these sixteen are the Dance Captains. Usually in a Dance Crew, there is only one dance captain, but this year the Dance Crew has three captains: Milah Davies, Addie Lindley, and Genevieve Galligan. The captaincy is given to the people who are best able to comprehend music and adapt to multiple dance styles. One really difficult thing about dance,
College Counseling By JoJo McDonald
The fall is the time for seniors to finalize college lists, finish applications, and wait for that time to click submit. As many members of the Proctor community know, this process can be stressful and time consuming. But applying for college comes with a support team - your advisor and your all-knowing college counselor. The college process really gets going at the beginning of Junior year, when students are assigned a college counselor whose job is to provide aid through this trying process. Counsellors work tirelessly to set students up for success. Whether it’s Mike or Michele, the college counsellor is the person working behind the scenes to ensure that everything is in check, from references to the small details in the Common Application. They are a student’s built-in college therapist. Some seniors have already found their number one school, the place that they know they want to spend the next four years of their life. A student applying to school though the Early Decision (ED) process is legally bound to that institution if accepted. Several seniors have made the courageous decision to apply ED to their dream school. Here is what they have to say: Nick Ho: “I’m applying early decision because I’ve found a school that I feel welcome to. I visited Williams College over
the summer, and I fell in love with it. Learning about Williams’ tutorial programs and their study-abroad opportunities has been getting me excited about the prospect of potentially spending my next for years there. I know that if I applied and was to be accepted through the regular application process, I would enroll without any hesitation (which is usually a pretty good indication that ED is the right choice, I think).” K Irving: “I never really thought I would be an ED kinda gal because I tend to shy away from long term commitments. But I’m also very intuitive, (which can sometimes be a bad thing unless it pertains to college). It was the fourth college of dozens that I visited, but I knew that it was my top choice and was going to stay to stay my [top] choice. Early Decision’s definitely not for everyone, but it’s definitely for me.” Alaina Robie: “I really liked the school and knew it was the place where I belonged.” Caroline Ellis: “I applied early decision because I am one hundred percent invested in the school. I knew it would help my chances, seeing as it is an extremely hard school to get into, if I showed my commitment to the school and I knew I wanted to be there. Despite this, I think if it were not such a rigorous school and I did not need the extra help of an ED application, I probably would have chosen to apply EA or regular. I think at this point in my life, I would take any chances I can to postpone such big decisions like the school I will go to.” This is an exciting and frightful time for seniors as they embark on a journey that will last at least the next four years. This time is a stressful one, but college counseling is available to all Juniors and Seniors. Proctor’s counsellors create a support system that is indescribably helpful.
Faculty Spotlight: Terry Stoecker
MICHELE WORKS WITH JAMES NEYLON P’16 ON HIS COLLEGE APPLICATION
of gratitude from the community, which I, for one, am extremely grateful for. “I am grateful for Barb Major! Barb leads the dining hall with an iron fist and a warm, open heart! She always has a smile on her face and her friendly presence makes her approachable. Next time you see Barb in the dining hall, introduce yourself, give her a big smile. She will become a pal!” - Addie Lindley TERRY STOECKER
time revolved primarily around theater, and when the opportunity arose to be a guest artist with Michael Littman on a theater piece to be displayed the following spring, Terry took it. Her connection with the students she collaborated with throughout the piece revolving around multi-culture awareness made her experiences worthwhile. Thus, compelling her to continue her line of work at Proctor, when another occasion surfaced this time as the theater director in the spring of 1992, sequencing to becoming the director of drama the same year. The same factors drawing Terry to Proctor are the same as those inspiring her teaching 26 years later. “I want students to learn to love themselves wholeheartedly so that they create the richest experience for themselves in their lifetime, Terry says. And it is these wishes that Terry pours into every chasm of Proctor. This ranges from her Freshman Seminar and Meditation courses, to the dorms of King House and Gulick and her advisory, as well as winter and spring horsemanship and beyond.The common consensus from students about Terry’s enthusiastic demeanor present at all times can distilled down to the following: “she’s super optimistic and encouraging. Terry’s class as a space where I can go to take a step back from Proctor life and be myself”. Being in the presence of Terry Stoecker, and her infectious joy for life, along with an ear scratch for her dog Gunner, puts a smile on faces all around the Proctor community.
By Izzy Tonneson
Gratitude Column
From the moment I stepped on campus I felt that I belonged here”, says Terry, recalling her initial arrival at Proctor toward the close of 1990. Her life at that
This week’s gratitude column is gathered from various students and faculty. It was so easy to see and gather the expressions
By Cope Makechnie
“I am grateful for walking through crunchy fall leaves on my way to class.” Amy Makechnie “I’m really grateful for my mom, who works all day and makes sure her students have opportunities and are learning everything as best they can, and as soon as she’s done teaching she goes home and takes care of my dad. It’s a 24/7 job but she never complains about being tired and somehow still has the energy to be an amazing mom.” - Annika Johnson “I am grateful for Terry Stoecker because she always reminds us to be thankful for others and our lives and shows us how to be humble. I love her!” - Jacqui Morris “I am grateful daily for my mother. She had a tough road and yet worked hours and hours outside of the home from the time I was about five years old. I am the youngest of 4. She kept K joy for life, along with an ear scratch for her dog Gunner, puts a smile on faces all around the Proctor community. “I am grateful daily for my mother. She had a tough road and yet worked hours and hours outside of the home from the time I was about five years old. I am the youngest of 4. She kept our family together. She had a warm heart, an open mind, and a demanding work ethic. She taught us how to do our chores, how to cook, how to clean, how to take care of ourselves and she loved us with all her heart. She taught us never to judge a book by it’s cover and she taught us to never stop learning new things and mastering new interests. She got knocked down numerous times and always rose again for her kids, she made a verb of the word resilience. I have so much admiration and gratitude for her and I feel her with me every day.” - Terry Stoecker
Off Campus Update OCEAN CLASSROOM