Together while Apart Alumni Together Series Highlights

from Proctor Magazine | Fall 2021

Alumni Stories

Willis Brown ’07

coming FuLL circLe: sustAinAbiLity And business

A review of the water cycle taught in introductory biology classes reminds us that while molecules change states, each eventually returns to its origins. While the water cycle is often depicted in a nice, circular graphic, the actual path of each molecule is far from linear, just as our paths through life weave in unpredictable ways. For Willis Brown ‘07, a childhood spent on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean morphed into a career freestyle skiing, teaching surfing, and helping run a brewery before he was once again drawn to the cold Atlantic waters and a new beginning with the launch of his company Seagreen, a kelp based daily supplement routine.

A Manchester, Massachusetts native, Willis initially found Proctor because of its fledgling freestyle ski program, but it was the entirety of his experience in Andover that left the biggest impact on him. “When I think about Proctor and my time there, I think about the friendships I made, the faculty like Matt and Annie Mackenzie and Dave Pilla who connected with me and guided me, and the school’s willingness to be itself.” He adds, “Before it was cool to do so, Proctor unabashedly cared about the environment even if it gave off a more hippy-vibe to our more athletically-minded peer schools. Proctor said to us as students, ‘We want you doing Woods Team, playing in the pond, going on Orientation, going off-campus on Ocean Classroom and Mountain Classroom because those experiences connect you to the natural world, and that is the most important thing we can do as a school for our students.’”

Weekend surf trips to the coast and a Senior Project shaping surfboards under the watchful eye of Dave Pilla with classmate Chris Landers ‘07 complemented winters spent traveling the country skiing competitively in Willis’ own seasonal water cycle that would continue through his college years. His ski career continued as a student at the University of Colorado-Boulder, skiing on the national stage each winter trimester, while working towards his degree in International Affairs and Marketing. Following college, Willis embraced stints teaching surfing in San Diego and Hawaii, before returning to Aspen, Colorado where he helped run The Aspen Brewing Company and continued to ski. A return to the east coast in 2018 landed Willis at a bottled water startup called Essential Water, but his environmental conscience soon drew him away from this endeavor, “I woke up one day with this powerful realization that what I was doing was counter to all I believed in. I quit that job, and drove around Canada for a year skiing until I suffered a serious injury in February 2020 that ended my ski career and forced/allowed me to start fresh and really think about what my next adventure would be.”

The perfect storm of COVID-19 and his ankle injury canceled two planned ski and surf videos for Outside TV that would have focused on the hydrocycle, but Willis and two friends quickly pivoted and pitched a sailing and surfing adventure along the Maine coast to Outside TV. “We called an audible, scraped together sponsorships from Yeti, Goal Zero, and Badfish, and planned a whole trip only powered by the solar panels on our small sailboat. We surfed and sailed and met with local aquaculturists, small farmers, restaurateurs, and sailed in and out of remote islands throughout Maine’s coast. Along the way I fell in love with kelp as this amazing collagen superfood of the sea and wanted to figure out how to share this discovery with others.”

Willis went from drying kelp on the life rails of the boat for sustenance to brainstorming how this remarkably regenerative plant could become part of people’s daily routine while also improving the coastal ecosystems in which it grew. “I quickly learned the majority of people do not want to eat kelp outright, but if there could be a vessel that combined kelp with other healthy ingredients, I might be onto something.” Willis’ ingenuity and persistence led to the development of a daily dietary supplement called Seagreen. Working with a partner kelp farm in Freeport, Maine, Seagreen plants ten kelp seedlings for each unit sold, Seagreen officially launched in April 2021, and immediately saw a powerful response from potential customers. “People all have a morning routine, and Seagreen is finding its way into more and more people’s routines. People are putting it in their coffee and smoothies, and I am excited to see where we can grow from here.” Willis adds, “This product, this company, is a full circle representation of the impact Proctor had in my life - surfing, skiing, relationships, the water cycle, a deep care for the environment, and a willingness to take risks with confidence. It’s been quite the ride that I hope continues.”

“One of the most powerful things I have learned is that if you just explore and have fun and try to adventure around the world, but are friendly and kind and stay connected to the people you meet, those relationships come full circle.”

Together while Apart

Who we are today is not who we will be forever, regardless of our age. We tell this to our students each year, and try to live it out ourselves as educators. But the core of who we are, the mark left by experiences we have had, the relationships we have cultivated during our lives, the sense of place created when living and learning at a place like Proctor - that core never goes away.

Over the past year, Proctor’s Alumni Office in partnership with the Alumni Association hosted virtual engagement opportunities of “Together Series” events. These Zoom meetings connected alumni with specific faculty, staff, and former employees for open conversations about Proctor, life, and days gone by. Beyond the obvious goal of keeping alumni connected, they have served as a beautiful reminder of how we can celebrate evolving identities, while remaining rooted in common ground.