During the academic year, Proctor Academy offers five term-long off-campus programs to students. These programs (European Art Classroom, Mountain Classroom, Ocean Classroom, Proctor in Costa Rica, and Proctor en Segovia) have been central to Proctor’s educational model for well over 40 years, with roughly 90 students taking part in an off-campus experience each year.

Over the past four years, Proctor has added to its global reach by offering summer service learning trips to Guatemala and Southeast Asia. This year, a month-long pilot program to Yunnan, China from June 25 through July 28 was added to the list of off-campus experiences.

Eight students and two faculty members traveled through southwestern China within the Yunnan Province, east of the Himalayas on the Tibetan plateau to the village of Shangrila. Here, students transitioned to live with home-stay families and participated in four hours of language classes each day. During the weekends, students and the Proctor faculty chaperoning the trip (Jon Beard and Ilyena Kozain), took part in various excursions, including a five-day trek around Kawagarbo Mountain (about 22,000 feet high).

The eight students who took part in this summer’s China trip earned a year’s Mandarin language credit and will bring back a newly shaped worldview to campus this fall.