Proctor’s spring term began (with fresh snow!) on the vernal equinox — March 20 — with four days of “Project Period.” This annual event clusters students into small groups to explore highly diverse topics that reflect teachers’ passions.

This year’s 37 projects included dog sledding in Maine, winter mountaineering, crafting entrepreneurial business plans, social media, horseback riding, wilderness solos, flash mob, computer programming (Python), bow hunter education, everything Italian, and several involving cuisine arts. Many projects are perennial favorites: maple sugaring, quilting, sports medicine, steel drums, guitar, pinhole cameras and piano, and self-defense, to name a few.

Projects increasingly integrate community service into the curriculum. For example, Proctor students served as teaching interns in Mr. Wiley’s first grade class at AE/MS. Others taught at the Carroll School in Lincoln, Massachusetts. One group improved hiking trails on Proctor woodlands, while another painted murals in the Shirley Hall science classrooms.

Students restored tattered furniture and donated money from resale to charities. Triathletes worked with the Make A Wish Project. Two groups dedicated time to cleaning beaches on Cape Cod, while another partnered with students from a school in New Jersey to clean up communities ravaged by tropical storm Sandy on the Jersey shore.

Program Director Melanie Maness observes, “Project Period brings together students who might not otherwise know each other — seniors and freshmen, for example — to focus in-depth on something completely new and exciting. It is a great example of Proctor’s commitment to experiential education, and — most of all — it’s a fun way to start spring term!”