ANDOVER — During the first week of September, 27 Proctor students participated in the inaugural Hornet Leadership Camp. Megan Hardie, Dean of Community Life and Class 2026 Dean, led the charge, alongside Class Deans Ellie Sperry (Class of 2028 Dean), Kyle Connolly (Class of 2027 Dean), and Ben Bartoldus (Class of 2025 Dean). The deans, faculty, and staff guest speakers, as well as outside speakers, facilitated a week of learning for this group of 27 students. 

As students new to Proctor ventured into the White Mountains on Wilderness Orientation, leadership camp participants had the campus to themselves, with a full slate of activities, from morning and stretching well into the evening each day. They built a supportive leadership “micro-community” from the ground up and engaged in activities designed to build self-awareness and confidence, and to take ownership of opportunities to lead.

Throughout the week, the focus fell squarely on how students can impact student culture, set the tone across the community as we begin a new school year, and take charge of opportunities to lead in multiple contexts. The week’s sessions and activities included:

Welcoming new students into our community, helping orient them on their registration day, and beginning to foster their sense of belonging
Leadership concepts, conflict resolution, and group dynamics
Stages of grief and supporting community
Be L.O.V.E.D. (Living our values every day)
Sense of place: Self — Places/people that have meaning to us
Sense of place: People — Shadowing our staff
Sense of place: Land — Our environmental mission
Planning for Fall Term Days: What do you want to accomplish? Refining the details. What will we own at the opening of school/during the fall term?
Power of Assembly: How do we lead in our largest classroom?
Relationships and Boundaries training with learning courage: Consent supporting healthy relationships.

Sometimes, the most powerful thing we as educators can do is step back and entrust students with responsibility. Whether it’s running assembly, reimagining dorm leadership, or spearheading other community initiatives, we create space for students to lead. The challenge for Leadership Camp participants will be to apply their newfound skills beyond this group, carrying forward what they have learned as they craft the next evolution of what it means to be a leader at Proctor.