Editor’s note: we’ve covered the benefits & importance of afternoon athletics and activities in several posts. Physical recreation, drama productions, and club meetings provide outlets adding richness and breadth of experience to boarding school students.  Kim Hurlbutt of Proctor Academy’s development office contributes this piece presenting Proctor’s thinking on the broadening of afternoon and activities and what it means to the school’s students.  Thanks, Kim

A few decades ago, afternoon activities at independent schools were dominated by team athletics. While the role of competitive sports remains significant on most campuses, alternative activities abound, providing students opportunities to customize their pre-college experiences.

Perhaps in response to the demands of our “customers,” many schools offer a stunning selection of afternoon options.

Proctor Academy, for example, competes with varied success in football, soccer, hockey, basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball, tennis and other predictable sports with more than a dozen New England prep schools. But we recently completed an upgrade to Proctor’s website that advertises the following alternatives to athletics: band & recording, ceramics, community service, dance, field and stream, freestyle skiing, horseback riding, kayaking, photography, rock climbing, self defense, ski patrol, snowboarding, theater, woods team and yearbook!

The expansion of non-athletic activities reflects an evolving market niche for the school.

Overlaying Proctor’s long-established commitment to experiential programming, academic support structures and informal social ethos is recognition of a new, marketable quality: the cultivation of individuals. Here, as in college, students can identify areas of concentration, enabling specialization and advanced mastery. While one student may choose multiple science electives while spending afternoon ski jumping, another may pursue jazz trumpet and boat building.

View our winter Afternoon Program video:

Photo credit: Proctor Academy