Day Student Proctors Undertake Dorm Duty
In order to further integrate day students into dorm and on-campus student life, all day student proctors will perform dorm duty alongside boarding proctors for the first time in PEA history.
Starting in the 2019-2020 school year, 22 day student proctors selected by dorm heads and administrators will work with boarder proctors and library proctors to build the community. They were chosen after a rigorous process that included a written application, student surveys and interviews.
Prior to this change, only a few day students could proctor underclassmen as library proctors, supervising the study carrels typically reserved by day students. Still, “not many day student proctors do [library duty],” according to day student library proctor and senior Alan Xie, who regretfully described the waning number of day students hanging out there.
According to Dean of Residential Life Carol Cahalane, the day student proctors and library proctors used to be separate jobs. In recent years, the proctors could choose to be either both or only one. Currently, the E Book states that day student proctors are meant to assist all new day students in adjusting to school and to provide them with guidance, but some students have expressed doubts over the effectiveness of this role. “They’ve never particularly done anything for me,” day student and lower Noah James said. “I’ve never really encountered one.”
The recent revision now requires day student proctors to do dorm duty in their affiliate dorms, allowing them to better support day students as well as boarders. They will be expected to take part in the same training as boarder proctors, attend faculty-proctor meetings, help organize dorm events, serve as a bridge between boarders and day students and address general proctor responsibilities.
Cahalane explained that the dorm-affiliated day student proctors will aid the community of 200 day students—currently the largest residential group on campus. “[Previously,] we had a dozen day student proctors taking care of 200+ day studs … It was hard for day students to connect with the proctors,” she said. “So we talked to the [day student] proctors asking them how to improve and the idea of having them become more affiliated with the dorm came into mind.”
Many faculty members are supportive of the change and expressed their hopes of creating a more supportive community. “Because dorms are such important little communities inside a larger community, then having day student inside those dorms helps build connections between them and the boarders,” Dean of Academic Affairs Brooks Moriarty said.
Similarly, Webster dorm head Alex Myers noted that the growing connection between day students and boarders may help the school support all of its students. “I hope they’ll remind us about what day student affiliates need and want,” he said.
The changes seem like a “natural evolution” for the day student proctor program, according to English Instructor Genevieve Moriarty. “It is a wonderful way to help day students integrate more fully into the community,” she said.
Students also expressed their approval of the new day student proctor role. Rising Webster Hall day student proctor and upper Sam Lew expressed excitement about his new duties and the prospect of helping other day students. “When I was a prep we didn’t have day student affiliation and it was really hard for me to be part of the community,” he said. “I hope that the day student proctors will invite the day students to come and hang out with the dorm.”
Day student, library and boarding proctors have already attended an introductory training seminar led by Cahalane and B. Moriarty. In the leadership training, the proctors received an overview of what to do in specific situations as well as what their jobs were. “The focus is truly to teach us to become the best possible helpers and mentors that we can,” incoming day student proctor Jade Goulet said.
Next week, all proctors will engage in more in-depth training in three separate groups based on dorm affiliation on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
For many rising day student proctors, their new role encompasses their desire to improve student life. Now that Kelleher has been selected as a day student proctor for McConnell, she hopes create a stronger bond with the day students. “I hope that as a proctor in McConnell, I can help them feel comfortable in a dorm environment by inviting them to dorm events or simply by encouraging them to stop by while I’m on duty,” Kelleher said.