Trustee Spotlight
Sam Prouty
Sam Prouty is beginning his third year on Northwood’s Board. Currently, Director of Admissions at Middlebury College, his substantial experience at prep schools and in college admissions allows him to offer highly informed perspectives as Northwood plans its future.
After graduating from Swarthmore with a BA in 2000, he was an English teacher and college counselor at Hotchkiss School in Connecticut and Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One highlight of his teaching career was chaperoning a school trip to Antarctica. His enjoyment of time spent in Vermont while studying during the summers at Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English was a factor in his decision to join the College’s admission staff in 2014. In 2019 he became Director of that office. He is in demand as a speaker on the college admissions process.
Sam and I have had a chance to watch each other at work. In his first year on the Board, he visited a class that I taught on Slaughterhouse-Five. Since he had taught the book in his teaching days, we had a great talk afterward about teaching that novel. He enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm of the AP-level class he attended. Last year, he was kind enough to allow me to sit in on the decision-making process of Middlebury’s admissions committee. I was much impressed not only by the group’s organization and thoroughness but also by its comfortable, cheerful camaraderie. If candidates and parents could see the thoughtful discussions and rationale for decisions, I think they would feel comfortable with the thoroughness and fairness of the process. I have been a college counselor for fifty years, and my first chance to observe such a session was most beneficial to me.
In his free time, Sam and his family take advantage of the natural beauty surrounding them by skiing, hiking, kayaking, and bicycling.