From Principal to Teacher 

There is a new history teacher at Proctor: Keith Hill. Mr. Hill’s story about teaching History starts when he was a kid. His interest in history originally came from his grandfather. 

“My grandfather was funny; he was an old Vermont farmer and he had a lot of interesting stories. He talked about his time in the Korean War. It's often referred to as America's ‘Forgotten War.’ He has a heavy Vermont accent and he was born in 1931 when a lot of people in Vermont didn’t have electricity. He worked on farms and managed farms. He worked closely with Ethel Roosevelt who is Teddy Roosevelt's daughter. She had a farm in Vermont. It was interesting to hear about his Vermont connections to larger things in history.” 

Hill’s grandfather inspired a love of history that made him want to go into education. “By the time I was in high school I determined I wanted to go into education. So that is what I went to college for history and education,” Mr. Hill said. “I went to Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. I went because they had an excellent history program. It was small and it was out of state. Still New England but out of state. I had a very great experience there.” 

Before coming to Proctor, he was at Green Mountain High School in Chester VT for 10 years. 

He taught US History, History through Film, and Sociology. For his last few years, he became the principal there.

He came to Proctor because he missed being in a classroom and likes small schools. He is happy to be back teaching History. “I think the details of history are really fascinating and it was one of the most important things for people to wrap their heads around. It’s about all the decisions that were made before that shaped what we know,” Mr. Hill says.

Mr. Hill says his goal as a History teacher is to “Improve history education for all students. To be able to write, think, process. So the students can become active, thoughtful and engaged citizens. So hopefully one day people stop saying ‘It doesn’t matter.’” 

Outside of school hours, Mr. Hill  says he likes to shop a lot, especially in malls. He hopes they have some big malls around here soon. He also likes to go to estate sales, decorate and visit family. 

If you have not met Mr. Hill yet, stop by room 204 and introduce yourself.