Head of Schools Report 2015 - The Webb Schools

Webb

the Webb schools

raymond m. Alf museum of paleontology

HEAD OF SCHOOLS

REPORT 2015

M

uch like a family, Webb students and faculty live and learn together, and our successes and challenges are encountered as a community.

In this way, we often join together to celebrate, to appreciate, and even on occasion to commemorate. This year we gathered to applaud the achievements of two

remarkable Webb teachers as they retired after 55 combined years of teaching at Webb. Blair Maffris first began in 1978 as a part-time art teacher, then in 1981 he joined the faculty full-time; Steve Sittig began teaching at Webb in 1996. At their retirement party, the Webb family joined to honor their years of enthusiasm and commitment to their fields, and their students.

• We also gathered jubilantly with Webb alumni and families far and wide. Through our amazing alumni and parent networks, we visited friends around the world and across the United States from Silicon Valley to New York City. We held nearly 40 gatherings worldwide.

• And on a sadder occasion we paused to remember our friend, Jeff Nelson, a role-model of dedication—

to his wife, Susan, who was head of schools and worked at Webb for 26 years; to his children, Max ’95 and Damien ’97, and to the hundreds of students he inspired and cheered-on as athletics director, and as a teacher and coach at Foothill Country Day School for more than two decades.

• Indeed, as is so often the case, it was a full year. As the students of the Class of 2015

move on to college the Webb family tree continues to grow, and as it does, it also continues to provide the foundation for lasting relationships. It is with deep pride in our Webb family that I am pleased to share with you this report of our work and accomplishments for the 2014-2015 school year.

Taylor Stockdale, Head of Schools

Academics Webb’s academic program invites students to read more deeply, to write and speak with ever-improving effectiveness, to solve problems creatively and efficiently, to explore scientific fields, to learn languages, and to draw, to make music, and to be moved by works of beauty.

To that end, this year marked the first of Webb’s innovative, new humanities program. The Class of 2018 experienced the first two classes of the humanities core program: Foundations of Civilization and Fundamentals of Composition. By presenting these classes in tandem, the new program takes an interdisciplinary path. In one course, students evaluate fundamental questions about the human experience through examination of historical, literary, and artistic texts; in the other course, students have the time and curricular flexibility to receive intensive instruction and practice in the critical skills of the humanities. These essential skills, which include not only reading and writing, but also oral communication, collaboration, and digital project creation will carry through the rest of their humanities courses at Webb and beyond. This fall, the class of 2018 will experience the second year of the humanities core program: two integrated “American Studies” courses that explore the ideas and creative work of American writers, thinkers, and artists, and analyze the evolution of American culture and social history.

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Academics at Webb are exciting: they endeavor to empower students to seek truth and act with courage as they set out to create meaningful lives for themselves and a better future for our world. The impact of these efforts is evident in this year’s achievements:

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At the French National Contest 2015, students received a record number of medals including 8 Gold, 11 Silver, 13 Bronze and 21 Honorable Mention across all levels. ! Students attained national recognition for excellent performance

on the 2015 National Spanish Examinations including medals in the following categories: 11 Gold, 16 Silver, 21 Bronze, and 27 Honorable Mentions. According to national director of the exams, Kevin CessnaBuscemi, “Attaining a medal or honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious because the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with 154,000 students participating in 2015.”

The first year of Evolutionary Biology for freshman saw students

isolating DNA by utilizing gel electrophoresis—a college level lab skill. This new, core program is based on experimentation, research and lab skills. The course also features the innovation of standards-based grading while following the national next-generation science standards.

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Preparations were under way for rising sophomores to experience

the new blended class of physics and chemistry this fall in the second stage of the freshman/sophomore core science experience. The emphasis again will be on experimentation, inquiry-based problem solving and lab research skills, allowing all sophomores to qualify for numerous advanced classes in their junior year of fall 2016. Along with the traditional AP offerings in the junior and senior years, 3 to 4 new Advanced Studies classes in different science fields will be offered which will simulate the research model of the Alf Museum.

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Building on last year’s Unbounded workshop on cyber security

Webb’s first Cyber Security Team, made up of six students, competed in the CyberPatriot competition run by the Air Force Association.

In its inaugural run, the Webb group outperformed a number of teams with years of experience, making it to the State competition and finishing in the top 15% of the Gold division.

College Placement The caliber of the 2015 senior class is clearly reflected in the broad range of excellent schools they have chosen. 100% of the class was admitted to a selective four-year college (two student chose a gap year before starting college). An impressive 92% of the Class of 2015 will be attending a college ranked in the top 10% in the nation (based on data from U.S. News & World Report on 1741 non-profit accredited 4-year colleges and universities in the U.S.).

Seniors were offered admission to Ivy League schools including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Harvard; as well as such prestigious institutions as Emory, Pomona College, Harvey Mudd, Babson, Williams, Northwestern, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins.

There were also impressive numbers in the University of California system, which is widely regarded as one of the top university systems in the world—seven of its undergraduate campuses are ranked among the top 100 nationwide. Of the 31 girls and 32 boys who applied to the system, 81% of girls and 88% of boys were accepted. was also another impressive year for girls (25 girls, 47% of the ! Itclass)

applied to Women’s Colleges—48% were admitted. Almost 20% of the class plans to attend a Women’s College. Vivian Webb School continues to lead the way as one of the top “feeder” schools to America’s most prestigious Women’s Colleges with a 20%-on-average (or more) matriculation rate over the past 10 years.

men

women

admission to a top choice college

Faculty As members of a common community, Webb faculty members and students share almost everything. Webb faculty members know first-hand what students experience during the school day and thanks to this sense of familiarity, they develop nurturing relationships with students that extend far beyond the classroom. And knowledge is not only something they disseminate, it is an enrichment they seek through on-going training and continuing education.

Jim Dahler attended a 2-day workshop in Ohio to learn more

about GeoGebra software and how to incorporate it further into the Advanced Studies Linear Algebra class.

Andy Farke was one of 34 teachers recognized nationwide as a Teacher of the Future sponsored by the National Association of

Independent Schools (NAIS). “These outstanding independent school professionals from across the country will be engaged in a dynamic conversation about leading trends and issues in K-12 learning and teaching.”

Jon Fidani attended an advisor program development workshop

at Wildwood entitled” Advisory is Essential,” as part of his efforts to enhance Webb’s advising program. He also completed the required 3,000 hours of supervised work experience towards attaining his licensure in Marriage, Family and Child Therapy (MFT).

As a member of the committee of the American Association of

Teachers of French, Emmanuelle Remy wrote a dossier pedagogic about the movie Once in a Lifetime for the COLCOA French film festival in Los Angeles—the purpose of which is to help French teachers who see the movie with their students. The “dossier pedagogique” has been published with the French Review.

Will Walker attended the annual National Council of Teachers of

Mathematics conference in Boston and reported back: “With our focus on problem-based learning in the Webb math classroom, I was pleased to see that this approach to teaching mathematics is being successfully adopted by more and more schools throughout the country, allowing for many opportunities for me to both share our insights and learn from others.”

Melanie Bauman was appointed to the board of directors of The Independent School Gender Project.

Nina Gilbert was commissioned by The Girl Choir of South Florida

to create a choral piece for the group’s tenth anniversary. The piece was called “Charming Florida,” an arrangement of a song composed in the 1920s by Floridian Nella Wells Durand.

In addition to her responsibilities leading the Webb orchestra,

Linda Silva performed professionally as a clarinetist with the Riverside County Philharmonic and worked with musicians and faculty in the music departments at Pomona College and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Theresa Smith attended “Designing the Revolution” NAIS Conference

in Boston, which focused on innovation and education.

Susanna Linsley published two articles: “Saving the Jews:

Religious Toleration and the American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews” appeared in the Winter 2014 volume of Journal of the Early Republic and “Making an American Church: Communal Toleration and Republican Governance in Early National Charleston and New York” which appeared in an edited collection called “A Lively Experiment: Religious Toleration in America from Roger Williams to Present.”

Faculty on the ninth grade curriculum team developed new,

innovative core courses: Lisa Blomberg and Kevin Quick worked on the new Evolutionary Biology course, Andy Dahlstrom, Rebecca Durrer, and Wendy Maxon established the Foundations of Civilization course, while Jessica Fisher, Jonathan Capone, Rick Duque, and Ken Rosenfeld created the Fundamentals of Composition course.

Bana Dahi received an education grant “Pedagogique de corte

duree in Bordeaux” from the French Embassy to the United States to participate in workshops and teacher homestays in France.

Miller attended the Global Education Symposium “Inspiring ! Tracy

Global Citizens: Experiences that Make a Difference,” which focused on best practices in global education.

Yao Hong attended a CLTA (Chinese Language Teachers’

Association of Southern California) conference on using technology in the Chinese Language classroom, with workshops about the use of tools like WeChat, Prezi, Edmodo, Sound Cloud, and Vocaro.

8525%%

museum walk-in visitors up general attendance up

Rogers wrote a short play that ran in the fall as part of the ! Brian

Northern Arizona Playwriting Showcase in Flagstaff. Later in the year, Brian completed a chapbook of “flash” stories entitled Inhabitants of the Earth that was published by Red Bird Chapbooks.

Jim Dahler went to the California Math Council where he attended several sessions related to the teaching of statistics.

WSC dean of students Ben Farrell attended the People of Color

Conference and used his experiences there to help facilitate conversations about the protests in Ferguson, Mo., back on campus.

Tim Coates, Michael Kozden, Brian Ogden, Theresa Smith, and

Will Walker traveled to Marina Del Rey for the 3rd Annual Online Education Symposium for Independent Schools which featured topics including blended and online learning, design thinking, STEM, PBL and more.

Lisa Blomberg traveled to Santa Barbara to become recertified as a Wilderness First Responder.

Jessica Fisher used her Perry Award to spend her spring break

traveling to various World Heritage sites in India. She’ll use her new-found knowledge to develop an elective on South Asia.

Geoff Owers and Brian Caldwell attended the T3 International

Conference sponsored by Texas Instruments that focused on best uses of educational technologies to enhance learning in math and science.

Elizabeth Cantwell published two books of poems, Nights I Let

the Tiger Get You, and Premonitions. She also traveled to Minneapolis to attend the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference where, in addition to attending a variety of pedagogy-focused panel discussions, she delivered readings of poetry from her books.

Will Allan attended a 3-day collaborative workshop, which will help him build the school’s program in entrepreneurship.

Wendy Maxon was the recipient of a grant from the Freeman

Foundation to attend the Teaching in Asia 2015 Korea Summer Institute, “Korea’s Journey into the 21st Century: Historical Contexts, Contemporary Issues.”

Mark Dzula attended the American Library Association’s Annual

Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco with an eye towards the question, “What will a library look like in 20 years?”

At a three-day workshop held on the campus of Deerfield

Academy, Sarah Lantz participated in a problem-based learning summit that explored inquiry-based learning, Harkness method, and discussion-based student-centered approaches in the math classroom.

John Lawrence attended the Northwest Aquatic and Marine

Educators (NAME) conference in Seattle, Wash., which focuses on various environmental science education strands, including connecting cultures and communities, innovative teaching approaches to research and restoration, and educating about urban watersheds.

Leo Marshall was named co-chairman for SSATB’s Admission

Leadership Council, which is designed to lead a national professional development initiative in support of admission officers in the U.S. and Canada. This past October, Leo Marshall was a member of a panel of Western schools and colleges at the World Leading Schools’ Association (WLSA) forums in Beijing and Shanghai designed to help Chinese families and educators understand Western schools and their admission processes.

Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology

Athletics The Webb athletic experience is multi-faceted: competing against some of the best high school athletes in the country, trying a new sport for the first time and finding out you’re good at it, heading from the courts or the pool to the dining hall with teammates, and being a team leader.

In every endeavor, Webb students aspire to do their best (several students broke long-standing school records), and this year’s athletic teams had a legendary season with league champions in each of the following sports:

20,000 vistitors a year

Old news never goes out of style in a place where something that’s a million years old barely qualifies as ancient. This year at the Alf Museum, Augustyn Family Curator of Paleontology Andy Farke was the lead author on a paper naming a new species of horned dinosaur, Aquilops americanus (roaming North America approximately 105 million years ago). The paper was published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE and received considerable media attention, including stories in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and numerous other local, national, and international outlets.

And sometimes, what’s really new, is new—the renovated Malcolm C. McKenna Fossil Preparation Lab was opened for use by Webb’s inaugural Junior Paleontology Program, a summer residential education experience. And, alumna Harason Horowitz ’02 joined the program as the first ever director of development in the museum’s history.

More exciting news included:

Five seniors in the Honors Advanced Museum Research class

presented their work at the 2015 Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontology (WAVP) meeting in February, hosted by Cal State Stanislaus.

The studies focused on topics including identification of dinosaur eggshell, digital fossil preparation of a rare extinct mammal skull, and digitization of footprints from the Alf Museum’s collection.

The 2014 Mongolia Peccary Trip provided 16 participants with an

excellent tour of the Gobi Desert and the group found and helped to collect three partial skeletons of the dinosaur Protoceratops for the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.

In early May, 56 budding paleontologists ventured into the deserts

of San Bernardino County on the Alf Museum’s annual Alumni and Friends Peccary Trip. Webb graduates and friends, young and old gathered in the Rainbow Basin with one mission: to find the next big specimen for the Raymond M. Alf Museum.

League Championships

• VWS Tennis

• WSC Cross Country

• WSC Basketball

• WSC Soccer

• WSC Tennis

• WSC Golf

• VWS Softball

➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

1st time since 1986 1st time since 1991 1st ever league championship 1st time since 2009 1st time since 2009 3rd year in a row 1st time in 22 years.

League MVPs Megan Kotrappa ’15 — VWS Tennis Ricky Gonzales ’15 — Football Daniel Crisostomo ’15 — WSC Soccer Adrian Hui ’15 — WSC Swimming Deepak Tummala ’17 — WSC Tennis Hailey Arteaga ’16 — VWS Softball Dylan Wensley ’17 — VWS Track - Field Events Chris Hernandez ’15 — WSC Track - Running Events

19 of 23 teams qualified

for CIF playoffs, 102 Webb athletes received All-League designation, five were honored All-CIF. In a year of championship prowess, there were a host of other reasons to celebrate teams and individuals as well:

Lindsay Powell ’16 and David Albers ’16 were named USA Water Polo Academic All-Americans.

Brothers Albert ’18 and Max ’15 Zhang were coed badminton league champions for boys’ doubles.

Ricky Gonzalez ’15, Josh Hong ’16 and Will Martinez ’16 finished as league wrestling champions.

VWS golf and tennis teams were recognized as CIF academic ! The

team champions, for having the highest team GPA of any Southern Section school in their respective sport.

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Helen Ge ’17 (high jump) and Prep League high jump league

champion Stirling McCulloch ’15 (high jump; long jump) competed in the CIF Southern Section Division IV Finals where Ge took a medal at 6th place and Stirling earned the silver in long jump and a bronze in high jump.

Hiroshima ’18 qualified for the CIF Cross Country Prelims ! Yukimi

as an individual, becoming the first VWS girls’ cross country runner to do so in nearly 10 years.

Daniel Crisostomo ’15 earned a soccer scholarship to UC Irvine and was named the San Joaquin League Male Athlete of the Year.

Adrian Hui ’15 finished his prep school career as the Division 3

CIF Champion in the 50 freestyle and was also named the Foothill Citrus Athletic Directors Association Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.

At League Finals, WSC swimmers were named event champions in the following events:

Adrian Hui ’15 for the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly; Richard Parnell ’16 for the 200 freestyle; Adrian Hui ’15, David Albers ’16, Richard Parnell ’16 and Brandon Fang ’17 for the 4x100 relay.

Many swimmers qualified for CIF for individual events with the WSC 200 and 400 freestyle relays and 200 medley relay qualifying as well.

Matthew Lee ’16 was the San Joaquin League Champion for WSC golf.

Arts Webb’s artists are problem-solvers. Each new work they create— whether it’s sculpted, painted, expressed on stage or crafted digitally— is an effort to convey an idea, a feeling or a story. By tapping their inner creativity, our students become even better problem solvers and learn new ways of thinking that they then apply to all other aspects of their lives, from math and science to life in general. Our artists deserve a robust round of applause for this year’s efforts. We also celebrate the support of family and friends that allows us to continue to innovate and expand these vital programs.

participated in the first ever Advanced Media Arts ! Students

course where they explored animation, 3D printing, filmmaking and digital music.

With the support of the Mortimer Fleishhacker ’50 Endowed Arts

Fund, faculty members Mark Dzula and Jonathan Capone brought the Digital Media Studio back online allowing students to work on recording sound and digital music making.

Director of instrumental music Linda Silva and string specialist

Kyle Champion took the entire orchestra and arts faculty to Walt Disney Concert Hall to see Gustavo Dudamel conduct Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures From an Exhibition, which the orchestra then played 2 weeks later at the annual Candlelight Concert.

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The theater department showcased three challenging new

productions: in the fall, there were two contemporary one-act plays exploring the impact of the internet and social media on teenagers and the different challenges faced by boys and girls, Enda Walsh’s Chatroom, and Evan Placey’s Girls Like That; in March, Marcus Baldwin ’16, presented Enda Walsh’s Misterman, an hour-long one man show, in which Baldwin portrayed 8 different characters, in 8 different Irish accents; and, in the Spring, the group took on Stephen Sondheim’s “dark operetta” Sweeney Todd with a 6-piece pit orchestra.

art 3 cafe Art Cafes

successful featured work from both the visual and media arts, as well as entertainment from student musicians in an open-mic format.

The dance company presented Underworlds and Awakenings

a narrative dance piece based on the myth of Persephone, choreographed with the help of students Morgan McClure ’15, Bailey Scherer ’16, Brooke Hafif ’16 and Jordynn West ’17.

Noted composer/arranger Andy Street sat-in for a session

with the Webb Sinfonia orchestra. Street arranged a medley of Henry Mancini tunes specifically for the Webb choir and orchestra, which the ensembles performed during the Spring Concert.

Webb students were accepted to the CAIS Honor Music Festival ! Six

including Chelsea Chen ’18, bass clarinet; Johnson Li ’17, bassoon; Helen Chow ’18, tenor saxophone; David Hou ’17, string bass; Ben Hou ’17, string bass; and Darren Hsu ’17, cello.

Violinist Jasmine Yang ’15 performed with the Claremont Youth Musicians Orchestra.

A special guest conductor, student Matthew Lee ’16, led

Jubilate Deo by Benjamin Britten at the Spring Concert.

The piece was sung by the Chorus and Chamber Singers with organ accompaniment.

Linda Silva accompanied students to professional productions

throughout the Los Angeles area including the Ezralow Dance Company, the Wild Up Orchestra, a production of Wicked at the historic Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and various professional music performances by the Pomona College faculty.

Community When students live in a community, it naturally follows that they will want to be responsible for its success. At Webb, students not only participate in and initiate meaningful projects and experiences, but they also turn their interests and talents outward to volunteer, explore and learn in the greater community of their neighborhood, and their world.

In doing so, students learn why community involvement is an important aspect of life and these lessons set the stage for the community leaders of the future.

New programming at the Fawcett Library connected Webb with

the wider world: “News and Views” gave students opportunities to discuss current events, and take the NY Times News Quiz; each Friday, students and faculty participated in a performance series sharing different musical styles (from bassoon duets to rock groups), and afterschool, a music and story program meant to encourage early childhood literacy practices was opened to faculty families. ! Mark Dzula and Andy Dahlstrom inaugurated a spring trip to

New York City where, with students, they visited museums and other noteworthy cultural sites including an excursion to Montauk, Long Island, to work with the Andy Warhol Nature Preserve.

The Webb Robotics program continued to grow with 32 students taking part; there was also the addition of a second coach, Andrew Hamilton.

Fielding two teams in competition, both groups qualified for the Los Angeles Regional Championship tournament.

Throughout the season, at least one of the teams always placed in the top 10, and one of the teams was consistently competing as a finalist alliance member.

The Debate Program now draws more than 40 active members

to participate in the High School Public Debate Program (HSPDP), sponsored by the Claremont Colleges Debate Union. Webb competed against more than 15 public and private schools in Southern California, including Upland High School, Sage Hill School, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, Compton High School, and Pasadena Polytechnic School.

Noah Griffin, renowned singer, actor and inspirational leader was

the keynote speaker during The Webb Schools Honor Symposium, which was held on January 19, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Focusing on historical and contemporary civil rights movements, the day also featured student- and faculty-led workshops investigating questions of equality and justice in today’s social and political landscapes.

Community service volunteers undertook several new projects

this year—in addition to ongoing work with the Prison Library Project and an after-school tutoring program for local children. At Huerta de Valle, a community garden supported by Pitzer College and the City of Ontario, students help plant beds; at Foothill Family Shelter, students helped clear a warehouse and organize donations for a new thrift store.

network operations center was upgraded to a state of the ! The

art virtualized environment that is hosted completely on enterprise level equipment. The wireless network continues to expand to provide access from anywhere on campus. And, several more classrooms and meeting spaces were updated to Next Generation standards.

The new Student Information System (SIS) was installed to

provide parents and students with a customized portal into what is happening at Webb; for parents, the system also provides secure, reliable information about each of their students.

Laptops were deployed to all the teachers in the Humanities

department, with plans to continue the program with laptops for the Science and World Language departments.

The new Digital Media Studio features the latest technology from high-end graphics workstations to multiple 3D printers.

The new science lab transformed the existing chemistry lab

into a state-of-the-art physical sciences lab, which will enable interdisciplinary physics and chemistry courses.

Parents The Affiliates, the parent organization at Webb, provides an exciting array of volunteer opportunities that allow parents to actively participate not only in their child’s education, but to become part of the Webb family.

In an effort to increase attendance at one of the most important Affiliates’ events, the annual fundraising benefit was moved to Parents Weekend.

Led by co-chairs Laura Romero P ’12, ’15 and Lisa Albert P ’15, ’17, “Webb Night Market” was the largest Affiliates benefit to date and was enjoyed by more than 350 parents and friends. The event netted $80,000 with proceeds supporting the schools’ Leadership and Weekend Programs. Highlights of the year also included:

Webb parents volunteered their time as judges at Webb’s on-campus

Robotics competition, as coaches and judges for the Debate team, and by participating in LA Times, a food and cultural event hosted by the Associated Student Body, which turned the Les Perry Gymnasium into a replica of Los Angeles’ Grand Central Market.

May 5, the Affiliates held an appreciation dinner, led by ! On

outgoing president Mike Gaumer P ’15 to thank all parents for their help logging invaluable volunteer hours (750) in support of athletics, afternoon activities, clubs, the visual and performing arts, and the Admission and Development offices. He also passed-the-baton to a new, hard-working and innovative team for the 2015-2016 school year which will be led by Jenny Kong P ’15, ’18 as the new Affiliates president.

Stewardship Support of Webb’s mission continues to thrive. In 2014-15, more than $4 million was committed to Webb by generous alumni, parents and friends—these gifts positively impacted all aspects of campus life including: faculty housing, science labs, technology, unrestricted support for The Webb Fund, and endowment for financial aid and the Alf Museum. The loyalty of our many constituents enables Webb to provide a unique and comprehensive education for each student, to seed new ideas through administrative and faculty research, to support curricular innovation and to continue to expand Webb’s presence globally. There were several notable gifts this year; we continue to be appreciative of these and many other contributions:

The CJ Bennett ’40 Scholarship and the Rick Whyte ’57 VWS

Student Athlete Fund, which are endowed scholarship funds, were established.

Two leadership gifts of more than $1 million each will be used

to construct four new faculty homes thanks to Blake ’68 and Andrea Brown, and an anonymous donor.

A $750,000 gift from Ming Chung Liu and Yan Cheung P ’10 will help to fully renovate a state-of-the-art science laboratory.

The Old Schoolhouse will be renovated with four new Next

Generation classrooms as part of a special technology initiative, which also produced a $165,000 gift from Junsheng Zhang and Likun Jin P ’17 for new servers and technology infrastructure and a gift of $40,000 from Samuel Lee and Stella Leung P ’15, ’19.

Qin Li and Emily Wang P ’15, ’18 pledged $100,000 to The Webb Fund.

! The 2014 reunion classes raised more than $842,000 in current

gifts and bequests. Three classes set new reunion records: Class of ’74 set a new 40th reunion record for most attendance, while also establishing a class fund in support of financial aid. Class of ’84 set a new 30th reunion record for most donors with 19. Class of ’04 set two new records: most donors at a 10th reunion with 47 and highest participation at 40%.

Donor participation

remained strong

27 77 %

Alumni

855

%

Parents

alumni donors

The 3rd Annual March Madness Webb Fund Challenge was well received. This year’s champion was the

Class of ’67 with runner-ups Class of ’04 and ’98 respectively.

Alumni Our extended family of Webb alumni grew to more than 4,300 members last year (71% WSC alumni and 29% VWS alumnae) and there were events and programs targeted to connect and engage this diverse community around the globe. At home, we welcomed alumni from Brazil, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hong Kong, China and more than 20 different states at the Alumni Weekend festivities and we continued to engage alumni through a number of exciting opportunities:

A young alumni panel participated in a College Athletes Roundtable

discussion to share their experiences with current student-athletes interested in college sports.

More than 35 alumni competed in the inaugural Alumni vs. Students Basketball Tournament during Alumni Weekend.

The 16th annual Sophomore Career Evening brought

16 alumni speakers to campus to share life experiences and talk about their careers.

Regionally, more than 40 alumni events were held in Los Angeles,

San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Portland, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

WEBB@WORK program finished its third successful season ! The

securing summer internships for young alumni and students.

More than 70 opportunities were posted on the jobs board. Many thanks to internship hosts: Blake Johnson ’95 at IMCA Capital, Dr. Jonathan Kelber ’93 at Cal State Northridge, Kip Konwiser ’81 of Konwiser Bros., Dr. Sandra Lee Rebish ’88 at Skin Physicians & Surgeons, and Todd Wagner P ’17 at Capital Group Companies. The Webb LinkedIn Network grew to more than 1,100 members.

In January, alumni council president Rahmi Mowjood ’90 traveled

to Tennessee with Taylor Stockdale and director of alumni relations Laura Wensley for a historic meeting of the leadership of the three Webb Schools: Webb School of Bell Buckle, Webb School of Knoxville, and The Webb Schools in Claremont.

A new Alumni Awards program launched last year with nearly

30 nominations submitted. The 2014 recipients were: Christian Holmes ’64, Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award; Jim Hall ’59, Colborn Distinguished Service Award; and Stephanie Ho ’04, Young Alumni Rising Star Award.

The Webb Alumni Song, based on a copy found among

Dave Fawcett’s ’61 papers was revived; choral director Nina Gilbert arranged it for the Chorus and Chamber Singers to sing at the first Alumni Awards ceremony.