Webb Magazine Excerpt: Webb Today

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WEBB

Webb is unbounded. Education and discovery extend across disciplines, outside classrooms and beyond campus to encompass Southern California. It’s part of Webb’s heritage: Thompson Webb founded the school with an unbounded spirit, and math and biology teacher Ray Alf, perhaps Webb’s most influential faculty member, championed unbounded creative thinking at the young school. Today the unbounded spirit imbues learning at Webb, from cross-disciplinary studies and student-driven education to travel opportunities around the world.

Webb’s biennial Unbounded Days program embodies this spirit, presenting over two dozen classes that combine the school’s intentional course design and student-driven learning with the educational, cultural and natural resources of the entire region.

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nbounded thinking is sprinkled throughout the curriculum,” says Director of Experiential Learning Sally Mingarelli, “but this is a real honoring of our mission statement.”

Unbounded Days honor Ray Alf, too.

The spark for the series of three-, four-and five-day classes that go beyond traditional academics came from Robert A. Hefner III ’53. Alf served as a lifelong mentor to Hefner, and as Head of Schools Taylor Stockdale recalls, Hefner wanted to inspire Webb students as Alf had inspired him: by encouraging creative, unbounded thinking. Together he and Stockdale developed a vision for “a meaningful program in which students could go beyond the regular day-to-day program and engage in some hands-on discovery learning in which they were passionate,” Stockdale says, and Hefner’s generous gift to The Webb Schools helped bring that idea to life.

This year’s Unbounded Days program takes place in February, the culmination of almost a year of planning.

Faculty begin brainstorming course ideas by looking to the program’s goals, says Mingarelli: “to encourage students to consider who they are and what they can achieve.” She helps teachers from different departments work together to create interdisciplinary courses that approach topics from new perspectives. “A lot of unbounded thinking happens by faculty first,” Mingarelli says. Webb’s recently reshaped

curriculum emphasizes the potential of both off-campus learning and partnerships with institutions in the Los Angeles region. Webb faculty conceptualize their courses with this in mind, she explains. “We want to take advantage of Webb’s unique position to connect students with the richness of culture and education that Los Angeles has to offer, so we have a very expert faculty in terms of designing experiential learning.”

Take just one of the unbounded program’s 28 courses this year: Cinematic Los Angeles. The course introduces students to buildings, landmarks and neighborhoods they may have seen on the silver screen—sometimes standing in for places wildly divergent from their actual context. The course, though, has the potential to go beyond that; to interrogate questions of social and cultural geography and markers of identity. Students may consider why we think of certain attributes when we think of a poor or wealthy neighborhood, or what architectural design elements have come to be used as cinematic shorthand to denote certain times or places.

Of course, faculty consider student interests as they design their courses. Although each student enrolls in just one Unbounded Days course, they each select six courses, in order of interest.

When the final course rosters are released in November, students meet with their Unbounded Days course instructors several times. Student input “informs the last three months of course design,” Mingarelli says. “Teaching and learning can be so much more dynamic than it used to be.”

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This year’s Unbounded Days includes 28 courses:

3-Day Courses The Amazing Race Animatronics & Storytelling The California Landscape & the Artist California Women’s Activism Then & Now Catalina Island: History, Science & Culture Cinematic Los Angeles Climate Change & Catastrophe Compose Yourself!

Ghost Hunting & Divinations Good for the Body & Soul

LA Multicultural Adventure Food is the entre to some of Los Angeles’ vibrant communities in this course – Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Korean. In between noshes, students try everything from calligraphy to card games, from the San Gabriel Valley to metro L.A. Unbounded Days is an opportunity for students to understand that, as Mingarelli notes, at Webb “the walls of your classroom encompass an entire county.”

SoCal Marine Scene: Snorkel, Surf & Science The essential elements of the SoCal lifestyle – sun, sand and surf – meet

Investing: Strategies for Success

the science that underlies the laid-back landscape. “In our courses we’re

Keeping Music Alive in Your Life

teaching students the skills and the knowledge to tie together different

LA Multicultural Adventure

disciplines,” Mingarelli says.

Learn to Sail Notes from the Cultural Underground

Virtual Reality

Science Fiction: Worlds Beyond Imagination

Does giving form to an idea make it real? Beyond creating virtual environments

SoCal Marine Scene: Snorkel, Surf & Science

using Webb’s VR technology and exploring the idea of theme parks – real

Survival Skills 1.0

virtual environments – this course will examine the boundaries between lived

Things You Should Know How to Do

and virtual experiences. Mingarelli says faculty and advisors ask students to

Virtual Reality

consider both “diving into an existing passion or trying something new” when

4- or 5-Day Courses

considering their course selections… Virtual Reality may do both.

The Art of Video Games Bike Tour of the California Coast Canyoneering in Zion National Park Design Me in the Right Direction Not Muirley a Hike Optimizing Athletic Performance Public Art & Expression World War II: A Southern California Experience

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todaysummer

Endless Summer…

Opportunities Living and Learning Under the California Sun Summer at Webb: you might imagine it as a sleepy time when the dorms are empty, the dining hall is quiet, and the classrooms are dark.

But you’d be wrong.

The goal of this exciting venture is to provide an educational summer program that produces innovative leaders, breakthrough thinkers and imaginative problem solvers.

And, in turn, to discover the very students who might want to join the Webb family for their high school education.

The Junior Scholars—students entering 7th, 8th, and 9th grades—experience the Webb boarding program, engage in active inquiry and learn in powerful new ways.

Sally Mingarelli is Webb’s director of experiential learning, and also heads the Junior Scholars Summer Program.

Thanks to Webb’s Junior Scholars Summer Program, the campus is alive with the very unbounded thinking that makes a Webb education so unique, highly sought after, and valuable.

This coming summer marks the fifth year of the program, which has grown to include four trackways of study and two sessions (plus a bridge session), with a diverse group of 80 to 90 students each term.

“Part of the reason I head the program is my job title— experiential learning. During the Junior Scholars’ stay, we spend at least two of the 10 days in the field and while the students are here on campus, we’re doing very hands-on activities,” explains Mingarelli. “The reasoning is very much the same as the Webb educational philosophy of Unbounding Thinking,”— that high-level thinking skills are critical for success.

Nnenna Ochuru’s interest in the program was piqued by the leadership program and the boarding experience.

“I always had the feeling of taking the lead,” explains Ochuru, “but I did not know exactly how, and the program helped me to acquire the skills. The boarding experience

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todaysummer “These classes are immersive,” explains Mingarelli.

“Students pick one topic and dive in for 10 days. The programs are perfect for kids who have a known passion, or for someone who wants to learn something totally new.”

All four tracks in next year’s program mirror things that Webb does well, according to Mingarelli. And students benefit from working in world-class facilities, with Ph.D. instructors.

In addition, students’ boarding day includes afternoon interests such as sports, drama, photography, drumming and creative writing. Residential life leaders—or fellows—who work with the young residents in the afternoon and evening are college students and several are young Webb alumni.

taught me to take care of myself physically and mentally. I was accountable for getting to meals and classes promptly, and for being diplomatic and compromising the best possible solution with my roommate if conflict arose. I was looking forward to the challenge I was taking at the age of twelve.”

Today, Ochuru ’21, who hails from Riverside, is a freshman boarder at Webb, but prior to her summer experience, she had little enthusiasm for the boarding life.

“ My mother went to boarding school, and wanted me to have a similar experience,” she says. “She believed it would make me independent and responsible. She was correct, and I relished my summer experiences.”

The day is modelled after an actual Webb school day, with academic pursuits from 9 a.m. to noon, and then 1-3 p.m., followed by afternoon activities and then dinner in the Webb dining hall. And while the courses are academically rigorous, it is summer after all, so there is no homework.

The young scholars also have access to Webb’s worldclass facilities including: • the digital media studio and maker’s space, which features CAD software to design a 3-D object for printing and Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles, • the Thornton Science Lab where students can synthesize molecules and learn about chemistry, neuroscience, robotics and marine biology, and

The 2018 slate of summer programs includes study in Digital Arts, Leadership, Paleontology, and Science and Engineering.

• the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, with its collection of more than 175,000 specimens.

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Summer scholars are paired-up in dorm rooms based on their answers to a questionnaire that is sent out before each session begins. “They get to know each other in an intense way,” says Mingarelli of the living arrangements.

The boarding aspect presents an exciting opportunity to meet people from all over the world and across the United States, representing a microcosm of Webb – last year’s group included students from Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand.

“I had the chance to meet new people and stay in touch with them even if they did not end up attending Webb,” says Ochuru.

“In the dormitory, everyone lives with one another and it feels like a close-knit community. I very much relish the nights where we would all gather blankets and popcorn and sit on the couch watching Mamma Mia or Grease. Sometimes we would also go to the dorm room of a friend and there would be a vibrant group chatting and laughing. That summer I tried something that was foreign and made new friends.”

The summer experience also had an impact on Ochuru’s decision to attend Webb for high school.

“The program to me was a preview – ‘would I be able to take care of myself?’” she says. “I decided to attend Webb not only because of the academic rigor, but also the leadership opportunities.”

Ochuru has since worked in the museum and said she learned in summer school that she could take care of herself and was prepared for Webb’s rigorous academics.

“I am responsible for getting to classes on time and getting my homework in when it’s due. I knew the campus and some of the teachers and even had some friends so that facilitated my transition as well,” she says.

Each year, the program builds on its success with input from teachers and alumni fellows. It started as just one class and has grown to include a new class each year.

The application to Webb’s Junior Scholars Summer Program is available online and the priority deadline is March 15, but Mingarelli says it is important to apply early as slots fill up.

Need-based financial aid is available. For more information go to webb.org/summer.

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THE

RTS IMAGINING THE POSSIBILITIES What can playing an instrument, treading the boards, painting scenery, crafting a ceramic piece or creating a podcast provide an intelligent, multi-tasking student— especially one who is sustaining a rigorous academic schedule?

How about these essential, lifelong skills: time management, dedication, discipline, perseverance, creativity, teamwork, overcoming fears, stress management, passion and the simple, yet well-known fact that life isn’t always fair.

WEBB

todayarts

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“ On a day-to-day basis, the arts give students the opportunity to be creative and expressive in ways that are different from their other classes or activities,” says Stefanie Plumley, chair of the arts department. “For example, blurting out the free association of ideas or physicalizing of emotions or ideas would be disruptive in a traditional class, but is very welcome, and even encouraged in a theater class.”

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oday’s students have come of age in the Information Age — a period in history characterized by the shift from traditional industry to an economy based on information computerization. In addition to the knowledge found in lectures and textbooks, learning in the Information Age isn’t wholly dependent on what a student knows, but also his or her ability to find and use that information quickly, creatively and cooperatively. That makes study of the arts an integral development of each student.

Arts education refers to education in the disciplines of music, dance, theater and visual arts. There is a two-year arts requirement at Webb; Plumley explains that many students stay with the subject they begin with in their freshman year, while others use their second year to explore something different. And the range of options is remarkable.

“The arts department strives to serve all students interested in the arts, from the dedicated and devoted to those who just want to dabble and explore,” says Plumley. “All of the disciplines (theater, instrumental music, vocal music, visual arts and media arts) offer introductory skills courses, as well as advanced classes.” Additionally, honors classes are offered for instrumental music, vocal music and visual and media arts. And there are evening labs where students can work one-on-one with their teachers.

“Our afternoon programs are strong and very popular amongst the student body,” adds Plumley. “The theater program rehearses our mainstage play and musical in the fall and spring seasons, dance is offered during the fall, and the dance

company is selected during the winter season in preparation for the January dance show. Also during the winter season, instrumentalists use afternoon time to rehearse individually or practice in small groups. In the spring artists can work on their portfolios or collaborate on group projects. For those who like to work behind the scenes, we offer theater tech for all three seasons. Those in the tech program learn about stagecraft, lighting, sound and design and work as the crew for the play, the dance show and the musical.”

The skills developed through theater not only train students how to convincingly deliver a message, but also build the confidence they need to take command of the stage. And theater tech work is a good way to learn how to think on one’s feet, to identify problems, evaluate solutions and figure out what to do.

The programs are supported by passionate educators and first-rate facilities. In addition to being teachers, all of the faculty members in the arts department are working artists. For example, instrumental music teachers Linda Silva and Kyle Champion are performing artists in professional orchestras and faculty members at colleges (Silva at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, and Pomona College, and Champion at the University of Redlands). These connections also link students to music events at the colleges. Ardina Greco, visual arts teacher, recently received her Ph.D. in art education, Jackie Leishman, art teacher, is a local artist who has a studio practice and exhibits frequently; and Michael Szanyi, dance teacher, works with several dance companies in the Los Angeles area.

Jonathan Capone pioneered our digital arts program; he started out teaching two introductory media arts classes in the Copeland Donahue Theater and has since added two advanced classes and an honors media arts class. Capone helps teachers and students incorporate creative technologies into their art.

According to Plumley, one of the greatest strengths of the department is the collaboration between her and Technical Theater Director Alex Valdez.

“We endeavor to run the department like a professional theater,” Plumley explains. “There are the practical elements of running a theater—managing the systems, designing and running all kinds of events and performances, scheduling the use of the spaces, production schedules, the inventory and care of our props, sets, costumes, and make up, ticket sales, and

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establishing community with parents, the student body and the greater Claremont area. Our primary focus (and passion) is teaching the kids about all aspects of theater. We want them to be knowledgeable about their craft and confident in their abilities so that they can be proud of doing exceptional work.

For this reason, so much of our time is spent teaching skills, talking about theory, focusing on technique, and the rigors and rewards of professional behavior.”

Equally important, says Plumley, is stressing that theater is truly a “team activity, and everybody is valuable, and everybody must do their part to make it all work! Obviously, we love it when things go off without a hitch, but one of the greatest things for us is to see the kids pull together and fix something when it is in danger of going horribly wrong!”

The arts cannot be learned through slapdash or random exposure any more than math or science can. And that is why it is also important for students to have professional spaces in which to express themselves and practice. The Liu/Cheung Theater with its sophisticated lighting and sound capabilities has allowed teachers and students to produce almost anything they can imagine. The Copeland Donahue Theater also presents myriad opportunities for dancers and singers.

“The ‘sprung’ floor (constructed to absorb shocks in Copeland Donahue Theater) makes it a comfortable place for dancers to rehearse, and our vocalists can really open up in that big, airy space,” says Plumley.

Most recently, Plumley directed students in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. She started the rehearsal process with students/actors writing down all the things they remembered about the characters—with most of the comments adhering to the cultural mythology about the play.

“As we began to explore the work and ran a fine-tooth comb through every line, action and date, we discovered that our assumptions often didn’t hold up to textual analysis. The actions of the characters on the page were often at odds with the stage directions. As we moved through the rehearsal process, we held fast to the dialogue, assumed nothing and questioned everything. The result was a modern day, modern dress Crucible. The modern dress was not to align the story with any specific event that is happening now, but to illuminate that while fashion, technology, and social mores change, human behavior rarely does,” she says.

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eyond taking classes and being involved in dance and theater afternoon programs, there are many ways students can express themselves at Webb, including student art shows (known as “Art Cafes”) or in “on-demand” rehearsal spaces where students who play an instrument or want to jam with friends can play and practice. There is also a team of pianists who play for the weekly chapel program.

Teachers across the academic spectrum are also assigning projects that integrate the arts into assignments, so students can access the theaters—and also the technology to create short films, podcasts, music and photography in the Digital Media Studio. In the W. Russell Fawcett Memorial Library,

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Mark Dzula, director of teaching and learning resources, hosts a performance series that takes place every Friday where students can perform a set on acoustic or digital instruments, with many students performing works of their own creation.

Scholar) and Vicky Alejandro ’14 is a major force in Columbia University’s a capella groups. Ben Davis ’11 played the French horn at Webb and went on to study at the USC Thornton School of Music; he currently works as a music production specialist and professional guitarist in Los Angeles.

Students benefit at all levels of participation; several recent studies

Plumley also continues her study of theater, as does Valdez, by going to national conferences, taking classes with professional groups in Los Angeles and beyond, and seeing plays and musicals throughout the year (often with Webb students in tow).

have concluded that the creativity and innovation utilized in the artistic process will be highly valued by employers in the United States in the coming years as the nation continues to shift into a global economy.

And many Webb students go on to successful artistic endeavors in college and beyond. Jack Gilliat ’13 graduated from the American Academy of Music and Drama in New York City; Marcus Baldwin ’16 is in the acting program at CalArts; and Allie Glukova ’17 is at the Parsons School of Design. Many more have continued with the arts at big universities and small liberal arts colleges: Amber Goboy ’09 (Stanford) and Nathan Turczan ’09 (Santa Cruz) both majored in opera. Goboy is working on an opera career in Hong Kong, and Turczan is pursuing a post-grad degree in digital music at CalArts. Dylan Turczan ’16 received a performing scholarship to Willamette University and several recent graduates are currently pursuing degrees in technical theater. Brendon Baptista ’12 continued to study the bassoon at Harvard (where he was also a Fulbright

As for what’s coming up in the theater, Plumley has decided to return to her beginnings at Webb. In 2008, her first big musical production was Les Misérables.

“So much has happened during that time. We built the beautiful and technically sophisticated Liu/Cheung Theater, hired a technical director, created a dance company, and the program has doubled in size and is still growing! So, to celebrate all the amazing things that have happened over the last 10 years, and to honor the exceptional talent of our performers, we’re doing Les Misérables again this year.”

The show runs from May 17-19, 2018. For more information, go to webb.org/page/arts/theater.

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todayathletics

VWS TENNIS Another milestone was surpassed this year as VWS tennis secured a fourth consecutive league championship! League MVP and singles champion for a second year running, Thea Kirkpatrick ’18, led the Gauls into CIF play. Macy Huang ’18 and Emily Schoffman ’19 finished the season as league doubles champions. 1

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WSC FOOTBALL With a 4-1 win record in league and 9-3 overall, our WSC football team battered their way into the CIF quarterfinals and the record books.

Webb football secured its first home playoff game and first playoff win since returning to 11-man football in the late 90s. Nick Johnson ’19 was named League MVP. 2

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WSC WATER POLO Our WSC water polo team competed to a second place finish in league.

They reached the second round of CIF losing in a one goal heartbreaker to Camarillo. 3 6

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VWS GOLF The young but mighty VWS golf program made program history this year by securing 5 league wins! 5 8

VWS VOLLEYBALL

VWS CROSS COUNTRY

It was a year for building on fundamentals for the VWS varsity volleyball program. The team fought hard this fall, finishing with a 3-5 league record in 2017-18. 9

VWS cross country ran to their third consecutive league championship this year. The League MVP this year was freshman Lily Miller ’21, who qualified to run in the state championships in November. 7

WSC CROSS COUNTRY The WSC cross country team ran to a fourth consecutive league championship this fall—and then straight into the post seasons events at CIF. Jackson Bibbens ’18 was named League MVP. 4

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