Alumnit Bulletin | Fall/Winter 2022

Webb &Hope Resilience

Julia Webb Bland ’69 provides an intimate and inspiring portrait of Robert Webb and the genesis of her father's dream to start an independent school in his hometown.

ALUMNI BULLETIN | FALL/WINTER 2022

The Middle School's in-person Holiday Service Days returned this December. This treasured, longtime tradition includes partnering with the McNabb Center in providing holiday gifts for children served by the Center. Webb students bought gifts listed on the wish lists of their “adopted” McNabb friends, and seventh and eighth graders also volunteered at local charitable agencies, including (pictured) Ijams Nature Center, Knox Area Rescue Ministries and Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding.

WEBB SCHOOL PRESIDENT

Michael McBrien

UPPER SCHOOL HEAD

Matt Macdonald

MIDDLE SCHOOL HEAD

Jennifer Phillips

LOWER SCHOOL HEAD

Kristi Wofford

DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS & ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

Christy Widener

ALUMNI BULLETIN FALL/WINTER

2022

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Hugh Nystrom ’85

COORDINATOR OF DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI AFFAIRS

Joy Edwards

DEVELOPMENT DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR

Rachel Williams

COMMUNICATIONS & SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

Elicia Ferrer

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Cathy Dowhos-O'Gorman

Webb Alumni Association Board

2022-2023

Allison Lacy Lederer ’95 President

Whitfield Bailey ’97

Cindy McCallen Cassity ’ 86

Annie Haslam Colquitt ’05

Meg Keally Counts ’97

Walker Diddle ’96

Jenny Broome Greer ’00

Deb Kile Hotchkiss ’66

Dorn Kile ’68

Fletcher Lee ’95

Amy Carnathan Moody ’90

Julie McWhorter Moore ’94

Russ Powell ’87

Mollie Tucker Turner ’03

Webb School Presiedent

Webb School Board of Trustees

Michael McBrien

2022-2023

Misty D. Mayes Board Chair

F. Whitfield Addicks ’92

Patrick Baird ’07

Christopher S. Cameron

Philip Darby Campbell ’71

Cindy McCallen Cassity ’86

Amy Cathey

Annie Haslam Colquitt ’05

Meg Keally Counts ’97

Creative Design/Editor

Cathy Dowhos-O'Gorman

Co-Editors

Joy Edwards

Rachel Williams

Alumni Bulletin Writers/Photographers/ Contributors

Julia Webb Bland ’69

Brad Cantrell

Danny Dunlap

Joy Edwards

Elicia Ferrer

Jo Ann Guidry

Todd Johnson

Jenifer Lawrie

Allison Lacy Lederer ’95

Sharon Mann

Misty D. Mayes

Hugh Nystrom ’85

Jennifer Phillips

Pro Photo

Hemal Tailor

John Tolsma

Rob Frost ’86

Robert E. Hill Jr. ’79

Jonathan P. Johnson ’93

Matthew R. Kaye

George M. Krisle III ’62

Allison Lacy Lederer ’95

Laura L. Lyke

James W. Paddon ’83

Howard Pollock

Ayaz M. Rahman ’98

Lisa Stinnett

Mark D. Taylor

Donovan Whiteside ’10

Kristin Williams

Dear Alumni and Friends,

NINE YEARS AGO, WE WERE SO GRATEFUL THAT MICHAEL AND BETSY MCBRIEN heeded the Spartan call to come to Knoxville to lead Webb School. We know Webb’s role as a leader in independent schools made our offer attractive, but we also were aware that the pull of grandchildren in Tennessee helped Webb’s cause for them to move from London, England, to make an indelible impact on our school.

This June, Michael will be retiring to join his family in Middle Tennessee and begin a well-deserved retirement. On behalf of Webb’s Board of Trustees, we accepted his decision with profound gratitude for his extraordinary leadership and with sadness that he and Betsy will be leaving Knoxville. This is a sentimental year for all who have been privileged to experience the impact they have had on the Webb School community.

Michael has been an outstanding visionary during his eight years as Webb School President. During his tenure, the school has achieved record enrollment and has been recognized as a leading independent school in the state and region. With Reimagining Extraordinary, the school's largest capital campaign, our community raised the funds necessary to transform the facilities across our campus, add innovative programming to our curriculum and broaden our students' global perspective.

Message from Webb's Board of Trustees

He helped craft the newly formed House System across divisions, creating a new model for community by inspiring the way we define “One Webb.” That proved valuable as he, along with Webb’s amazing faculty, led with excellence and grace through a global pandemic.

As a parting gift to our school, Michael has orchestrated the development of an athletic strategic plan, which has led to the largest athletic construction effort in Webb School history. Besides supporting our student-athletes, this innovative initiative will strengthen the total wellness of all students and faculty at a time when mental and physical health has become a focal point.

As Michael leaves, we’re so pleased that he has paved the way for another educational visionary to take his place. Dr. Ansel Sanders, along with his family, will be joining us in July as Webb School of Knoxville’s ninth president.

With his Doctorate in Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ansel brings an exciting set of experiences to Webb School. Currently, he serves as Assistant Headmaster and Dean of Students at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, where he sits on the Executive Leadership Team and is a member of the Strategic Planning Executive Committee. We look forward to the opportunity for the entire Webb family to meet Ansel and celebrate the school’s continued growth under his leadership.

Spartan alumni . . . we are so grateful for the ways you contribute to Webb through your ideas, resources and talents. We hope you’ll join us in reveling in everything the McBriens have done for the school and are as excited as we are as we enter an exciting new chapter in Webb’s history.

Misty D. Mayes

John Tolsma Chair, Board of Trustees (2019-2023) Immediate Past Chair, Board of Trustees (2016-2019)

On THE GREEN

Governor's Center for

Innovation

Dedicated in Honor of Webb Alumnus, Former Governor, Bill Haslam ’76

Earlier this year, Webb School of Knoxville administrators and community leaders officially dedicated the school's new 4,500-square-foot Governor’s Center for Innovation, named after Webb Class of 1976 alumnus and former Tennessee Governor, Bill Haslam. The Center boasts cuttingedge spaces to guide students through the cycle of innovation from theory to practical application.

Located at the center of campus, the Governor’s Center provides a dynamic learning environment for Webb students in grades 6-12 across program disciplines and for other schools and student organizations. The renovated building houses classrooms, collaboration and study areas, makerspaces, a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) testing lab, and a broadcasting studio.

“I’m humbled by this dedication and remain grateful for the head start that I received from valued teachers and mentors during my days at Webb School of Knoxville,” Haslam said at the ceremony. “The best policies are created when open-minded people collaborate on practical

solutions, and I applaud the work being done now to foster those patterns early in future leaders.”

The event included the unveiling of a 2014 photo of Haslam, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, Webb Class of 1970, and then-Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon G. Lee, Webb Class of 1971 – three senior constitutional officers for the state who all are Spartan alumni. “We hope that our students will be inspired by this photo to imagine where their newfound leadership skills can take them, especially in service to our community,” said Webb President Michael McBrien. “Innovation is central to everything we are doing at Webb. Gov. Haslam’s success and approach to creative policymaking serves as the cornerstone of our vision as we work to build this incubator for future leaders.”

The new Governor's Center facilities are bolstered by an academic program focused on global experiences and entrepreneurship. John Tolsma, former chair of Webb's Board of Trustees and chair of Webb's Reimagining Extraordinary campaign, which led to the funding of the

(left, l to r) Webb Middle School Head, Jennifer Phillips; Webb students Murphy Diddle ’26 and Ben Vickers ’26; Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee ’71; Bill ’76 and Crissy Haslam; Webb President Michael McBrien; former Webb Board of Trustees Chair, John Tolsma; and Webb Board of Trustees Chair, Misty Mayes outside of Webb's Governor's Center for Innovation. (below, l to r) Bill Haslam with Sharon G. Lee in front of a 2014 photo featuring Herbert H. Slatery III ’70 being sworn in as Tennessee Attorney General by then-Governor Haslam and Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Lee.

facilities, said, “The facilities provide a hub for completely reimagined classroom experiences. For example, our entrepreneurship curriculum is rooted in the use of Harvard Business School case studies complemented by the voices of local and national entrepreneurial leaders. We don’t know of any other K-12 institution using that unique combination. Entrepreneurial methods are at the core of Webb School's innovation strategy, and we know that access at a younger age is key to success in today’s world.”

A spirit of collaboration and innovation is evident in the new addition to Webb's Middle School. Floor-to-ceiling windows flood both levels of the building, which also includes a Middle School library and media center, and whiteboards lining the halls. Also home to Webb's Lower, Middle and Upper School robotics programs, the Governor's Center for Innovation provides flexible learning and practice spaces and the tools

and technology for students to build, create, design, and problem solve. “Exposure to big, exciting ideas and critical thinking is crucial for our students,” said Misty Mayes, Chair of Webb School’s Board of Trustees. “Tomorrow’s challenges will be solved by those who are able to activate tools from all fields of study, and we hope that one day our students look back at this experience as a catalyst for their success.”

“I’m humbled by this dedication and remain grateful for the head start that I received from valued teachers and mentors during my days at Webb School of Knoxville. The best policies are created when open-minded people collaborate on practical solutions, and I applaud the work being done now to foster those patterns early in future leaders.”

– Bill Haslam ’76

(clockwise from top) Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam ’76 speaks with Webb students, teachers and guests during the dedication event for Webb’s new Governor's Center for Innovation. Bill Haslam watches a demonstration of Webb robotics team #1466's robot as he tours the Governor's Center for Innovation. Following the dedication ceremony, Bill Haslam is interviewed by Webb students Sam Herrick ’27 and Aashi Vora ’23 inside a broadcasting studio in the Governor's Center for Innovation. Named after Haslam, the 4,500-square foot addition to the Middle School includes classrooms, study areas, makerspaces, a broadcasting studio, and a STEM lab.

On THE GREEN

Webb School Appoints Ninth School President

This past fall, Webb School's Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Dr. Ansel Sanders as Webb's ninth president, succeeding Michael McBrien, who will be retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. The appointment follows an intensive search launched last February. Sanders is currently Assistant Headmaster and Dean of Students at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, a boarding school for boys in grades 9 through 12 and one of the top boarding schools in the United States.

“Webb School is truly operating from a position of strength,” says Misty Mayes, Webb Board of Trustees Chair. “Its focus on tailored learning along with the progress made by infusing innovation and entrepreneurship into the curriculum requires Webb to think boldly and creatively. We’re excited by what Ansel will bring to the table in this next chapter of solidifying our place as the top independent school in the region.”

Considered an accomplished innovator, leader, connector, and community builder, Sanders possesses a range of experience that spans the K-12 education sector. At Woodberry Forest, he's responsible for integrating all aspects of student life and affairs into the school’s academic, residential, co-curricular, and extracurricular programs. In addition, his work as a principal member of the Executive Leadership Team focuses on evaluating and enhancing the student experience, which includes collaborating with colleagues on such efforts as the school’s “wholeness” initiative and community and belonging programming. Sanders has also forged partnerships with external organizations to design mission-aligned programs and services.

Formerly, Sanders was President and Chief Executive Officer of Public Education Partners, a nonprofit education foundation in Greenville, South Carolina. In that capacity, he brought businesses, educators, philanthropies, and elected officials together to support,

strengthen and advance educational outcomes and student achievement through programming and advocacy.

Over the course of his career, Sanders also helped establish and lead innovative STEM-based elementary and middle schools in Greenville, including serving as founding director of the A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering, the first urban school built in Greenville in over 40 years and the first elementary school in South Carolina with a schoolwide engineering curriculum. That post led to an appointment by the Superintendent of Greenville County Schools to spearhead the planning of the new STEAM-centered Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School. In addition, while pursuing his Doctorate in Education Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Sanders created school-community partnerships for the Tennessee Achievement School District in Memphis, Tennessee, to support student success and well-being.

Sanders’ professional journey has also been characterized by a love for students and classroom teaching. He has taught middle school English and joined Teach For America early in his career. In addition to his administrative duties at Woodberry, Sanders teaches a senior-level English class, serves as a lacrosse coach and student advisor, and oversees the school’s summer programs.

Sanders and his wife, Helen, have three daughters. He graduated magna cum laude from Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and was an NCAA men’s lacrosse All-American. He has a Master of Arts in Teaching from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in school leadership from Furman University, in addition to his doctorate from Harvard.

While the search for Webb School’s next president delivered a highly qualified pool of candidates from across the country, Sanders clearly stood out, according to John Tolsma,

Co-Chair of Webb’s Presidential Search Committee and former Webb Board Chair. “Ansel offers a set of experiences that will strengthen the school and help us build deep relationships throughout the Knoxville community and the larger region,” says Tolsma. “Education is being reimagined and rethought every day, and Ansel brings an electric passion for innovating while building on the culture and values embraced by Robert Webb in founding Webb School in 1955.”

In accepting the position, Sanders said he was honored, humbled and thrilled to serve as Webb’s next president, and “my family and I are excited to put down roots in Knoxville,” he noted. Sanders added, “I am deeply appreciative for this opportunity to succeed Michael McBrien and build on the school’s storied commitment to excellence, and I look forward to exploring what’s next alongside Webb’s tremendous faculty, staff, students, families, and alumni community.”

This past fall, Webb School's Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Dr. Ansel Sanders as Webb's ninth president, succeeding Michael McBrien, who will be retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Sanders is currently Assistant Headmaster and Dean of Students at Woodberry Forest School. (above) Ansel Sanders with his wife, Helen, and daughters.

Webb Sends School Furnishings to FloodAffected Eastern Kentucky

On an early August day this past summer, three 18-wheelers could be spotted leaving the Webb School of Knoxville campus. Their contents: hundreds of desks, chairs, tables, and other essential classroom furniture provided by Webb School. Their destination: the Letcher and Knott counties in southeastern Kentucky. Their purpose: to deliver much-needed school furnishings to two of the counties that were severely impacted by the devastating floods that had hit the region in late July.

With the freight trailers and drivers provided by a local freight company and fuel costs offset by another contributor, Webb donated its surplus of furniture – the result of a recent redesign of some of its Lower, Middle and Upper School learning spaces – to address an urgent need, according to Dave Perkins, Webb Director of Facilities and Operations. “We knew that many of the schools in those counties were absolutely ruined. Their classrooms . . . the desks, chairs, tables . . . they lost everything,” said Perkins. “So we wanted to do our part to help get kids back to school as soon as possible and provide a sense of normalcy for those areas’ students, teachers and families.”

Between July 25 and July 30, 2022, a complex of slow-moving thunderstorms brought heavy rain, deadly flash flooding and devastating river flooding to eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia, leaving thousands of homes, parks, businesses, schools, and roads underwater. In parts of eastern Kentucky, as much as 10 to 12 inches of rain fell, causing one of the most destructive flooding events in the state’s history. “Even as late as September, some eastern Kentucky schools were still cleaning up and were forced to push back the start of their school years until later that month,” says Webb President Michael McBrien. “It was our hope that by providing these muchneeded furnishings, we and other schools that joined in the effort could help those schools affected by the floods move forward in getting students back into the classroom.”

Additionally, as a result of several renovations being made to Webb’s athletic facilities, bleachers at the former Lady Spartan softball field and Webb’s field hockey/lacrosse practice field also found new homes, and now accommodate fans at Cocke County High School’s home softball games and spectators at Wartburg Central Middle School’s baseball/softball field

LEARNING EARLY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

In honor of longtime Lower School teacher, Caroline Baker (pictured), who retired at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, fellow Junior Spartan teacher Emily Hicks created a Lower School program called Baker's Birthday Closet. When a Lower School child has a birthday, they can make a positive difference in someone else's life by bringing in a gift to put in Baker's Birthday Closet, located in the Junior Spartan classroom. The donated gifts will be given to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley.

EXPANDING THEIR WORLDVIEW

After a two-year hiatus, Webb rekindled its partnership with Bhavan Vidyalaya Chandigarh (BVC) in Chandigarh, India, with a delegation of 10 Upper School students and three faculty members traveling to India this fall. As part of Rotary Youth Exchange in collaboration with Rotary International Chandigarh, Webb students lived and interacted with host families and students, attended classes and engaged in cultural activities at BVC, worked with younger children in BVC’s Junior School, and took time to explore the city and region – an impactful and truly immersive cultural experience!

On THE GREEN

Webb PIG's Gift to Boys & Girls Club Honors Former Club Director

Marking its third year, Webb's student-driven Philanthropic Investment Group (PIG) club presented a check for $500 – part of the PIG’s latest investment profits – to the Haslam Family Club University branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley.

Webb’s PIG is a charity-focused investment club with a mission to support local, national and global communities through charitable giving while also teaching/inspiring Webb students to invest in the stock market.

The PIG club’s latest donation was made in memory of Patricia “Patti” Collins Moran, who was named the first executive director of the Girls Club of Knoxville in 1963. Moran, who passed away on April 18, 2022, is also the grandmother of Webb senior and PIG vice president and head of philanthropy, Molly Crawford. For Crawford, the PIG’s decision to donate its latest earnings through trade in honor of her grandmother was especially significant. “My grandmother always told me about how impactful and important the job was to her, so it was amazing to see this

THIRTEEN RECOGNIZED BY NATIONAL MERIT PROGRAM

Six Spartan seniors are among the fewer than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors to be named National Merit Semifinalists for 2023, and seven more members of Webb’s Class of 2023 have earned National Merit Commended Student distinction.

National Merit Semifinalists Carly

Galbreth, Dmitri Kalinin, Jay Nathan, Sol Schoenbach-Lee, Noah Thomasson, and Campbell Tidwell are eligible to continue in the competition for some 7,500 Merit Scholarship awards, worth nearly $30 million, to be offered in the spring.

Clayton Ailshie, Colin Jung , Jackson Oswalt, Nathan Pope, Saroja Ramchandren, Nathan Redford, and John Tolsma are among the some-34,000 high performers to earn National Merit Commended Student honors. Although they are not eligible to continue in the competition for National Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 highest scorers who entered the 2023 competition by taking the 2021 PSAT/NMSQT.

come full circle with our club giving back in her name," said Crawford. Patti Moran’s two children, Staci Moran Crawford ’86, Molly’s mother, and Louis S. Moran III ’82 , Molly’s uncle, also attended the presentation ceremony at the Boys & Girls Club.

Bart McFadden, President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, expressed his appreciation for the Webb students’ gift and underscored its import in honoring one of the Club’s forerunners. “We are so thankful for their contribution to our organization that will support our work with young people in Knoxville,” said McFadden. “Mrs. Moran’s legacy of service to youth and this community has carried on in her children and now in her granddaughter, Molly Crawford. For Molly to serve our Club as a volunteer through the peer mentoring program and now to help give back through this PIG gift is especially meaningful to us and honors her grandmother so well.”

Lights Go Up on The Drowsy Chaperone

Audience members are still raving about Webb 's Upper School fall musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, a zany salute to the Jazz-Age, packed with show-stopping numbers and larger-than-life characters. The curtain rose on a musical-theater buff listening to her favorite cast album. As the music continued, the show literally burst to life on the Bishop Center stage, and everyone was swept into The Drowsy Chaperone, a play-within-a-play featuring a stage-star bride, a groom on skates, a tap-dancing best man, a misguided Don Juan, gangsters posing as bakers, a desperate theater producer and his kooky assistant, and a tipsy chaperone – and chock-full of gags, clichés and gimmicks from the golden age of musicals.

innovative learning

LOWER SCHOOL SMARTLAB

NEW AND ENHANCED LEARNING SPACES ON THE WEBB SCHOOL CAMPUS HAVE FACILITATED MORE CREATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE STUDY AND HAVE SPARKED INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS AND CLASSES, RESULTING IN A MORE TAILORED AND STUDENT-CENTERED EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE. THE LOWER SCHOOL’S SMARTLAB, MIDDLE SCHOOL COMPUTATIONAL, ENGINEERING AND BROADCAST ENCORE CLASSES IN THE GOVERNOR’S CENTER FOR INNOVATION AND THE QUANTUM COMPUTING PROGRAM IN THE UPPER SCHOOL ARE JUST A SAMPLING OF HOW WEBB SCHOOL IS PREPARING STUDENTS TODAY FOR THE CHALLENGES OF TOMORROW.

MIDDLE SCHOOL ENCORE CLASSES

UPPER SCHOOL QUANTUM COMPUTING

Explore. Plan. Do & Reflect. Share. These are the four cornerstones of the SmartLab Learning Process in Webb’s new cutting-edge Lower School SmartLab, a fullyintegrated, customized space where students thrive through experiential, personalized and collaborative, project-based learning. Carefully designed and equipped for each grade level, Webb’s SmartLab serves to reinforce academics across several disciplines and build nextgeneration skills.

Walk into the Lower School’s SmartLab and you’ll see students buzzing with energy and enthusiasm; the furniture, technology, hardware/software, construction kits, and curricula all work together to support hands-on, minds-on learning. Student teams might be building 2-D or 3-D geometric shapes, designing gravity mazes, using code to program Ozobots®, or determining which gears work best to move their Gears® flight, cycle and wrecker models. In Webb’s SmartLab, autonomy is encouraged, collaboration is the standard, and obstacles are celebrated as an important path to developing skills.

Through the SmartLab Learning Process students:

1) Explore a piece of technology, gather information and learn how the technology works;

2) Plan a project, set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) goals for the project, determine the outcome, and identify the steps to reach it;

3) Do & Reflect on their progress, including journaling and evaluating their work, and describing what it was like to collaborate with a partner; and

4) Share their learning with their peers and teachers as they describe what did and didn’t work.

Taught by a faculty facilitator, the SmartLab is also designed to address multiple learning styles to enable students to work at their own level and pace.

n

6th

Grade: Computational Thinking

Sixth graders develop skills in computational reasoning and create algorithms while solving real-world-based problems. This self-paced program allows student groups to break down complex problems into simple tasks that, when put together, ultimately solve the problem. Teams first learn the basics of programming a robot’s movement and then gradually add the use of sensors to allow for more complex solutions.

n 7th & 8th Grade: Broadcast & Media

7th Grade: Students develop the skills and knowledge to be informed consumers of media in a technological society. Seventh graders learn basic broadcasting and technological skills such as scriptwriting, editing and producing audio and video. 8th Grade: Students research, gather and analyze information to create audio and video news productions in the new broadcast studio.

n 7th Grade: Innovation & Engineering

Design

Students are introduced to basic structural engineering principles using the 4C approach: Connect, Construct, Contemplate, and Continue – all to promote a challenging classroom environment and actively engage students in inquiry, reasoning and critical thinking. Seventh graders then collaborate in small groups to work through simulations of real-world innovation challenges.

n

8th

Grade: Design Inquiry & Investigation

Students use an inquiry-based approach to build a new and deeper understanding of a particular area of scientific study, engineering design or broadcast media under the supervision of Webb faculty and staff mentors, as well as other stakeholders outside the school community. With an emphasis on both science/engineering and broadcasting/ media production, this course provides self-motivated students the chance to build a level of subject mastery well beyond the requirements of the typical middle school class.

Recognizing that quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize technology in multiple fields, ranging from pure sciences to medicine to security, and that the future will be led by those who can address the complex challenges in those fields, Upper School physics teacher Jenifer Lawrie has been exploring new ways to work quantum into Webb’s high school curriculum.

Most recently, Dr. Lawrie introduced the Qubit x Qubit program, which provides exposure to university-level topics in quantum physics, but is presented at an accessible level for high school students. It integrates programming skills into the course material and examines the current state of quantum computing research. Students also write code using Python and perform real experiments via the IBM Quantum Composer. “Writing code and running it on a real quantum computer via IBM seemed like something our students could really enjoy,” said Lawrie. “With Qubit x Qubit, students don’t just learn content in the classroom, they interact with the material in a relevant, real-world way; working the same way as researchers who are on the cutting edges of physics, computer science, medicine, finance, and cybersecurity.”

Last year, a cohort of five Webb high school students completed Qubit x Qubit's comprehensive curriculum, which in part involved students writing and sending Python code out via IBM's network to run on various quantum computers located all over the world.

In the summer, two of Lawrie's Qubit x Qubit graduates, Chase Vermillion ’23 and Zach Vickers ’24, pursued an internship at the University of Tennessee to apply quantum computing to novel research questions under the direction of UT Industrial & Systems Engineering faculty members Dr. James Ostrowski and Dr. Rebekah Herrman.

This year, Lawrie's goals for the Qubit x Qubit program are to develop stronger local connections and to place more students in quantum-related internships and summer camps so that they can continue to build their quantum toolkits.

On THE GREEN

Webb House Crests Get an Upgrade

Webb’s newly-designed House crests were introduced this fall, thanks to the amazing talents of Webb parent Courtney Jernigan, owner and creative director of Knoxville Graphic House. Using the initial crest drawings student House members crafted, Jernigan brought their ideas to life and created a stunning and cohesive design for each House name and its historical connection to Webb School, along with its motto, pillars and virtue.

MOTTO: Through Grace We Thrive

PILLARS: Scholarship, Servant Leadership, Camaraderie & Community, Courage

VIRTUE: Grace

MOTTO: Land of Legacy

PILLARS: Legacy, Opportunity, Growth, Learning

VIRTUE: Growth

MOTTO: Go for Gold

PILLARS: History, Heart, Harmony, Honor

VIRTUE: Compassion

MOTTO: Experience. Educate. Excel.

PILLARS: Family, Determination, Excellence, Passion, Education

VIRTUE: Determination

MOTTO: Honor Begins with Hudson

PILLARS: Honor, Heroism, Humility, Heart

VIRTUE: Humility

MOTTO: Honor the Past, Respect the Present, Imagine the Future

PILLARS: Strength, Spirit, Sportsmanship, Selflessness

VIRTUE: Courage

READ ACROSS WEBB

This past May, Webb’s Middle and Upper School Houses gathered with the Lower School for “Read Across Webb,” an opportunity for the entire school –students, faculty and staff – to come together and celebrate reading and to connect Webb’s House system with the Lower School. Families from each House joined a Lower School grade to share and enjoy their favorite children's books.

Spartan Stats

A by-the-numbers glimpse at recent school highlights

Webb School's ranking for best private K-12 school, best high school for STEM, best private high school, and best college prep private high school in Knox County by Niche.com for 2023. Webb was also ranked among the top three best high schools for athletes in Knox County and earned a No. 7 distinction for best private K-12 school in Tennessee

Number of Webb Upper and Middle School choral students to garner All-East honors this year and be selected to participate in the East Tennessee Vocal Association All-East Honors

250+

Webb parent and Upper School student volunteers who filled more than 400 volunteer roles at this year's WebbFest.

participating in 19 different men's and women's sports.

3,002

Total number of microwavable macaroni and cheese cups donated by Webb’s Middle School as part of its fall “Cheese for Charity” food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee’s Food for Kids program.

Upper School students and Class of 2022 graduates who earned the designation of AP Scholar for their exceptional achievement on their AP exams. Thirty-nine Spartan students earned AP Scholar with Distinction praise, 14 received AP Scholar with Honor recognition, and 39 were named AP Scholars .

Strips of construction paper used by Lower School students for their weaving/ plaiting art projects under the guidance of fall visiting artist Carrie Dickason, a mixedmedia artist whose experimental work is influenced by observations of nature, combined with interests in the constructed environment and consumer culture. Her tenure at Webb also included working with Middle School students to create an art installation out of recycled materials

Number of Webb Upper and Middle School artworks that were selected for this year's East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Several Spartan students also won awards for their entries.

Go SPARTANS!

THANKS COACH: Former Spartan players and coaches returned to campus, October 21, for a special football halftime ceremony to honor the unmatched legacy of retiring Webb head football coach and athletic director, David Meske, and to celebrate his family. Since taking over Webb's varsity football program in 1985, Coach Meske has amassed a career coaching record of 291-146. He has led the Spartans to seven of their eight all-time state football titles, and his Spartan teams have finished state runners-up three times, reached post-season play 28 times, played in 16 state semifinals, and made 10 state championship appearances. In Webb School’s 64-year football history, the Spartans have posted 433 wins, including two undefeated seasons. Coach Meske has been the head coach for more than half of those victories. Under Meske’s tutelage, 11 Spartans have been named Mr. Football finalists and/ or winners and numerous players have gone on to play at the collegiate level and beyond. Thank you, Coach, for 40 years of service to Webb School!

Lady Spartans Become First Tennessee Girls’ Team to Qualify for Nike Cross Nationals

Continuing a trend of exceptional running throughout their 2022 cross-country season, the Lady Spartans finished runner-up at this year’s NXR Southeast Regional Championship and qualified for the 2022 Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) in Portland, Oregon.

The Webb girls, team runners-up at the 2022 Division II-AA State Cross-Country Championships, finished second at the Regional Championship, where only the top two of the 22 participating teams from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and District of Columbia could advance to the nationals. The Lady Spartans also made state history by becoming the first girls’ team from Tennessee to qualify for the 5K national race since it began in 2004.

Freshman Carolina Areheart was Webb’s leading runner at the NXR 5K regional race, finishing 19th out of 210 competitors in a time of 18:18. Classmate Jazzyln Garmer crossed the finish line in 33rd place, clocking in a time of 18:38, while Lady Spartan junior Anna Graves placed 41st (18:44). Calysta Garmer ’26 was 43rd (18:47) with sophomore Kristina Weaver finishing 44th, just .3 seconds behind (18:47.3). Junior Lauren Davis took 137th in a time of 20:21.

At the Nike Cross Nationals, the Webb girls competed against qualifying teams from seven other regions across the country. Results are available at runnerspace.com/nxn.

Marking their fourth straight silver medal finish the TSSAA state cross-country championships, Webb’s girls posted a team total of 98 behind 2022 state champion Harpeth Hall, with three runners finishing in the top 10 and earning All-State honors among the 117 competitors. Anna Graves crossed the finish line in second place in a time of 18:49. Calysta and Jazzlyn Garmer finished fourth (19:06) and 10th (19:51), respectively. Lauren Davis was 34th with a time of 21:10, while junior Avery Krishnan placed 48th (21:38). Huxley McCollum ’24 and freshman Anna Kate Autry also contributed to Webb’s runner-up showing, with McCollum taking 56th (22:05) and Autry placing 66th (22:45).

Charlie Robinson ’23 Named Mr. Football Finalist

Spartan senior quarterback/defensive back Charlie Robinson was named a 2022 Tennessee Titans Mr. Football finalist for Division II-AA. A three-year starter for the Spartan varsity football team and named All-State last year, Robinson was responsible for 30 touchdowns (19 passing and 11 rushing) his senior season and helped lead his Spartans to this year’s Division II-AA state semifinal against Lipscomb Academy and an 10-1 season record. He also amassed 1,775 yards passing with a completion rate of 62 percent and 763 yards rushing at an average of 5.6 yards per carry. On the defensive side of the ball, he totaled 49 tackles and 3 interceptions. Robinson, a Navy commitment, closes out his Spartan football career with 70 total touchdowns (51 passing, 19 rushing), 4,611 yards passing and 1,704 yards rushing. On defense, he collected 156 tackles and 5 interceptions.

“Charlie is an outstanding leader and one of the most versatile athletes I’ve ever coached,” says Webb head varsity football coach, David Meske. Meske also praised Robinson for his drive and determination. “Charlie has the will to win,” Meske noted.

A committee of statewide sports writers selected the Mr. Football winners and finalists based on performance in the 2022 regular season. Academics and character were also taken into consideration. The 2022 Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Awards were presented to the top football players in nine classifications of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, December 7, 2022, during an awards ceremony and luncheon at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

&

Hope Resilience

At the dedication of the new Robert Webb Memorial Statue, October 6, 2022, Bob and Julie Webb’s eldest daughter and Webb alumna, Julia Webb Bland ’69, offered an intimate and inspiring portrait of her father and the genesis of his dream to start an independent school in his hometown .

Thank you. I am honored to represent my family, specifically my mother, Julie Webb, and sister, Susie Ries, to speak on behalf of our family, and to share our deep appreciation for the thoughtfulness of this statue of our dad and husband.

Established. Webb School of Knoxville was “established in 1955.” This forthright statement is quoted at the entrance to the school, in all media. It’s a date, a reference point; it gives credibility and clout to an institution that is seasoned and successful, and has been around for a while. From my perspective, that word “established” needs a bit more of an explanation to understand the man we are honoring today.

Daddy was born into a family of school makers, men who were privileged to receive a quality education and wanted to ensure that others benefited from such. His grandfather, William Robert Webb, or Old Sawney as he was called, was a passionate, charismatic, innovative educator who highly prized excellence in academics (especially the classics) as well as honor and integrity. By the time our father was born, Old Sawney’s school – The Webb School Bell Buckle – had a reputation without rival. It had produced graduates with incredible success records throughout the South (in public and private sectors) and held claim to fostering more Rhodes Scholars than any school in the country. Both Harvard College and Princeton University, among others, acknowledged that their best prepared students came from a small school in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. Webb’s Honor Code not only shaped the integrity and leadership qualities of its students, but was also copied by other academic institutions, including Princeton University and University of Virginia.

Two of Sawney’s sons were also school makers, with the eldest (Will Webb) continuing his father’s legacy in Bell Buckle and the youngest (Thompson Webb) founding a Webb School in California based on the same values and ideals.

Daddy grew up going to Bell Buckle for family reunions and holiday celebrations, and was surrounded by generations of family whose lives intersected with school. His early aspirations were to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, then Will Webb, and ultimately Thompson Webb, who had founded the Webb School in California in 1922. In some way, he would teach and hoped to impact and transform the lives of those he touched.

After a number of years teaching at Webb Bell Buckle and World War II service, and a marriage and two children weaving into the picture, there was a power struggle at school that dictated that Daddy separate from his family’s legacy. In his resignation letter to the board president, he shared, “I cannot hide the fact that the separation causes me great pain. I have planned since the time I was a small boy to teach at Webb.”

It was during this time that a conversation started about the creation of a Webb School in Knoxville. The tradition was established, the models were superb with incredible results and Daddy had the training through his years of service. In addition, he had a master’s degree in education with a focus on independent boarding schools in the South. However, he went west before he headed east. His Uncle Thompson in California welcomed him – and his small family – to come and teach and be mentored for his next step. That year was one of training, learning and healing, but at last he was ready for Knoxville.

In June of 1955, a lot of change was ahead in our father’s life. While education had always been a part of his life, he had not yet been in a top leadership position, and in fact had been told in Bell Buckle that he didn’t have it in him to be a “schoolman.”

We left the sensory scenery and loving family in Claremont and headed “home,” driving over 2,000 miles (before the days of interstates, air-conditioned cars or disposable diapers) to return to Tennessee. This would be the first time in nearly a decade that Dad had not lived in a boys’ dorm! And, he had just

(far left) Julie Webb sits next to the new sculpture on campus of her husband and Webb School founder, Robert Webb, and is accompanied by her daughters Susie Webb Ries ’71 (left) and Julia Webb Bland ’69.

(left) Julia Webb Bland speaks to guests at the dedication of the Robert Webb Memorial Statue about her father’s journey in founding an independent school in his hometown.

lost his father and was returning to Knoxville, the childhood home he had not lived in for years. What was he thinking about as he drove toward Knoxville? Hope, optimism, potential, possibilities, excitement, anticipation; certainly anxiety and fear. But he had been well prepared and his family assured him that Knoxville was ready for its own version of a Webb School.

Daddy’s original plan was to copy the model he knew – a boarding school for boys, preparing them for further education in the best colleges in America and life as productive citizens beyond. He would spend a year raising funds, securing a facility and building a student body and faculty that would all come together in the fall of 1956. However, as he started working on his established plan, he realized that the school would need to open sooner, as his business plan would depend upon tuitions to fund his dream of the first independent, college preparatory school in Knoxville. He would need to create and open a school in the fall of 1955, a mere two months away.

He was basically carving a three-legged stool – a leg for the students, a leg for the school facility and a leg for the faculty. That last leg was not a problem, as he was personally planning to teach English, math and Latin. Brother George, a Presbyterian minister, would teach Bible part-time, so he only needed an additional teacher to fill out the initial faculty and curriculum. Parents were interested in enrolling their boys, but Daddy fielded the same question many times over, “Who else is enrolled?” Finally, two families were courageous enough to agree to have their sons “enter” Webb School of Knoxville.

As time moved closer to what our father hoped was the beginning of his new school, his doubts grew, and he placed an important phone call to his Uncle Thompson in California, letting him know that there were only two boys enrolled in the school (and likely hoping for an invitation to return to his old job). Uncle Thompson, ever the mentor, responded, “Bob, you take those two boys and give them the best education you possibly can.” Before classes started, the enrollment doubled –to four boys – and the first year of school was about to begin.

Daddy had given himself a deadline of August 15 for finding a physical space to open the school. The identification of a facility was about as successful as the recruitment of students. Sitting at the desk of his brother George’s church office in South Knoxville, Daddy answered a call while George was out of the room. Julian Spitzer from Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church was on the line and asked what Daddy was up to. Upon hearing of the plight to find a school site, Julian asked, “Will my place do?” That magical question – or offer – gave Daddy the third leg of the stool that needed stabilizing, and his vision gained transformational momentum.

Webb School was established. As a family of Webbs, we were all in. Opening day, Daddy’s brother George gave the benediction, his Uncle Will traveled from Bell Buckle to give the address, Daddy and the other full-time teacher, George Turley, spoke to the boys, our mom, Julie, played the piano to accompany the hymns, and my almost two-year-old sister and I dutifully sat on the back row of the chapel – in our pajamas. On September 12, 1955, Webb School opened its doors – with four speakers on the platform and four students in the pews. School had started!

Daddy was eager to establish Webb School of Knoxville and its place in the independent school world. A first step was to become accredited by the Tennessee State Department of Education, which planned to send a team of six people from Nashville for the inspection visit. Daddy was quick to say that there were only four students, so that would be unnecessary. A single inspector came, and the school was accredited. Also, Daddy quickly secured Webb’s membership in the major associations – Tennessee, MidSouth and Southern Association of Independent Schools (each of which he later presided over), Southern Association for Colleges and Schools, and the National Association for Independent Schools (which his Uncle Thompson in California had helped found). Correspondence from the 1950s includes letters from admissions directors from Harvard and Princeton who visited to learn about the school and its students who may seek admission.

As the school became more established, there was interest from parents of girls to have a similar offering for females. Daddy had come out of the boys’ boarding school tradition and his first reaction was, “What? Educate girls? I never thought about that,” even though his innermost circle of supporters included his mother, his wife and his two daughters.

Webb School’s initial funding plan depended heavily upon family support. I found out years later that Daddy’s mother and Uncle Will offered no-interest loans to get him through the first two years. Toward the end of the second year, Daddy wrote his Uncle Will saying, “Things have gone really well this year. We have a nice group of boys, most of whom are working very hard and are making progress. We enjoy most of all the fact that the people of Knoxville have completely accepted us and feel that we are making a contribution to the life of this area. The one drawback is financial. We have been able to run this far on tuitions from our group of students, but we are now running out of money, and I am turning to you to ask if you can help. We need $2,000 at once to close out the year and will probably need a similar amount to run through the summer. I will appreciate deeply any help you can give.” Uncle Will quickly agreed. Within two years, all debts were repaid and Webb School operated in the black from that point on.

A growing school enrollment was critical for success. Advertisements were placed in the Knoxville News Sentinel promoting the “small classes” the new school would offer. We

picked up Daddy each day in the family car, and not fully understanding the weight of our query, we girls greeted him with the same question, “Did you get any more boys?”

Our mother, in addition to playing at daily chapel services, was a supporter in every way imaginable. She has always been associated with beauty, grace and hospitality. She was consistently providing beautiful flower arrangements (selected from roadside wildflowers and her own garden) for school events, holidays and receptions of any kind. She hosted regular outings to the Smoky Mountains for faculty wives, so that they were more likely to feel a sense of belonging at this new school. And bulletin boards were cleverly decorated with school spirit and celebratory news. She had a smile and warm greeting for everyone. She still does!

Faculty meetings were held in our living room. My sister and I would huddle behind the louvered doors that separated the living room from the rest of our small house and listen in until we were discovered. We felt like CIA agents, knowing what the boys were getting on their report cards before they did.

During the third year, the school's board of trustees began discussing a permanent location for Webb. Our family took Sunday afternoon drives to see how Knoxville was developing in a westward direction (beyond Bearden and Deane Hill) and to look for potential sites for a new school. One of the board members, Stewart Henslee, offered acreage from a large farm he owned near Cedar Bluff, and a building campaign was launched. The community responded to the vision of a spacious campus where Webb could grow and expand, and the life of Webb School of Knoxville was transformed.

As the plans were finalized and the money was raised, all we heard about was this exciting construction project – the first shovel full of dirt, the groundbreaking, the trustees, and . . . the

first shovel full of dirt. The day arrived in August of 1958 when Daddy’s dreams that propelled him across the country would come true, and we were all filled with excitement. As we waited for the ceremony to start, I eyed that magical shovel and was determined to step into the act. I, the eldest child of Robert Webb, took the shovel by the handle and walked over past where the flags are right now – toward the tennis courts – and put my seven-year-old foot on the metal of the shovel and turned THE FIRST SHOVEL FULL OF DIRT for this magnificent campus. The photographers from the Knoxville News Sentinel were all focused on the important people – all of whom were grownups –so the moment was not captured; but there you have it.

Shortly after the campus was built, our father’s mother was appointed head of grounds. She always had a shovel and garden gloves (with her pearls), and went about with a plan in mind. I remember her driving her Dodge Dart to school and unloading the G.G. Gerbing and George Tabor azaleas she had brought back from visiting her daughter in Savannah. Our grandmother was a master gardener, known for her exceptional gardens and flower arrangements alike. She once told me that “you need to dig a fivegallon hole for a one-gallon plant. The roots of the plant need space to expand and grow and become well established.”

Family members coming to attend Webb School increased the family engagement, and each of them lived with us. Our mother’s sister came from Johnson City; our father’s brother’s two sons from North Carolina; a foreign exchange student from South Africa; our mother’s brother’s two sons from Johnson City; and finally, a friend of his wife’s brother’s son asked if he could finish his senior year living at our house while his parents moved to another city. Are you counting with me – who says Webb School of Knoxville wasn’t a boarding school? And five of those wonderful people are with us today! Even school transportation was a family affair. All students were bussed to the new rural

(left) Webb President Michael McBrien speaks to guests at the October 6 dedication of the Robert Webb Memorial Statue. (above) During his remarks at the event, Webb Director of Development, Hugh Nystrom ’85, presented a proclamation from Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, declaring October 6, 2022, as Julie Dossett Webb Day in Knox County.

campus on green and white buses, named Miss Susie and Miss Julia. When the phone rang at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. on a winter’s morning, we knew what that meant. Enough snow had fallen the night before that Pete Lobetti, owner of the bus company, had taken the buses out to determine if the roads were safe enough to transport the students to school. With only one means of transportation to school on snowy days, decision-making was easy. The radio and TV stations would regularly announce, “Knox County schools will be closed, Knox city schools will be closed, the University of Tennessee will be closed, BUT the Webb School will remain open!”

Once the school was large enough to field athletic teams, its sports programs grew quickly, with football, basketball and track providing fitness, competition and teamwork for the students. Daddy didn’t miss a game, and that meant that we didn’t either. We traveled the region – Chattanooga (Baylor and McCallie), Asheville (Asheville School for Boys, Asheville Country Day and Christ School), Sewanee (St. Andrew's and Sewanee), and more. I remember bringing my umbrella to the slopes of the school's first football field, so I could play dolls underneath the shade.

While Daddy was our superhero, my sister Susie and I considered the Webb boys our heroes. I remember one basketball game where Webb played Asheville School for Boys on their court. The loss was decisive, but Susie and I took our Blue Horse notebooks and giddily ran up to each player after the game to ask for his autograph. No movie star's autograph could have topped that experience!

Leadership qualities are varied and abundant, and there are many that particularly describe our father. When Sir Henry Webb received our family coat of arms from King Henry VIII in 1577, the leadership qualities in the icons and Latin words denoted leadership for battles long since forgotten. Principes non Homines – Leaders not Men – has become a central tenet for the collective Webb family – students, teachers, staff, and beyond.

Old Sawney was frequently referenced with the Emerson quote, “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.” Perhaps the same can be said of our dad, whose leadership goals wove together academic excellence with character building, integrity and honor.

Daddy was a visionary. He ensured that Webb School was a place where he and the faculty prepared students for jobs that didn’t yet exist. He prepared them to think, to problem solve, to innovate, to become leaders in their communities in a variety of ways. He had, as our mother described, a “splendid instinct” and an ability to shape complex ideas of excellence and guide them with a moral compass. And that compass centered on integrity. Webb’s Honor Code and the culture of integrity came from the values and principles of the first Webb School. Weekly chapel

addresses gave Daddy the opportunity to share stories of inspiration, whether from current events or ancient history or just the value of a “normal day,” to reinforce the character building so important to all. His grandfather’s common guiding directive, “Don’t do anything on the sly,” reinforced the implementation of the Honor Code.

Daddy grew up with assumptions and aspirations to do something different from what he ultimately did with his life. Being a “founder” – one who establishes something of great quality – takes a lot of grit and perseverance, and requires continued leadership for any number of unanticipated events and situations. Our mother’s father, head of East Tennessee State University and former Commissioner of Education for the State of Tennessee, attended and later sent congratulations for the first year’s closing exercises at the school. “You certainly are to be commended for your courageous efforts this year and particularly for your superb accomplishments,” Burgin Dossett wrote. “Frankly, it seemed dark to me in the beginning, but now I have no doubt that you are firmly established and that your dream will be completely realized. It is further evidence that success calls only for competency, courage and willingness to pay the price.”

The 1960s brought a long-overdue Civil Rights struggle, and schools were at the heart of conversations about equity and opportunities. Webb School of Knoxville became a leader in both the dialogue and actions around open enrollment and integration. In a 1968 speech to the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools, which garnered a front-page article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Daddy encouraged the participating independent schools throughout the Mid-South to follow in the fresh footprints of Webb School and open their doors to students of all colors and backgrounds. The Asheville School’s Award of Merit distills his mix of skills: “It is not enough to list his honors; it must also be said that when reason and moderation, clear thinking and tact are required, Bob Webb is sent for . . . He has done more than any other independent school person to create understanding and harmony between the private and the public sectors of education, especially in the South.”

Resilience is a word used more and more frequently these days, and it can be applied to our dad’s earliest years and onward. Our father contracted polio when he was eight years old, spending a year out of school with what was frequently a life-threatening illness. He spent weeks and months in medical clinics in Memphis and Atlanta, seeking the latest treatments with his mother at his side. Medical skill, Daddy’s determination and his mother’s support gave him the tools he needed to recover. In later years, he had the unanticipated experience of having to leave his grandfather’s school, where he had been teaching, due to power struggles.

His maternal uncle said in the midst of the heartbreak, “Bob, you may look back on this situation and determine it was the best thing that ever happened to you.”

I live in New Orleans, and in 2005, our family was one of thousands that had our world turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina. Our personal recovery process lasted 18 months. Among many other things, our entire four-drawer file cabinet flooded. Weeks or months later, in an effort to salvage whatever I could, I peeled apart wet papers and laid them across my backyard in the sun to dry. A single letter blew toward me with ink smeared but legible. It was a 29-year-old letter from Daddy – one of a small handful I received from him throughout my life. He had recently died, but this letter was an incredibly comforting message of love and resilience. It read as follows:

“May 29, 1976

Dearest Julia,

Have just read the letter you wrote last Saturday. We’re so distressed that you’re down in the dumps. But these things happen. Troubles are an inescapable part of living. It’s just too bad when so many pile in at the same time. Still, this is how we grow. If life were always smooth, we’d never get to the point where we would amount to anything. Do you remember the opening verses of the fifth chapter of Romans? We never really can rejoice when we go through these things, but it is frequently true that we can look backwards at some time in the future and realize that our troubles made us stronger. At any rate, I’ve learned to take disappointments – even severe ones – with a certain amount of faith that things will brighten up soon, and may very well be an important turning point in a person’s life.”

Our father was a true educator. He was an eager learner who never ceased with his curiosity about education, the humanities, philosophy, and the big world around him. He was quick to establish opportunities for his students to grow with extracurricular activities and experiences. Two early ones that stand out in my memory include a two-week expedition to the badlands of South Dakota and Nebraska, successfully looking for fossils and dinosaur evidence. The teenage boys who piled into our family station wagon for an expedition with Ray Alf of California had the thrill of a lifetime. Another adventure was inspired by Tom Sawyer, where Webb students built a raft and cabin, launched it in Knoxville and traveled down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, intact.

While not so sensational in nature, Webb School's offerings diversified with music, art and drama programs, debate and civic groups, creative writing and yearbook editing, Junior Classical Leagues, and foreign exchange students through the AFS program. Each of these activities and opportunities was designed to keep us engaged as learners – about the world around us and our own innate interests and strengths. Daddy’s learning was continually stimulated by colleagues and mentors and was ultimately awarded by admission into the elite Headmasters Association, making our family the first with three generations in its membership.

At Dad's retirement in 1984, a number of students were asked to reflect on the school and their experiences. Recent grad Missy Vaughn wrote, “I have carried with me a love of knowledge and the thirst to learn more and more and more . . . Webb taught me to demand the best of myself and to deliver it. Webb also taught me to look inside others, to help them discover what is there.

(pictured) More photo highlights from the dedication of the Robert Webb Memorial Statue, October 6, 2022, on the Webb School of Knoxville campus.

Webb gave me a taste of culture, a love of learning and a sort of genteel insight, which will be with me all my life. If this sounds too emotional and corny, it is you, Webb, who must take the blame. For it was you, my high school of cliques and puberty, of jello fights with Anetha and giggles with friends, who taught me to really feel and to express my feelings. I really think it is neat that every time my name is mentioned in the public eye, it is connected with my upbringing at Webb School.”

Over the last several months, our family has asked the question, “What would Daddy think of this?” Our answer – all around – has been the same. He would be embarrassed. Never one to seek attention for himself, he would be touched but really quite embarrassed.

But, what if he were with us today? What would he say? He would really love talking to former students, wanting to know how this prep school prepared you; what did you do after commencement? He would be particularly proud of any civic leadership roles you might have played, and especially proud of roles of service for your community or state. To graduates who have sent a second or even third generation to Webb, he would be thrilled and want to know about their experiences.

What would he say to faculty members and school administrators? Webb School now includes Lower School and Middle School, and he would be so interested in the research and educational trends of early learning and wonder how that impacts the school’s planning and long-range success. He would be so proud of the many continued successes this school has experienced, thanks to ongoing commitments and strong leadership. He would be amazed and thrilled at the growth in extracurricular activities and offerings for students. He would congratulate you for the strategic development of the campus and would marvel at the size of the trees that were mere saplings when planted by teenagers in the ’60s.

Big ideas are just ideas if not supported by philanthropy. Each of you here is a supporter of Webb School, and Daddy would make a point to shake your hand and thank you for your continued commitment to making Webb an institution of excellence and high esteem.

What would he say to his family, his beautiful bride who has continued to be an honorary matriarch of Webb School of Knoxville and an amazing ambassador and supporter of one and all? He would love seeing his nieces, nephews and children, and hear of their lives; seeing his grandchildren grown up and meeting his great-grandchildren, especially Robert, the youngest and newest namesake.

What if he were to come to this granite boulder, using a cane to support his weaker, polio-stricken leg, and sit down? What would he say to this younger Robert Webb – the man so filled with hope, with vision, with ambition, with possibilities, with anxieties; a man of deep commitment and true perseverance, eager to establish a new Webb School?

When he turned the shovel full of farmland soil, he dug a fivegallon hole, ensuring that the roots would have ample space in which to grow – in depth and breadth. The foundation is critical for planting the values of what is to grow, what characters to shape, what young men and women to educate, what futures to inspire and strengthen, and what impact to make.

At the end of his senior year at the Webb School Bell Buckle, he authored an autobiography; certainly a class assignment. This 18-year-old grandson of the famous founder ended his autobiography with prophetic words: “I only hope that my life in the future will be as happy as the past has been and that I may carry on the ideals I have acquired here and someday accomplish something worthwhile.” What would Bob Webb, master of the understatement, say to his younger self? “Well done.”

W

For a related story about the dedication of the Robert Webb Memorial Statue at Webb School, go to: webbschool.org/news. The article also contains links to footage of Julia Webb Bland's presentation and of the proclamation announcement declaring October 6, 2022, as Julie Dossett Webb Day in Knox County.

“I’ve learned to take disappointments – even severe ones – with a certain amount of faith that things will brighten up soon, and may very well be an important turning point in a person’s life.”

– Robert Webb

When news of Mrs. Webb’s passing was posted to Webb School’s social media, there was an outpouring of heartfelt condolences and tributes from members of the Webb School community and beyond. Below is a sampling.

• What an incredible, inspirational woman who leaves behind many beautiful memories and examples for us all to follow.

• It didn’t matter what season of life Webb School was in, Mrs. Webb led with grace and goodness.

• Such sad news, but what a legend she will always be. A leader and a lady. A strong, ever-present figure whose cherished legacy will continue at Webb.

• We will all miss seeing her at Webb celebrations. We are committed to sharing her gracious spirit, kindness and love of learning with all the students at Webb in her honor.

A Beautiful Soul. A Cherished Legacy.

Webb School mourns the passing of Julie Webb

In early November 2022, Webb School was deeply saddened by news of the passing of Julie Webb, wife of Webb School of Knoxville founder, Robert Webb, and mother of Julia Webb Bland ’69 and Susie Webb Ries ’71. Considered the treasured heart and beloved matriarch of the school since its founding, Julie Webb was an esteemed fixture at numerous Webb School functions and activities in recent years. She touched the lives of so many at Webb with her wisdom, gracious spirit, quiet strength, optimism, and compassion.

In her obituary, published online November 5, 2022, Julie Webb's role in the founding and shaping of Webb School was described as follows: “Asked what she did to help start the school, Julie would modestly say that she ‘cooked Bob’s breakfast.’ In truth, Mrs. Webb supported and influenced the school in thousands of behind-the-scenes ways, forming half of a formidable team that never lost focus on

the principles that set Webb School in motion. Their partnership lasted over 55 years before Bob’s death in 2005.”

As noted in the same obituary, author and Webb alumnus Jack Neely ’76 dedicated the book, A Splendid Instinct: Robert Webb and the Founding of the Webb School of Knoxville, to Julie Webb, writing, “Dedicated to Julia Dossett Webb whose quiet wisdom, graciousness, laughter, genuineness, compassion, and her love of the hills of East Tennessee speak volumes about the spirit of Webb School of Knoxville.”

Mrs. Webb was truly “a beautiful soul,” one Webb School alumna recently wrote, and she was a glowing example of the phrase, “leave every place better than you found it.” Such was her tremendous and lasting impact on Webb School and its community, leaving behind a cherished legacy.

W

View Julie Webb's full obituary at: https://www.knoxnews.com/ obituaries/kns053010.

Always A SPARTAN

Fellow Spartan Alumni,

Reflecting on the school year so far, the hustle and bustle on the Webb campus have been extremely energizing! Students, teachers, faculty, staff, and coaches are fully engaged in their classes and activities, and the cold winter air brings much change and enthusiasm. Change can sometimes be a little scary, but I choose to embrace it and its effect on our future. That being said, there are many changes ahead at Webb that I would like to share with you.

First off, we would like to express our condolences to Julia Webb Bland, Susie Webb Ries and the entire Webb family on the passing of Julie Webb. She was truly a jewel in the Webb School community and a pure example of grace, leadership, inspiration, strength, and kindness. In addition, as you know, several Webb leaders are embarking on new journeys – retirement – at the end of this school year, including President Michael McBrien, longtime football coach and athletic director, David Meske, and Lyn Meske, Executive Assistant to the President. Unfortunately, there is not enough room in this letter to describe the extraordinary impact those retiring from Webb have had on our school community and their legacy of excellence. But I do want to let them know that they will be missed and that they have served as a hallmark of the very best our school has to offer.

With President McBrien retiring, our Board of Trustees had a big challenge. How do you replace such a remarkable leader? The Board, chaired by Misty Mayes, established a dynamic Presidential Search Committee of tenured Board members, staff and faculty to help narrow the field, and we are delighted at the appointment of Ansel Sanders as the next president of Webb School. You can read more about Dr. Sanders in this magazine.

With regard to our Alumni Association, we welcomed several new committee members to the Alumni Association Board, and would love to engage more alumni over the next few years. We want to enhance our mission of “connection,” and are working toward new events and a culture that fosters that mission. Being a Webb alum means something, and we need to embrace the quality education we enjoyed, the safe environment in which we could learn and the outstanding teachers and coaches that impacted our lives.

In the spirit of connectedness, this fall we took a new direction to celebrate our alumni with our first ALLALUMNI party on campus followed by a tailgate at the University of Tennessee before the UT vs. Florida game. We plan on doing similar all-alumni events next year and would love for you to attend! Also, a few years ago, we created a Young Alumni Association Board, which has been a great success. Through the involvement of our young board, we know that there's a need to help engage our newest alumni. The idea is to tap into our strong network of over 5,000 Spartan graduates to help our youngest alumni connect. We plan to form a robust group of alumni from across the country who can be a resource for our younger Spartan members. If you're interested in joining this initiative, please let us know by contacting Joy Edwards in Webb’s Development Office. All we need is your time.

Another exciting change at Webb is our newest undertaking, called the Spartan Athletic Enhancement Initiative This effort supports much-needed enhancements and additions to our athletic facilities. Construction on the school’s new softball field and baseball/softball pitching/hitting facility is already underway, and more exciting renovations and buildings are in our future, like Webb’s Elite Fitness & Training Center. This effort will help foster wellness for ALL Webb students and provide superior training facilities for Spartan student-athletes. If you would like to help with the Spartan Athletic Enhancement Initiative, please let us know.

Lastly, if you haven’t returned to campus to see the Robert Webb Memorial Statue, I encourage you to do so. This sculpture embodies everything that we remember and loved about Mr. Webb. He was our fearless leader and advocate for many years, and having an image of him on campus honors his legacy and will do so for decades to come. Thank you to all who participated in the development of this statue; it is truly historical!

So, as you can see, Webb School is doing some remarkable work, and I am so honored to be part of this great school. Remember, connection is our mission! Let’s stay connected and be part of Webb School’s exciting future. My best wishes for a wonderful new year, and I hope to see you on campus soon!

Lacy Lederer

We want to enhance our mission of ‘connection,’ and are working toward new events and a culture that fosters that mission. Being a Webb alum means something, and we need to embrace the quality education we enjoyed, the safe environment in which we could learn and the outstanding teachers and coaches that impacted our lives.

Allison

’95 President, Webb School of Knoxville Alumni Association Board, Parent of Parks ’28 & Devon ’29

Healthcare Entrepreneur Brad Smith ’01 Named 2022 Distinguished Alumnus

For 2022, Webb School named Spartan Class of 2001 alumnus Brad Smith as its Distinguished Alumnus/na Award recipient. The Distinguished Alumnus/na Award is among the highest honors bestowed upon a member of Webb's alumni and is presented annually to a Spartan alumnus/na whose business or professional accomplishments and service to others exemplify the goals of Webb School in the spirit of its motto, Principes

non Homines – Leaders not Men

Smith is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Russell Street Ventures, an innovative healthcare firm focused on launching and scaling companies that serve some of the nation’s most vulnerable patient populations. He is also the CEO of Main Street Health, which provides primary care services to patients in rural America, and Executive Chairman of CareBridge, which serves homebound Medicaid patients. Previously, Smith was co-founder and CEO of Aspire Health, which he and former United States Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist grew into the nation’s largest home-based palliative care provider before selling it to Anthem. Smith was later Chief Operating Officer of Anthem’s Diversified Business Group, a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of five companies.

Smith’s professional journey also included serving in government as Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Deputy Administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. At the White House, Smith helped operationalize elements of the federal response to COVID-19, including scaling testing across the country and launching Project Airbridge. He was also a board member of Operation Warp Speed. Smith formerly served as chief of staff at the Tennessee Department of Economic Development and was the founding Executive Director of the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), a K-12 education nonprofit in Tennessee.

Smith graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University and completed his Master of Philosophy from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has lectured at Duke University, Vanderbilt University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University, and has authored articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, Fierce Healthcare, The Tennessean, and Memphis Commercial Appeal

Smith returned to campus this fall to receive his award. During his presentation at Upper School Chapel, he pointed out the important role mentors can play in one’s career journey “And a lot of that for me started at Webb,” he said. He recounted his time as a senior when he met with Bill Haslam ’76, then a member of Webb’s Board of Trustees. “Mr. Haslam suggested that I consider applying to Harvard, a school I don't remember having heard of prior to my time at Webb and one I certainly would have never thought about applying to.” He went on to attend Harvard, which he said opened his eyes to a world of opportunities. Through his interaction with Haslam, Smith was also introduced to Sen. Bob Corker,

who hired him to be his driver – his first job out of college. “That opportunity indirectly led to a slew of others,” he continued, “including working for Sen. Bill Frist, serving in the White House and launching several companies. Having mentors to help guide me and to encourage me to take more risks really made a huge difference in my life.”

Smith said his career paths are intertwined with four key lessons. “First, take more risks than you’re comfortable with,” he told the students. He recounted two key decisions in which he selected the less likely choice – deciding to work for Sen. Corker's campaign instead of joining a highpaying consulting firm, and partnering with Sen. Frist to start a nonprofit rather than attending Stanford Graduate School of Business. “Had I not opted for those choices, I would never have started my own businesses nor would I have had the chance to work in the White House.” He also encouraged the students to think less about their failures and to persevere. “While things have worked out for me over time,” Smith said, “there were so many times that I failed at things. My advice is to power through it and keep going; no one really remembers the failures.” The third lesson is to realize how flexible one's career path can be, Smith noted. While one’s career can take multiple avenues, he contended that “there are commonalities across different pursuits and you can have a career that takes these different types of turns.” For his final lesson, “do more than people can imagine,” Smith related how some of his ventures were initially rejected, but he pressed on and succeeded.

Looking back, Smith says his Webb School experience was the springboard to his career. “Without Webb, I wouldn’t be at all where I am today,” he said. “I was a bit shy when I came to Webb, and I think had I gone to a bigger school, I would not have come out of my shell and flourished as I did. My teachers and others thoughtfully pushed and nurtured me in going just a bit farther than what I was comfortable with. Webb helped open the world for me.”

(right) Brad Smith ’01 with his wife, Lauren Smith, and Webb classmates Emily Cleveland Taylor and Brandon Parks.

Always A SPARTAN

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT

Webb's Alumni Achievement Awards are presented annually to those alumni who have distinguished themselves in their respective careers and have achieved outstanding success in their chosen professions while upholding the mission of Webb School of Knoxville. For 2022, 12 Spartan alumni, nominated by their classmates and representing the reunion classes of 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017 were honored during Spartan Alumni Weekend. We proudly present this year's Alumni Achievement Award recipients.

1970, including a tour in Vietnam. He returned to his hometown to enter banking at Hamilton National Bank and rose to vice president in the company before taking on the role of vice president at Park National Bank. Saunders later worked as an office manager at Novinger, Ball & Zivi, P.C. before retiring in 2008 to serve on the Knox County Commission, representing District 4 (2008-2010). He is also a founding board member of and remains active with the Trust Company of Knoxville. In 1986, Saunders was appointed to the Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission where he worked until he resigned in 2012. During that time, he was also elected to Knoxville City Council; his eight-year term included Vice Mayor from 2017 to 2019.

Throughout his professional and political career, Saunders pursued his passion for community service, which included joining the board of directors for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and serving as president of the Arts Council. He is also former president of the East Tennessee Historical Society and Knox Heritage. Saunders was also active on the Tennessee Preservation Trust Board and is a Leadership Knoxville alumnus. He served on both the Downtown Design Review Board and the Metropolitan Drug Commission Board, and is involved with the Bearden Council and Knox Heritage. A member of the West Knoxville Sertoma Club, Saunders is a board member and current treasurer of the Knoxville History Project, an Arts & Cultural Alliance board of directors member and a Knoxville Greenway Ambassador.

Saunders notes that one of his most vivid memories from his time at Webb School involved the Legend of the Flood. On a Friday, early in 1957, Saunders, then a seventh grader, walked into the basement of Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church to find the floor underwater. He and his schoolmates grabbed buckets to form a water brigade, working all day and deep into the evening. A memorable start to a long weekend.

Roger Klein has practiced corporate and transactional law for over 45 years and is currently the general counsel at Shulman Rogers, a full-service law firm with its principal office located in Potomac, Maryland. At Shulman Rogers, Klein provides legal

Finbarr Saunders’ life has been intertwined with a commitment to service. After graduating from Transylvania University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science, Saunders served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army from 1967 to services to multinational corporate and commercial real estate clients. He has served as counsel in acquisitions totaling billions of dollars, including several large defense contractors, major sports facilities, luxury cruise ships, and numerous publications. His responsibilities also involve FCPA and ethics counseling for both American and foreign clients.

As a real estate lawyer, Klein has represented both landlords and tenants in lease negotiations involving over a million square feet of office space, and counseled owners in the acquisition and mixed use development of substantial commercial properties. He has also acted as counsel to commercial building owners regarding the sale and purchase of commercial real estate.

Prior to joining his current firm, Klein was the general counsel and managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office of a United States-based multinational law firm, where he was directly involved with the organization of its offices in Europe and Asia.

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis where he was president of the student body, Klein went on to earn his Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center. He was appointed by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to serve two terms on the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility and was Vice Chair of the Board. Author of “Political Expenditures,” 231-2nd Tax Management Portfolio, Klein has served as an adjunct faculty member at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and has lectured on the topic of commercial lease negotiation in conjunction with the D.C. Bar Continuing Education Program. Klein’s public service activities have included acting as general counsel on a pro bono basis to various charities, including the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

F. Edwin Lay Jr. is a licensed certified public accountant, practicing in Knoxville, Tennessee since 1983. He is principal of the firm, F. Edwin Lay, CPA, and has experience in both public accounting and private industry, having served as president of a closely-held business that was founded in 1907.

A graduate of Duke University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with distinction in economics, Lay later pursued graduate studies in accounting at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is serving a second term on the governing board of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA), comprised of nearly 10,000 members working in areas such as public accounting, business, industry, government, and education. Lay’s prior service with the TSCPA includes terms on its legislative committee, which works closely with the State of Tennessee legislature on accountancy matters. In addition, he was president of the Knoxville Chapter of the TSCPA. In that role, he mentored area college students considering an accounting career and enrolled them as student members of the TSCPA.

Throughout his career, Lay has been committed to serving others. He is active on the boards of Montgomery Village Ministry, Children’s International Summer Village, Hazen Historical Museum Foundation, and Church Street United Methodist Church. In addition, he is a class agent for his Webb Class of 1972! Formerly, Lay served as president of the Florence Crittenton Board of Directors and the Knoxville Volunteer Rotary Club, of which he was a founding member. He also completed two terms on the Knox County United Way allocations panel.

Thanks to his experience at Webb School, Lays says he felt well prepared for the academic rigor of Duke University, and “the teachers at Webb really cared about the success of their students,” he noted. He remarked that some of his favorite memories are from his senior year at Webb and spending time in the student lounge. “As a senior, it was beyond cool to have a lounge dedicated only to seniors’ use,” Lay said. “My great affinity for coffee began in that lounge!”

PICTURED: 1. Finbarr Saunders ’62 2. Roger Klein ’67 3. F. Edwin Lay Jr. ’72 4. Tom Baker ’77 5. Susan Dore Greenlees ’82 6. Victoria Johnson ’87 7. Craig P. Dobson ’92 8. Hannah McClellan ’97 9. Natalia Duncan Macker ’02 10. Wes Roach ’07 11. Jane Romano Valliant ’12 12. Taylor Boyer ’17

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Tom Baker is a veteran television producer, editor, author, speaker, voice-over artist, on-air radio personality, and radio talk-show host who has worked in the entertainment, radio and TV industry for over 35 years. He is the owner/executive producer of

the television production company, Cobblestone Entertainment, LLC in Knoxville, Tennessee. For 18-plus years, Cobblestone has produced original cable series, edited hundreds of episodes of TV shows and developed countless commercials, corporate videos, promotions, and web content for companies such as A&E, Discovery, Oxygen, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Sea Ray Boats, and the Department of Energy. Baker is also host of the radio talk show, Dealing with Life

After graduating with a degree in marketing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Baker built his professional career working in numerous entertainment/media capacities, including ad agency writer/producer, radio personality, TV commercial producer/editor, senior video editor for various production companies, music soundtrack producer/ choreographer for fireworks shows, and cable series producer/editor. His resumé includes a seven-year position with Scripps Networks, where he managed the postproduction of several of the company’s popular TV channels such as HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY, and GAC.

Baker has authored two books. The first, One Dog’s Faith, is written from the perspective of his dog, Mango. It highlights the silly things dogs do that we all take for granted but can learn from in trying to navigate life. His second book, Worry is Stupid: Simple Ideas to Help You Minimize Worry, defines and breaks down worry and exposes its dangers, and offers simple, effective steps toward reducing worry. Baker also speaks to corporate, civic, educational, and recovery groups about coping with worry, stress and change.

Baker notes that among the many ways Webb School has impacted his life, one especially stands out. “As an early habit, I spent many young hours looking for the easier way to accomplish things, even if the easier way sometimes became the hardest path,” Baker related. He said that changed when he came to Webb in seventh grade. “After a few years of learning a whole new way of gaining an education and figuring out the social demands of middle school, I started seeing the real benefits of Webb,” Baker said. “By ninth grade, it was instilled into my stubborn brain that I had to actually work for things that I deemed important. I really value this particular lesson, because it applies to most every aspect of life,” he continued. “No matter who you are, we all must work for things. We can't expect them to be given to us. Thank you, Webb, for many great memories, providing a multitude of lifelong, valued friends and the lesson of needing to actually work for things.”

Susan Dore Greenlees is head of the mathematics department and a mathematics instructor at Geneva School of Boerne in Boerne, Texas, where she also serves as the school’s National Honor Society advisor and middle school golf and high school girls’ golf coach.

Greenlees graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in business administration and was a member of the Demon Deacons women’s golf team. She began her professional career working for Procter and Gamble’s beverage division in San Antonio, Texas, but later elected to go back to college for her certification to teach math and business; a decision she said was influenced by her time at Webb School. “I didn’t feel that I was making a difference with what I was doing,” Greenlees recalls, “and it was then that I was flooded with memories of my years at Webb and the teachers such as Mrs. Potts, Mrs. Novinger, Mrs. Hunter, Mrs. Jacobstein, Mr. Paddon, and many coaches and other faculty who had poured into me and given me a love for learning and my high school experience.”

Following a term as a student teacher in the Judson Independent School District (ISD), Greenlees was hired, full-time, to teach math and head up the Judson ISD math department, which included her serving on several state curriculum and textbook committees. She and her family later moved to Boerne, Texas, where she taught math and became the math department chair at Boerne High School, picking up Teacher of the Year honors twice during her tenure. Greenlees was also named math lead teacher for the Boerne ISD and oversaw the math curricula for the District’s five campuses. Wanting to spend more time with her family, Greenlees took on a part-time teaching position in 2002 at Geneva School of Boerne. She went on to teach full-time and head up the math department at Geneva, and has been there ever since, with the exception of a brief teaching and coaching post at Virginia Episcopal School that enabled her to be closer to her mother before she passed away.

In addition to serving as math department chair at Geneva, Greenlees teaches precalculus and personal finance at the school, and says she is also relishing her duties as golf coach. “It’s so fun to work with kids in a sport that I love and to do so through coaching, which was so impactful for me at Webb with Coach Tarvin and Coach Jones,” she said.

Greenlees notes that she often thinks about her years at Webb School and the impact her teachers and coaches had on her. “They were real, encouraging, personable individuals, and passionate leaders in their subjects,” she stated. “They made me love learning, and I have held to that over my 35 years. I love mathematics, but I know I love teaching mathematics more. Seeing students overcome doubts and uncertainties, and realize that there is nothing wrong with having to work harder brings me the greatest joy.”

Victoria Johnson is Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York where she teaches on philanthropy, nonprofits and the history of New York City. Her current research lies at the intersection of organizations, cultural history and the built and natural environments.

Johnson earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Yale University where she also studied music and art history before moving to Germany to spend a year at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. She completed her Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University and went on to teach at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, becoming a tenured associate professor. After returning to New York City in 2015 to join Hunter College, Johnson was named a Birkelund Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library and completed a book on New York City history, titled American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic

American Eden is a biography of the charismatic and brilliant doctor, David Hosack, who served at the Hamilton-Burr duel in 1804. When American Eden was published in 2018, it received rave reviews in the national media and led to an ongoing book tour for Johnson that has so far included over 120 appearances in the United States and United Kingdom. Both the Wall Street Journal and Ron Chernow (author of Alexander Hamilton) called American Eden “captivating.” Named a New York Times Notable Book of 2018, American Eden was also a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award in Nonfiction and the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography. It was also one of just two finalists for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in History.

As a 2021-2022 Guggenheim Fellow for Biography, Johnson is currently working on a biography of the painter, landscape architect and environmentalist Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), whose estate, Olana, is preserved near the town of Hudson, New York.

As she looks back on her years at Webb School, Johnson notes, “I was not exactly a well-rounded student; I leaned strongly toward the humanities,” she said. She added that it was in her English classes – taught by Warren Heiser and Ginna Mashburn – that she was introduced to 19th-century fiction and philosophy. “It was also in these classes that I learned how to make an argument in writing,” she continued. “These classes have had an enormous impact on my career as an academic and, more recently, on my work as a nonfiction writer focused on the 19th century. I’m deeply grateful to these extraordinary teachers, as well as to Webb for exposing me to them.”

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Craig P. Dobson is Director of Cardiac Clinical Operations of the Heart Institute at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and UCR Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Serving with distinction as a United States Army officer and physician for more than two decades, Dobson retired from the U.S. Army in 2021 as a colonel in the Medical Corps.

Dobson earned his Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, and his Doctor of Medicine with distinction from The George Washington University. A National Merit Scholar and Presidential Honor Scholar as an undergraduate, he also worked as an intern in the Office of the Vice President of the United States during the Clinton administration.

Dobson completed his residency and internship in general pediatrics at Walter Reed Army Medical Center/ National Capital Consortium and a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. In 2003, Dobson was a medical officer/field surgeon with the 82nd Airborne Division near Fallujah, Iraq, and was later stationed as a squadron surgeon for 1/32 Cavalry 101st Airborne Division in Kunar Valley, Afghanistan. For his exemplary service, he was honored with the meritorious Bronze Star.

Former chief of pediatric cardiology at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Dobson also served as chief of pediatric cardiology while stationed at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was also Deputy Commander of Clinical Services for the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Kuwait. Prior to joining UPMC, Dobson held the position of Chief of Pediatric Subspecialty Services, responsible for directing all pediatric subspecialty care for military families across the National Capital Region. In 2021, Dobson was awarded the Legion of Merit Medal, one of the highest honors bestowed upon service personnel. He is also the recipient of the Order of Military Medical Merit, a lifetime achievement award.

Chosen as a Fellow of the American Heart Association and Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Dobson has also demonstrated strong scholarly contributions in the area of mechanisms of sudden cardiac death, risk stratification and prevention strategies. He has worked on arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and has a first-author publication on the causes of sudden, unexplained infant death and the role of the primary pediatrician. In addition, he has been an investigator in projects such as the Genetic Exploration of Military Cardiac Sudden Death and Military Cardiovascular Outcomes Research. Among his more recent work is the creation of a consortium within the U.S. Department of Defense to study the cardiac implications of COVID-19 in children and young adults.

Hannah McClellan is the Vice President of Amazon Freight, the external-facing truckload shipping service built on the backbone of Amazon’s advanced transportation technology, 40,000-plus trailers and carrier network. She also leads Amazon's Worldwide Returns,

ReCommerce and Sustainability (WWRR&S) organization, as well as the comprehensive portfolio of inbound transportation services offered to suppliers shipping inventory into Amazon’s fulfillment network.

In her 12 years at Amazon, McClellan has held key roles across the consumer retail organization, including inventory management and operations for the physical media business, launching the first drive-thru pickup operation for the grocery delivery business – Amazon Fresh – and scaling the multi-billion-dollar Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Subscribe & Save program to millions of customers around the world.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in systems and industrial engineering from the University of Virginia, McClellan joined PRTM Management, a management and operations consulting firm, where she served as an associate in the Life Sciences business group, working primarily with pharmaceutical and medical device companies. She later completed a dual MBA and master’s degree in systems engineering as a Leaders for Global Operations Fellow from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and interned at Dell Technologies while pursuing her graduate studies.

McClellan’s professional resumé also includes New Product Introduction Program Manager at Motorola. She is also active on the board of trustees of the University of Virginia Engineering Foundation.

Looking back on her Webb School experience, McClellan says that one of her favorite memories includes her volleyball team winning the state tournament. “I was a junior, and we were so small compared to the other teams,” she recalls, “but we got there with grit and hustle.” She also credited Webb with teaching her to be a strong communicator, especially in writing and public speaking. “Those skills have served me well at every step in my career,” McClellan notes. “I really value the strong emphasis Webb put on teaching us to become effective writers and confident public speakers.”

Natalia Duncan Macker is Chairwoman of the Teton County Board of Commissioners. She serves on the Wyoming County Commissioners Association’s (WCCA) Executive Committee as treasurer and is the past chair of the Health, Safety & Social Services Committee. Appointed to the Teton County Commission to fill a vacancy in 2015, she was elected to retain the seat in 2016 and was the top vote-getter for her re-election bid in 2020. She has been Commission Chairwoman since 2019.

Macker’s work involves health-in-all policies, affordable housing, human services, and water quality protections. As the youngest member and only woman on the Commission, Macker is focused on securing the economic future of women and advancing equity in the Equality State. This includes championing gender wage gap efforts at the state and local levels, proposing pregnant workers fairness legislation and increased early childhood education and care, and supporting the implementation of suicide and substance abuse prevention infrastructure. She passionately pursues collaborations to advance women’s representation in government and leadership, and is cofounder of the Wyoming Women’s Action Network and the Cowgirl Run Fund. Macker is also a gubernatorial appointee to the Wyoming Council for Women and the Department of Environmental Quality’s Land Quality Advisory Board.

Macker was recognized by her colleagues with the WCCA 2019 Riding for the Brand award for “Commissioner of the Year” – the first woman to receive the distinction. She was included in the Wyoming Business Report’s “40 Under 40,” was named a Woman of Influence in Government/ Economic Development by the Wyoming Business Report, and received the Ruby Award from the Soroptimists of Jackson Hole for her service to women. She is a NewDEAL Leader, a member of the Young Elected Officials (YEO) Network, and in 2019, was nominated for YEO’s Barbara Jordan Leadership Award.

After graduating cum laude from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre arts, Macker moved to Los Angeles, California, before settling in Jackson, Wyoming, with her husband, Thomas, and their three sons.

Outside of public service, Macker is the Producing Artistic Director of Off Square Theatre Company, a small professional theater in Jackson Hole, which was recently honored with a Governor’s Arts Award. On staff since 2011, Macker served as the education director and artistic director before stepping in as the organization’s top leader in October 2021. During her tenure, she launched Thin Air Shakespeare in addition to appearing on stage in a variety of roles. She was awarded a Performing Arts Fellowship by the Wyoming Arts Council in 2013, and collaborates with the L.A.-based production company, Firefly Theatre & Films.

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Following a successful high school golf career at Webb School that included four-time all-region and all-state performer, and three-time region champion and state champion in 2007, Wes Roach continued his golf career at Duke University. He remained among the top players for the Blue Devils during his collegiate career, garnering Academic All-American Team honors his junior year and PING/Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) all-region kudos his junior and senior seasons. In addition, his performance at the 2011 NCAA Golf Championships helped propel his team to the semifinals.

In the amateur ranks, Roach reached the United States Amateur in 2009 by claiming medalist honors at a sectional qualifier at Willow Creek Golf Club in Knoxville, Tennessee, and took fourth at the Rice Planters Amateur and second and third at the Eastern Amateur and Tennessee Amateur, respectively. A year later, Roach finished third in a U.S. Amateur qualifier and sixth at the Cardinal Amateur.

Roach turned pro the summer of 2011 after graduating from Duke with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. He joined the Korn Ferry Tour in 2012 and competed for five seasons, posting one win, two runner-up and 16 top-10 finishes. He is also a three-time graduate of the Korn Ferry Tour. In addition, having earned his PGA Tour card, Roach has played five seasons on the PGA Tour with five top-10 appearances, including a career-best third-place showing in 2019.

Roach says that he has several fond memories from when he attended Webb School, especially those related to playing sports. “I always enjoyed my time playing basketball and golf in high school,” he recalls “and winning the state golf championship my senior year was a high point.” He added that he also appreciated the friendships he formed at Webb, “and some of those people are still close friends today.”

Roach credited Webb School with helping to prepare him for college at Duke University and for life after school. “Webb was a big stepping stone for me in my development,” he noted, “and I learned to challenge myself and surround myself with people who were smarter, so that I could learn from them.”

Jane Romano Valliant is Dean of Specialized Services at Emerald Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee. In her role, she is responsible for assisting in the daily supervision of the Academy’s scholar coaches and their mission to instill in students a commitment to their Emerald Academy community, their own academic performance, excelling in high school and college, and becoming the next generation of leaders in their communities.

Valliant graduated from Birmingham-Southern College with a Bachelor of Science degree in collaborative education, and was a three-year starter for the Panthers women's basketball team. She began her teaching career in 2016 at Emerald Academy where she taught first grade, joining the charter school in its second year of operation. Valliant later taught second grade at West Hills Elementary School in Knoxville, earning Teacher of the Year honors for 2021-2022 before returning to Emerald Academy this past summer.

Throughout her professional career, Valliant has shared her wealth of athletic experience in basketball, swimming and track & field with young people in the community. She has served as head swim coach for the Whittington Creek Swim Team (2016, 2020, 2021, 2022) and was the founding coach of the middle school girls’ basketball program at Emerald Academy.

When asked about her favorite memory from when she was a student at Webb School, Valliant spoke about her senior season on the Lady Spartan basketball team and their bid for the state championship. “We were up against Franklin Road Academy for the title,” she recalls. “When I woke up on game day, I realized I didn’t have my basketball bag. Unfortunately, it had been stolen from the lobby of the hotel the night before.” Valliant notified Spartan varsity boys’ basketball coach, Ricky Norris, who ran out and bought her a new pair of basketball shoes, “and I made it just in time for warm-ups,” she said. “To this day, I still have that pair of shoes. I only wore those shoes for one game and that was the game where we became state champions!”

Taylor Boyer is a second-year law student at the University of Tennessee (UT) College of Law with a concentration in transaction law. She has earned a position on the Tennessee Law Review and Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law – one of only a few law students serving on both respected journals.

Boyer graduated summa cum laude from UT's Haslam College of Business (HCB) with a business administration degree in marketing and international business. She was one of six Class of 2021 graduates to be named a UT Torchbearer, the highest honor the university bestows to its undergraduate students. Boyer also received the Ideal Panhellenic Woman Award, the Provost’s Volunteer Distinction Award for Professional Promise and the Haslam Gold Service Medallion.

As a freshman at UT, Boyer sought out opportunities to hone her leadership skills, including serving as president of her dormitory, member of the Student Government Association (SGA) First-Year Council, Chair of the SGA ByLaws Committee, and a Student Alumni Associate. At the end of her first year, she was one of 25 HCB students to be selected to the prestigious Greg and Lisa Smith Global Leadership Scholars honors program. While studying in London, Boyer interned with a bridal designer who mentored her in the responsibilities of a successful global enterprise. She also took part in a French immersion program at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, and an HCB study in emerging markets in Havana, Cuba.

Boyer was named a Leadership Knoxville Scholar and furthered her work on SGA on the Government Affairs and Academic Affairs Committees. She was president of Mortar Board and the Order of Omega Honor Society, represented HCB on the Provost’s Student Advisory Council, participated on the Haslam Presidents’ and Student Advisory Councils, and served as a peer mentor for first-year business students. She notes her most rewarding leadership experience was founding Women of Haslam, which she established as a business organization open to all students of any major. Women of Haslam promotes a foundational understanding of business and entrepreneurship and creates engagement with women in business across the professional spectrum. After its first year, Women of Haslam was named UT's New Organization of the Year and the Haslam Organization of the Year.

Boyer says her achievements at UT are emblematic of her years at Webb School. She regarded service as integral to her learning and growth, and put in over 520 hours of service during her collegiate career. She recalls one of her first memories of service was a challenge her Webb kindergarten teacher gave the class. “Mrs. Seiler asked us to find ways to serve others,” Boyer said, adding that she decided to share some of her books that she wanted younger children to enjoy. “I discovered early on,” she noted, “that the servant is the one who often attains the valuable lessons of what is important in life and how best to utilize the time given to us.”

10.

11.

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Always A SPARTAN

“A NIGHT ON THE GREEN”

At this year's Spartan Alumni Weekend, September 22-24, Webb's Alumni Association and Alumni Affairs Office hosted “A Night on the Green,” inviting ALL Spartan alumni to campus to connect, share and enjoy great food, drink and company.

Alumni could also take a walk down memory lane with a “Night at the Museum” archives tour. Old class and department banners as well as shadowboxes with artifacts from Webb School's rich history lined the walls of the Central Building's Multipurpose Room, and yearbooks representing all alumni classes were put on display for guests to peruse.

The Spartan classes of 2002 and 2012 also used the evening to host happy hour get-togethers for classmates in Webb's Upper School Commons and the Governor's Center for Innovation.

Other highlights of Spartan Alumni Weekend 2022 included the presentation of Webb's Distinguished Alumnus/na Award to Brad Smith ’01 (page 23) and Webb's Alumni Achievement Awards luncheon (page 24), as well as evening class parties and a Spartan Tailgate on the University of Tennessee campus prior to the UT vs. Florida football game.

Graduation 2022

2022 COMMENCEMENT RECAP

Class of 2022 graduates applied to 186 colleges/universities in 35 states and 4 countries

491 offers of admission from 160 different colleges and universities

Class of 2022 graduates matriculated to 70 different institutions in 26 states and 2 countries

13 alumni legacy graduates

34 “Ever Green” grads (entered Webb as kindergartners)

1 National Merit Scholar

3 National Merit Finalists

3 National Merit Commended Students

About 19% of the class, representing 19 different men's and women's sports, are continuing their athletic careers in college

VALEDICTORIAN Reed Bishofberger

SALUTATORIAN Mia Carter

MARGARET & LEONHARD SCHEUERMANN TROPHY RECIPIENT Lily Slade

DR. S.J. CHAPMAN MEMORIAL AWARD RECIPIENT Owen Roesch

ROBERT WEBB SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENT Cindy McCallen Cassity ’86

Always A SPARTAN

Career Conversations:

The voices of Spartan alumni are powerful for our current students. Who better to speak about the challenges of the world beyond Webb than those who once sat in the very same seats? This past

year, several young alumni, representing a range of industries and career trajectories, engaged with Upper School students to share their diverse career paths and to reconnect or strengthen their involvement with Webb School.

Eli Robinson ’06, CEO/Chief Trivia Officer of Water Cooler Trivia , spent the week working with Mr. Schmid's entrepreneurship classes, providing and guiding students through a 17-page case study on his company and helping them craft presentations on how Water Cooler Trivia should proceed in the future. He also advised students on their ideation projects and how they could make their ideas a reality using a business model canvas.

Stephanie Biggs '11 spoke virtually with the Upper School's Environmental Club about her career as an associate attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

t Connor Moore '11 visited virtually with the junior class as part of their Career Day. A thought leader /investment associate for a number of coliving initiatives, Moore talked about his unconventional career path as an entrepreneur. He also encouraged students not to feel like they have to follow a traditional career track, and touched specifically on overcoming challenges, finding a profession you're good at and making the world a better place.

As part of Alumni Week, leading up to this year's Spartan Alumni Weekend, Todd Kelly Jr. ’14 and Catherine Carter ’15 spoke at Chapel about their career journeys and challenged students to a Webb alumni trivia game. Both Catherine Carter and Todd Kelly Jr. work at The Trust Company of Tennessee where Carter is a client specialist and Kelly is a wealth management associate.

New Chapters

The Webb community bid farewell to five faculty/ staff members who retired at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. We are deeply grateful to these faculty and staff who have left an indelible mark on Webb School. Collectively, they have given 96 years of service to our community. We wish these retirees great happiness in the next chapter of their lives.

THE ART OF TEACHING: WEBB ART TEACHERS' WORKS SELECTED FOR REGIONAL, NATIONAL EXHIBITS

tPottery pieces by Upper School art teacher Brad Cantrell are part of the Appalachian Heritage Project (AHP) at Pellissippi State Community College’s new Strawberry Plains Campus Library. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the AHP features curated collections of materials about all aspects of the region and quarterly programming focused on the art, literature, customs, and history of the area to promote a better understanding of

Appalachia. In addition, according to a news release, the new library will be a champion for Appalachian history and create a shared space that will bring together students and community members to learn about the people and the land of Strawberry Plains, East Tennessee and the Appalachian region. (right) One of Cantrell's pieces on exhibit.

tMiddle School art teacher Todd Johnson was among several artists from across the nation and abroad whose works were part of the “House Party: R.S.V.P. B.Y.O.B.” exhibition at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Curated by artist and scholar Michael J. Bramwell, the show in MESDA’s White Hall Plantation dining room examined and reframed the museum’s material and cultural artifacts of enslavement as an act of acknowledgment and commemoration of the 135 people enslaved by Thomas Porcher at his White Hall plantation, and served as a celebration of the Black craftspeople responsible for the carvings and woodwork in the dining room, according to a press release. Through their artworks, the participating artists were invited to engage with the museum’s unique holdings to also spark important conversations between the past and present. In the exhibit, Johnson’s piece (left) is “in conversation” with an 18th-century silver tea service.

CAROLINE BAKER Lower School teacher

22 years of service to Webb School

CYNTHIA BEATTY Middle School teacher

16 years of service to Webb School

DEBBIE BRYANT Technology Support Analyst

24 years of service to Webb School

LIZ GREGOR International Center Director

15 years of service to Webb School

ELLEN SCHNOLL Middle School Learning Specialist

19 years of service to Webb School

CLASS NOTES

THE FOLLOWING CLASS NOTES WERE SENT VIA EMAIL, SNAIL MAIL, POSTED TO OUR ALUMNI FACEBOOK SITE, OR FEATURED IN THE MEDIA THROUGH DECEMBER 5, 2022. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET JOINED OUR WEBB SCHOOL OF KNOXVILLE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION FACEBOOK GROUP, PLEASE VISIT: FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/WEBBALUMNI/.

’60s

Jacques U. Baenziger ’66 writes that he still views his time at Webb School as one of the best things that happened to him. “I was able to forge my own path for the first time. For example, if I wanted to do something, I just asked Mr. Webb if I could join this or that class,” Baenziger says. “A desire and willingness to do things before there was a peer group or history of success by others served me well throughout my life. Webb gave me the confidence to do that.”

Deb Kile Hotchkiss ’66 serves on Webb’s Alumni Association Board and spends her time taking magnificent photographs around her home in Melton Hill in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Jane Lothrop ’66 writes that her parents, Doug and Laura Lothrop, were lifelong friends of Bob and Julie Webb and supporters of Webb School. “In 1962, my mother joined the faculty of the girls’ school and taught history, including becoming chair of the department after the school became coed,” Lothrop says. “In the late ’60s, I think 1968 perhaps, my father joined the Webb administration as director of finance and buildings and grounds. Both remained at Webb until they retired in 1977. They moved to Florida to live

on a boat and cruised the Bahamas and Caribbean for many years. My father died in 2009 at 88 years old. Mother died in 2020 at almost 98.”

For his significant impact and contributions to East Tennessee sports, Vance Link ’67 was inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022. Link has been a fixture in the growth and development of baseball programs at Knoxville’s Sequoyah and Lakeshore parks, coaching generations of young players and teaching them lessons that go beyond the baseball diamond. Perhaps best known for his “Vance Pitch” baseball, Link has “coachpitched” to countless youth league players, including baseball legend Todd Helton and Webb alumnus and former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam ’76. He was one of the original commissioners of the now Knox Youth Sports and is still pitching over 80 games a season. Link was also named a recipient of Webb’s Distinguished Alumnus/na Award in 2016.

’70s

Acclaimed artist John Woodrow Kelley ’70 offers a print shop at his site, greekmythologynow.com, where archival quality prints of a selection of his Greek mythology paintings can be purchased.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice

Sharon Lee to Retire

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice

SHARON G. LEE ’71 announced in November that she will retire on August 31, 2023. At the time of her retirement, Lee will have served 15 years on the state Supreme Court and 4 years on the Court of Appeals. Justice Lee is currently the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court and the only justice from East Tennessee. She was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2008 and retained by the voters in 2010, 2014 and 2022. Serving as Chief Justice from 2014 to 2016, Lee promoted access to justice and spearheaded several innovations, including the establishment of the state’s Business Court pilot project, implementation of electronic filing, a review of the state’s indigent representation system, and a statewide docket cleanup initiative.

As an appellate judge, Lee has participated in over 1,500 cases, writing close to 450 opinions. She has been actively involved with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, the Board of Law Examiners, the Advisory Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure, the Tennessee Lawyer Assistance Program, the Technology Oversight Committee, and the Trial Court Electronic Filing Committee.

From 2004 to 2008, she served on the Tennessee Court of Appeals, being the first woman to serve on the Eastern Section of the Court in its 79-year history. Justice Lee was retained by the voters in 2006 after receiving unanimous approval of the Judicial Evaluation Commission.

Before entering the judiciary, Lee maintained a small-town practice in Madisonville for 26 years. She also served as the Municipal Judge for Madisonville and as an attorney for Monroe County, the City of Madisonville and the City of Vonore. She has been a trailblazer for women and has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the University of Tennessee (UT) Distinguished Alumna Award, UT Centennial Alumnus Award, UT Alumni Professional Achievement Award, Webb School’s Distinguished Alumnus/na Award, YWCA of Knoxville Tribute to Women Honoree, YWCA of Knoxville 30 Remarkable Women Over the Past 30 Years Honoree, Grayfred Gray Public Service in Mediation Award, ABOTA Tennessee Chapter’s Courage Award, and the National Association of Women Judges’ Spotlight Award.

A graduate of UT's College of Business and the UT College of Law, Lee is active in her community, serving on the adjunct faculty at the UT College of Law and on the boards of the Knoxville YWCA, Knoxville YWCA Foundation, East Tennessee Historical Society, Knoxville Executive Women’s Association, Monroe County Boys and Girls Club, Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women, Knoxville Bar Association, and University of Tennessee College of Law Dean’s Council, and as an honorary member of the 2014 Congressional Medal of Honor Convention Committee.

Former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam ’76 hosts a podcast with former state Governor Phil Bredesen, titled, You Might be Right. Broadcast from the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, the podcast features conversations about tough topics and takes its name from one of Senator Baker’s most often-cited pieces of advice: “Always keep in mind that the other fellow might be right.” To learn more and listen, go to: bakercenter.utk.edu/podcast/

Ginny Bowers Izydore ’78, a leader in the hospitality industry, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) Southeast USA.

’80s

Jonathan Burdette, M.D. ’85 , a professor of radiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, is spearheading a pilot study to test the use of virtual reality (VR) systems to remotely read MRIs and other medical images. Burdette and his team are exploring how VR technology may help better serve patients in Ecuador and in the future other developing countries. The hardware for the pilot study was provided by Lenovo and the software was provided by Luxsonic Technologies, designed from the ground up to provide a secure, lowcost and easy way for radiologists to connect with their colleagues. Says Burdette in a Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center press release, “Use of this technology in collaboration with Ecuador, while challenging, will provide a blueprint for future collaborations around the world.”

Cindy McCallen Cassity ’86 received Webb’s 2022 Robert Webb Service Award at Webb School’s Commencement in May 2022. Named after Webb School founder, Robert Webb, the award is presented to a Spartan alumnus/na for outstanding service and leadership to the Webb community. McCallen Cassity started her professional career as a provider contractor with Baptist Health Services Group and was later a key leader of an entrepreneurial team to spearhead a managed care organization through Vanderbilt University. She also served as Director of Provider Relations at Tennessee Health Partnership before joining Ear, Nose & Throat Consultants of East Tennessee as practice administrator and action CEO. Active in her community, McCallen Cassity is a Big Sister with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of East Tennessee and a regular volunteer at Mobile Meals of Knoxville. A longstanding member of Webb School’s Board of Trustees, she is the Vice Chair and Chair of the Trustees Committee as well as a member of Webb's Alumni Association Board. Her love of and commitment to Webb School also included her serving on Webb’s Presidential Search Committee.

Webb Board of Trustees member and parent Robert Frost ’86 of Arnett, Draper & Hagood was inducted as a Knoxville Bar Foundation Fellow. The Fellows represent quality men and women practitioners in the Knoxville community who have distinguished themselves in the practice of law and service.

Vascular and endovascular surgeon Matthew Goldman ’00 was a member of the medical team at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to operate on Wake Forest University junior quarterback Sam Hartman, one of the nation’s top players, to remove a dangerous blood clot in Hartman’s subclavian vein.

’90sBailey Foster ’90 is the founder of Real Good Kitchen (RGK), a shared commercial kitchen space, or “incubator kitchen,” for aspiring Maker City food entrepreneurs in downtown Knoxville. In its first year of business, the RGK served 43 businesses, 28 of which were brand-new starts. The large space, which provides equipment that’s not generally affordable to aspiring food entrepreneurs, was home to 31 businesses owned or co-owned by women and 13 owned or co-owned by people of color. Mentors from RGK provided over 400 hours of individual mentorship and saw five businesses graduate to brick-andmortar spaces.

Robert Yu Serrell ’93 is the executive director for the Barrow Group, a 35-year-old Off-Broadway theater company in New York City known for its actor training programs. In April 2022, Barrow Group opened a $4 million performing arts center at 520 Eighth Avenue, just around the corner from its old space. The company counts Anne Hathaway, Tony Hale and Noah Schnapp among the actors who have completed its programming and training programs.

Drew Rowan ’00 is the Chief Operating Officer at Zoo Knoxville. Previously Director of Advancement at the University of Tennessee’s McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, Rowan also served as an administrator with the Denver Zoological Foundation.

Suzanne Elder Bond ’02 was among the 53 Knoxville community and civic leaders selected to participate in Leadership Knoxville. During the year, Bond and her fellow Leadership Knoxville Class of 2023 members will participate in monthly sessions and focus on servant leadership.

Hunter Baddour ’04 is president and co-founder of Spyre Sports Group, a sports marketing and media agency located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Spyre creates NIL opportunities for student-athletes, digital marketing strategies for brands and memorable experiences for businesses.

Eli Robinson ’06 is the Chief Executive Officer or “Chief Trivia Officer” of Water Cooler Trivia (watercoolertrivia.com), which provides online weekly trivia contests for employees in their workplaces to participate in. It fosters fun, virtual team-building for remote and in-person teams. Prior to launching Water Cooler Trivia, Robinson spent the majority of his career at Metric Collective in New York City, where he ran various tech companies. A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of

Matthew Krane ’8 2 (above, left), Professor of Materials Engineering/ Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, and Jack Gulley ’18 (above, right), who graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in materials science engineering at Purdue, pose for a photo after celebrating Purdue’s May 2022 commencement exercises.

Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree, Robinson also worked as a consultant at the Monitor Group. ‍

Georgia Vogel ’08 is owner and creative director of Honeymouth, a luxury leather goods shop in Knoxville’s Old City. The Honeymouth brand was featured in eight different looks at Paris Fashion Week in October 2022, one of the largest fashion events of the year.

Stephanie Biggs ’11 is an associate attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), specializing in water issues in Tennessee, including the Duck River, one of the most biodiverse rivers in the world. Part of her role at SELC is advocating for Duck River’s sustainable use, ensuring its longterm health and viability through responsible management. Biggs is also involved in public lands and wildlife protection as well as hazardous substance remediation work. In particular, she is involved in advocating for the restorative and sustainable use of forests in the Southern Appalachians, as well as identifying protective and long-term cleanup solutions at Superfund sites, with a particular focus on the U.S. Department of Energy’s activities in Oak Ridge.

Ariel Spiegelman ’11 is a professional artist and registration coordinator at The Contemporary Austin - Art School in Austin, Texas. According to her website, arielspiegelman.com, Spiegelman’s work explores the sensibilities of humans, animals and everyday objects through traditional printmaking techniques, including relief and screen printing. Spiegelman earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from the University of Connecticut, with minors in art history and digital art. She later completed her Master of Arts in art education from the University of Texas at Austin.

Matt Hupy ’12 is a software engineer for Vimeo. He is part of Vimeo’s Trust and Safety Engineering team, primarily creating processes, tools and services used by Moderation teams to make Vimeo a better platform.

Emily Proud ’12 is anchor and host on the CBS 247 Sports platforms, with an emphasis on college football

During last spring’s Webb Upper School performance of All in the Timing, Forrest Robinette ’12 (above, right) met with Webb's Nicholas Kurzak ’24 , who played the role of Don Finninneganegan in “Universal Language,” one of Timing 's four comedies. Robinette played the same role on the Bishop Center stage in 2009.

Amber Zimmerman ’10 (above) won the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2022 in the female division in a personal best time of 2:31.35. She has also qualified for the United States Olympic Marathon Trials for Paris 2024. Zimmerman, a high school multiple state champion in both cross-country and track and field, went on to compete for the University of Tennessee and later the University of New Mexico. Zimmerman shared her athletic career experience via Zoom as a “Speaker of the Week” with Webb’s cross-country runners during their summer 2022 training.

( photo featured at fast-women.org/ photo by Clay Shaw, RunnerGazette.com)

Carter Schmid ’11 (above) is a project manager at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. He was the recipient of the Judges’ Choice Award for McCarthy Building at the Parade of Playhouses event, a special showcase that brings together design and construction teams to create unique children’s playhouses that are showcased to help raise awareness and funds for the children and families served by The Center for Family Resources.

programming. Proud graduated from Belmont University with a bachelor's degree in journalism. The former Bruins soccer midfielder and four-year letterwinner began her broadcasting career at WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, and in 2018, she was named one of the nation's “Top 30 Sportscasters Under 30” by the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America (STAA). She went on to serve as weekend news anchor and sports anchor/reporter at WKRN-TV in Nashville, Tennessee, before joining CBS 247 Sports.

Yohan John ’13 is on his third rotation of General Electric’s (GE) Edison Engineering Development Program. As part of the GE Research Control & Optimization team, John is working on GE Aviation’s nextgeneration helicopter engines and developing GE’s model-based control architecture for the T901 engine. The control software will someday be running on an Army helicopter. A former Webb robotics team #1466 member, John earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his research focused on grid power systems.

Todd Kelly Jr. ’14 is a wealth management associate with the Trust Company of Tennessee. This past summer, he launched the first annual Zaevion Dobson Memorial Foundation Camp 24, a football camp honoring the memory of Zaevion Dobson and serving kids in the community.

Jonathan Oates Awarded Rhodes Scholarship

Cleveland, Ohio, where they will be training for residency in a specialty.

Will Morrow ’15 is a Vice President of Digital Development and Innovation at Warner Records. Morrow and fellow VP Zoe Barton are responsible for developing Warner Records artists’ digital voices across multiple platforms. They also provide in-depth creative consulting geared toward growing an engaged fanbase while advising how and when to implement viral marketing campaigns for the artists.

Turner South ’16 is president of South College’s new campus in Indianapolis, Indiana. South earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Texas Christian University and is pursuing a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University. He previously served as director of finance at South College Atlanta.

JONATHAN OATES ’19 is among the 32 Americans who have won the prestigious Rhodes Scholarships for study next year at the University of Oxford, England. Oates, a

senior at Yale University’s Silliman College, will join an international group of scholars chosen from more than 60 countries around the world for graduate study at Oxford, beginning in October 2023. Over 100 Rhodes Scholars will be selected worldwide this year.

The Rhodes Scholarships are the oldest and most celebrated international fellowship awards in the world and provide all expenses for two or three years of study at Oxford. This year’s Rhodes Scholars were selected from a pool of 840 applicants who were nominated by their colleges and universities. Scholars are chosen for academic excellence, a commitment to making a positive difference in the world, a concern for the welfare of others, a consciousness of inequities, and their promise of leadership.

Oates is majoring in political science at Yale with interests in democratic theory and political reform. His senior thesis explores the relationship between democracy, equality and dynamics of exclusion through the lens of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America

Recipient of multiple campus awards in recognition of his leadership, Oates has worked extensively with the Yale College Council as a senator and executive board member and has served as co-president of the Silliman Activities and Administrative Committee. In addition, he served as a Residential College Team Director and is enrolled in the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, a yearlong course available to Yale undergraduate and graduate students that addresses large-scale, long-term strategic challenges of statecraft, politics and social change.

Outside of Yale, Oates has worked for the nonprofit progressive research firms ThinkTennessee and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, as well as for the office of Congressman Jim Cooper, who represents a district that includes Nashville, Tennessee. Oates also served as the Director of Social Media with the Bethel AME Church and is a member of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship.

At Oxford, Oates plans to pursue a Master of Philosophy degree in political theory. Nearly 8,000 Rhodes Scholars have gone on to serve at the forefront of government, education, the arts, NGOs, commerce, research, journalism, and other sectors. They include well-known advocates for social justice and individuals who have advanced the fields of science and medicine.

Jonathan Oates ’19 (above, right) recently returned to the Webb campus and visited with Upper School teacher Amanda Rowcliffe in her classroom.

(left) On Match Day 2022, Priya Mohan ’13 , a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, and Bryan Berube ’13 , who graduated from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, learned that they are both headed to

(right) On Match Day, Kelly Vittetoe ’13 , a graduating medical student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, learned that her residency training will be at Vanderbilt's Medical Center, specializing in otolaryngology.

Michael Sampson ’15 and Annie Johnson ’15 (above, left) celebrated their engagement with Rachel Scarbrough Sampson ’13 and her husband and Michael’s brother Burton Sampson ’13

Lady Spartan volleyball sensations (above, l to r) Kayleigh ’19 and Nicklin Hames ’18 came face-toface in a Nebraska vs. Pepperdine volleyball match in August 2022. While Nicklin Hames’ Nebraska Huskers beat her sister Kayleigh’s Pepperdine Waves, a special highlight for the siblings occurred early on

when the Pepperdine lineup was introduced. The Nebraska home crowd at Devaney Sports Center cheered extra loud for Kayleigh when her name was announced.

Sophie Gregor ’19 is completing her public relations and media outreach internship in Copenhagen, Denmark at Arkyn, a B2B SaaS company that simplifies and unlocks the full potential of SAP through mobile apps that humanize the face and feel of enterprise software.

Amelia Konomos ’19 , a fourthyear astrophysics student at UCLA, began an internship at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory with the Roman CGI Project Science Team. She is working on post-processing and science calibrations for exoplanet imaging with the Coronagraph Instrument on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

’20sLady Spartan soccer standout McClain Cameron ’22 was selected to the prestigious United Soccer Coaches High School Scholar All-American Team. Fifty-four boys and 72 girls, nationwide, earned USC High School Scholar All-American distinction for a combination of excellence in the classroom (minimum 3.75 cumulative GPA) and outstanding performance on the field during their high school careers.

Liam Devlin ’22 was named Knoxville High School Sports Awards boys lacrosse player of the year for 2021-2022 in June 2022. Devlin was one of six local varsity lacrosse players to be nominated for the 2021-2022 Sports Awards.

Perri Mahfouz ’22 was one of two Knoxville Class of 2022 high school graduates to be selected to participate in Bank of America’s

Student Leaders® program, a paid eight-week internship that provides first-hand experience in workforce skills, leadership and civic engagement with local nonprofits. Students are selected for the program based on their leadership, background, passion, and commitment to community. Mahfouz is founder and CEO of the nonprofit Heals with Meals, which addresses the issue of malnutrition in fooddeserted areas and specifically the need to provide nutritious foods for underserved children.

Sowmya Senthilkumar ’22 , a Research Fellows Scholar her senior year at Webb, has had her senior scholarly manuscript, titled “Auxin’s effect on root hair growth and peroxisomes in wild-type and myosin mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana,” accepted for publication in the Journal of Emerging Investigators (https://emerginginvestigators.org/) – her first “first-author” scientific paper to be published in a journal.

Tia Taylor Named Hall of Fame High School Athlete of the Year

Internationally-ranked tumbling competitor TIA TAYLOR ’22 was named 2022 Most Outstanding Female High School Athlete of the Year by the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame (GKSHF).

Taylor, who trains at Premier Athletics North, has medaled in tumbling and trampoline on both the national and world stages. A member of the United States

national tumbling team for the past four years, Taylor's athletic resumé includes a fourth-place finish in tumbling in the youth division at the 2017 Winter Classic and Elite Challenge competitions, and later sixth place (tumbling, youth) at the 2017 USA Gymnastics Championships. The following year, she went on to win gold in the junior division in tumbling and place fourth (L10 15+) in trampoline at Colorado Springs’ Elite Challenge, and was selected to represent Team USA at the WAGS world championship in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 2019, Taylor successfully defended her first-place title at the Elite Challenge and took runner-up in tumbling at the USA Gymnastics Championships. That year also included opportunities to compete in

tumbling at the City of Valladolid International Tournament in Spain and Tokyo’s World Age Group Competition, where she earned runner-up and fifth, respectively, in her age class.

Deciding to focus solely on tumbling, Taylor captured gold at the 2020 national VIP Classic in Indiana and came home with a bronze medal from the 2020 Baku World Cup in Azerbaijan. She returned to Azerbaijan for the 2021 World Championships where she advanced to the tumbling final and helped Team USA win the silver medal.

Taylor more recently competed at the 2022 USA Gymnastics Championships in June and was selected to the Senior National Team for women’s tumbling. She is the latest to join a distinguished list of Webb student-athletes to be named GKSHF High School Athletes of the Year, including:

Meredith Ayres ’06

Glory Johnson ’08

Faith Dupree ’09

Dwight Tarwater ’10

Parker Wormsley ’11

Marjorie Butler ’12

Caleb Blance ’12

Anna Catharine Feaster ’14

Todd Kelly Jr. ’14

Katie Collier ’15

Nicklin Hames ’18

Casey Collier ’19

Greer Mackebee ’08 & Sarah Bauer

July 2, 2022

Kyle King ’11 & Ashley King

May 21, 2022

WEDDINGS

Zahra Amer ’14 & Andrew Conley ’15

July 30, 2022

Katie Collier ’15 & Andy Wright

June 25, 2022

Justin Alexander ’10 & Amy Taylor

June 18, 2022

Daniel Overbey ’11 & Peyton Foody

October 3, 2022

Matt Bates ’14 & Emily O'Mary

June 18, 2022

Sammy Koenig ’15 & Dylan Powers

May 28, 2022

Jake Fuqua ’10 & Aditi Harsh ’10

December 4, 2021

Becca Plank ’11 & Jeff Refner

April 30, 2022

Josie Nadaud ’14 & James Donnelly

May 21, 2022

Christina Captain ’16 & Michael Bodie

May 7, 2022

Eileen Robinson ’10 & Adam Hasse

April 30, 2022

David Wilhoite ’11 & Megan Ververis

February 12, 2022

Max Ward ’14 & Jess Bradley

June 25, 2022

Jacob Cook ’17 & Emmy Collier

August 6, 2022

Max Bennett ’11 & Andrea Bentley

March 5, 2022

Christine Dunn ’12 & Thomas Neuefeind

May 7, 2022

Grant Bodie ’15 & Lillie Bertelkamp

June 25, 2022

Carter Coughlin ’18 & Addie Crawford

June 25, 2022

Corey Clayton ’11 & Lauren Blevins

November 13, 2021

Bryan Berube ’13 & Priya Mohan ’13

May 7, 2022

Rick Carl ’15 & Kate Schumaker ’15

October 29, 2022

Photo by Danielle Harris Photography/published at nytimes.com

BIRTHS

Meredith Goldman Holtz ’05 & Bradley Holtz

Louise Harriet Holtz

March 30, 2022

Tommy Nguyen ’08 & Sophie Nguyen

Vera Nguyen

June 2, 2022

Miles Biggs ’09 & Rachel White Biggs ’09

Henry Alan Biggs

March 14, 2022

Lauren Sampson Bowman ’09 & Matthew Bowman

Lottie Brooks Bowman

June 11, 2022

Lane Johnson Elmore ’09 & Jonathan Elmore

Noah May Elmore

September 23, 2022

Meredith Cullom Coffin ’10 & Elliot Coffin

Callie Jean Coffin

March 7, 2022

Clark Johnson ’10 & Cali Johnson

Lily Banks Johnson

June 8, 2022

Blaire Hall Mitchell ’10 & Kyle Mitchell ’11

Joseph Wells Mitchell

July 9, 2022

Elizabeth Wallace Sowell ’10 & Blake Sowell

Wesley James Sowell

June 8, 2022

Elle Brewer Ternes ’10 & Bradley Ternes

Baker Scott Ternes

September 28, 2022

Paige Worley Arnold ’11 & Bower Arnold ’12

Lakely Addison Arnold

October 22, 2022

Robbie Britt ’11 & Courtney Britt

Crew Davis Britt

August 11, 2022

MacKenzie Taylor O'Neal ’11 & Kenston O'Neal

Kennedy Joy O'Neal

November 26, 2022

Sarah Debusk Parker ’11 & Lance Parker

Pace Michelle Parker

March 22, 2022

Callie Fultz Carter ’12 & Chase Carter ’12

Charlotte Leigh Carter

June 14, 2022

Shea Campbell Kress ’13 & Kurtis Kress

Campbell Grace Kress

November 18, 2022

Claire Courtney Luetkehans ’13 & Stefan Luetkehans

Franklin Andrew Luetkehans

May 15, 2022

Kensington Wieland Neely ’13 & Drayton Neely

Adeline James Neely

September 6, 2022

Todd Kelly Jr. ’14 & Makenzie Walden

Tenn Christopher Kelly

April 10, 2022

Maya Zaouk ’14 & Chase Burns

Wilder James Burns

October 4, 2022

Molly Melton Clounch ’15 & Chase Clounch

Nolan Joseph Clounch

October 28, 2022

Lexi Reeves ’17 & Cameron Earls

Samuel James Earls

August 1, 2022

Julia Dossett Webb, wife of Webb School of Knoxville founder, Robert Webb, and beloved matriarch of Webb School since its founding, passed away in November 2022. Please see page 21.

CLASS OF 1970

CLASS OF 1984

CLASS OF 1986

James Miles (Jimmy) Dean passed away November 26, 2022.

Wesley Lynn Hatmaker passed

away December 4, 2022.

David Penland Worden passed away September 14, 2022.

BUILDING ON OUR LEGACY OF SPARTAN PRIDE: Efforts are underway on Webb's new Spartan Athletic Enhancement Initiative that includes providing the facilities our students, and particularly our Spartan athletes, need and deserve to maximize their performance and support their well-being. To learn more, contact Webb Director

Development, Hugh Nystrom ’85, at hugh.nystrom@webbschool.org.

of

(left & below)

Preliminary renderings for Webb's new baseball and softball hitting/ pitching facility, located next to the existing Spartan baseball field. A new Lady Spartan softball field will be installed on the other side of the building.

(left & below)

Preliminary renderings for Webb's new Elite Fitness & Training Center. The facility will also include a turf field, an indoor golf practice studio and a trophy hall. It will be located at one end of the new girls' lacrosse and field hockey field behind David Meske Stadium.

9800 Webb School Lane Knoxville, TN 37923-3307

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

It was an honor to welcome veterans from our school community back to campus to join the Lower School for its 2022 Veterans Day celebration. Our special guests were greeted with the sight of 1,000 American flags placed on the Lower School's outside lawn and homemade thank-you displays in the Lower School lobby. The Lower School Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops also welcomed visitors and escorted veterans to their seats. Veterans were also invited to visit individual classrooms to share their experiences and what their military service meant to them.