campaign priority
Transform Our
Campus Home
Goal
$30 Million +
Goal: $30 million+
Boldly designed, creative and open learning spaces for our students and faculty, and thoughtful stewardship of our campus, these are keys to our current success. And they will be to our future.
To realize our dynamic strategic vision and current and future school goals—we must provide cutting-edge/world-leading workspaces, classrooms and laboratories for students and faculty in which to live, learn and collaborate, while stewarding our campus natural and built beauty.
We know a great boarding school needs a sense of place, a campus that supports and fosters its mission. Inspired by the vision of Thompson Webb, we are committed to thoughtfully improving and enhancing the place Webb students, faculty, staff and alumni call home.
As part of this work and through the foresight of Webb’s leadership, and a handful of visionary donors, Webb purchased 80 acres of land contiguous to campus in 2017. This purchase doubled the size of Webb’s property to 150 acres; it preserved Webb’s California culture and “feel,” and it provided for the future possibility of relocation of facilities and fields or even expansion. It’s an historic start to Webb’s next 100 years and can be proudly labeled one of the early achievements of this campaign.
Start Something at Webb: A Leadership Gift to a Building Project, or a Special Fund for Sustainability
The Webb campus is special. It lingers in our memory as a place where we made our home—a place that is home for students, families, faculty and staff today. It must be stewarded and renewed. With the addition of 80 acres of adjacent land, the campus now reaches some 150 acres. We live here. We learn here. We play here.
150
ACRES
Start something at Webb and make a difference. Provide a leadership gift of $100,000 to $3 million or more to a special capital project, or establish an endowed fund for sustainability and campus beautification efforts.
The Centennial Campaign Philanthropic Goal
Our goal is to secure and invest an additional $30 million or more in the following additions, enhancements and improvements to teaching and living spaces on the Webb campus.
The New Centennial Plaza & Hooper Community Center
With this project completed, we can truly celebrate its impact on campus life. This project included a sweeping and dramatic new entrance to campus for current students and families, as well as prospective students and families. Also, it includes an all-school, natural, outdoor seating amphitheater south of Hooper, and formal and informal student/faculty/community learning and recreational spaces. The project includes beautifully landscaped pathways, landscaping and benches throughout the plaza. It is the perfect venue for hosting Alumni Weekend, Family Weekend, All-School Convocations /Assemblies and more.
The Center for Scientific Discovery and Innovation
Webb students and faculty are on the forefront of scientific knowledge and inquiry. As we prepare for our next century, we must remain committed to providing the very best teaching and lab facilities to support Webb’s evolving and innovative curriculum. By renovating existing spaces and creating new ones, Webb will design and build additional learning environments to support the sciences, including computer science and artificial intelligence and more.
The W. Russell Fawcett Library
The Fawcett Library is the primary academic resource and gathering space on Webb’s campus. Like all academic libraries, Fawcett requires continual upgrading to remain vital and current—equipped with the latest technology of research resources. Following an in-depth study of best practices and technologies in academic libraries, we will upgrade Fawcett Library, beginning with technology and design configurations, mechanical and electrical needs and fixtures and furnishings—making Fawcett Library truly ready to serve Webb’s second century.
Student Dormitories
We must ensure that the space for our boarding students is equitable and remains safe, clean, attractive and conducive to the academic mission and boarding experience. Every dorm room common space must be updated and refreshed over the next decade. Our ongoing review of each dormitory will guide the process of refurbishment and improvement in the years ahead as we fulfill our commitment to providing a residential life experience that is so integral to our boarding students.
Faculty Housing
With the completion of four new faculty homes in 2017, we are well on our way to meeting an important strategic goal: to build or acquire faculty housing and renovate existing housing to fully support our strong boarding program. The women and men of Webb’s faculty teach in the classroom, provide coaching and advising, run afternoon activities and clubs, share meals with students—much more than teaching alone. Their proximity to students is essential for a strong boarding community. In the years ahead, our commitment is to meet the ever-growing needs for quality faculty housing to further strengthen our residential community.
The Vivian Webb Chapel
The Chapel program is a defining element of the Webb experience. The Vivian Webb Chapel, familiar to all Webb alumni, and the site of so many memories of Chapel Talks, weddings, funerals and other gatherings, has stood the test of time, but it is now our obligation to ensure that it survives and serves the schools for the next 100 years. While structurally sound, thanks to Thompson’s creativity, ingenuity, and forethought to place the bricks around a reinforced foundation of rebar, the Chapel roof and interior require significant attention. Replacing the roof to make the Chapel watertight will enable us to refinish the interior walls while carefully preserving Thompson Webb’s work. We will also update the lighting and electrical systems.
McMillin Park
Once the home of The Stone Hut, McMillin Park hosts a small grove of mature live oaks and plenty of shade. The space is named for beloved former Webb teacher Larry McMillin, and centrally located at The Crossroads on Webb’s campus. The park is ideally suited to become a more useful gathering space for students, faculty and visitors. With the addition of a permanent stage and permanent seating to take advantage of the natural contours, we will create an inviting amphitheater and park for student meetings, outdoor classes and student performances. We will also include an art installation celebrating former faculty. And in addition to the infrastructure upgrades, we will improve the landscaping and grading of McMillin Park so that additional seating maybe added, when needed, for larger gatherings, adding to the flexibility of this historic area of campus.
The Les Perry Gymnasium
Webb’s athletic program is core to its mission. The schools athletic facilities include the McCarthy Fitness Center, Chandler Field, Brown Family Tennis Courts, Mary Stuart Rogers Sports Center and Faculty Field, Barbara Mott McCarthy Aquatics Center and the Les Perry Gymnasium. As we approach The Centennial, it is important that we honor the spirit of athletic competition and fair play by bringing these facilities to their best possible condition. Initial projects will include significant work on the Les Perry Gymnasium and its facilities.
Support Environmental Sustainability
Being good stewards is in our DNA—stewards of our mission and school, our communities, and the environment. Webb is currently initiating an expansive solar project that, when completed, will supply as much as 80 percent of our campus electricity. As we continue to build and renovate our campus, Webb is committed to reducing its carbon footprint, increasing its use of renewable clean energies like solar power, and conserving water and other natural resources. With additional funds, we can build and renovate toward the highest levels of sustainability, including the install of a menu of energy meters, monitors and controls throughout the campus.
Open Webb to the World
campaign priority – learn more
Foster Academic Innovation
campaign priority – learn more
the
impact
OF GIVING
Dreaming Big
A category of one! Singular! These are catch phrases repeated here and elsewhere when describing the uniqueness of the Alf Museum at The Webb Schools. In fact, it is the only accredited museum of paleontology on a secondary school campus anywhere in the world, and likely will be for the next 100 years and beyond.
“The program for Webb students is at the core of our museum, and a pretty clear case illustrating that striving for excellence in one area helps bolster success in the other. For instance, a paleontology museum’s reputation is built upon not just its fossil discoveries, but how clearly and accurately these fossil discoveries are interpreted and relayed to the scientific community as well as the broader world,” Museum Director Dr. Andy Farke explained.
Webb students are integral to the interpretation and sharing Farke describes. Their work, contributions and experiences go way beyond camping trips and fossil digs.
“The Alf Museum has an amazing fossil collection—and it’s even more amazing when you think about the new scientific knowledge that has sprung from the collection, particularly through collaborations between faculty, staff, and students. A fossil picked up by one Webb student on a summer peccary trip can be studied by another student that fall in the advanced research class, and then published a year later in a peer reviewed international journal!” Farke said.
The opportunities Farke notes in turn provide an unparalleled experience for Webb students, not just in pursuing their educational goals but also in modeling a love for discovery and lifelong learning.
“We’re all dreaming big—but big dreams take time, and they take resources. The sooner those resources are in hand, the sooner we can get down to the work of elevating Webb’s facilities, people, and program up to the next level I’m so excited about what could be next, and I can’t wait to get there!” Farke said.
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