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
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Foster Academic Innovation
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the
impact
OF GIVING
A Sense of Pride
Ken Rosenfeld is something special—a teacher, well, not a teacher alone, but a history teacher, Dorm Head, Head Coach of WSC & VWS Swimming and Diving, Perry Teaching Award winner, and previously Lead Class Advisor, International Student Advisor and Assistant Director of Admission and Financial Aid. And though this is all true (and not a complete list), his list of responsibilities isn’t what makes Ken special. In fact, at Webb his list is not unique. Ken is special for two reasons—his positive energy and infectious enthusiasm for working with teenagers is unrivaled, and he is now the first Dean of Campus Life to open and lead programming for the New Hooper Community Center.
The New Hooper Community Center completed last year is now open for business—fully reimagined and renovated. A community hub for living and learning at the center of campus, it offers a space for the whole community to gather. The New Centennial Plaza extends programming into the great outdoors.
Blake ’68 and Andrea Brown were leadership donors to the project, and Blake is a member of both the Board of Trustees and the Executive Campaign Committee. Praising the community-wide response to supporting the project, Blake said, “We are so thankful for all the contributions made by donors, the Webb team, architects and contractors. What a wonderful job in integrating the past with today’s modern conveniences.”
Integrating the past with an eye to the future is the guiding philosophy of transforming our campus home. And since Webb’s beginning, philanthropy has played a major role in creating our campus.
When asked to describe how he felt about this generosity and how it has impacted his life personally and professional over the years, Ken Rosenfeld was effusive and unrestrained.
“There is no aspect of my life at Webb that hasn’t been touched by the generosity of the Webb community. My new office sits in the newly-renovated, beautifully-furnished, technologically-advanced Hooper Community Center. From my seat at my desk, I have a clear view of my Master’s degree that was partially funded by a Perry Award I received from the school in 2016, a picture of the Webb Swim and Dive team on the deck of a pool that is the envy of every team we host, and the screen of my Webb laptop that allows me to complete my work with ease whenever and wherever needed. And when I leave my office at the end of the day, I head to a recently renovated house on the north end of Alamo Lawn that I am proud to call my new home. Life at Webb is full, but Webb has done everything possible to ensure that our hearts are always as full as our lives in the Webb community.”
Ken’s hope is that the Hooper Community Center will serve as the hub for school spirit within the Webb community. Whether hosting an all-community event, serving coffee and treats from our new Cafe 1175, distributing mail and packages from our Concierge Desk, or simply giving students a place to hang out between classes or on the weekend, Hooper will be the place to go for all things fun and collaborative.
As The Centennial Campaign launches, there are a number of exciting capital initiatives that include new projects, renovations and reimagining of a variety of spaces on campus—academic, community, dormitories, faculty housing and more.
Ken continued, “I am beyond excited about all of the projects Webb has undertaken because all of them are inspired by the goal of bringing the community together. For decades, we have been “two schools on a single campus,” but many (if not all) of these projects are working towards the sentiment of one united community where all of its members feel welcomed, respected, and valued. I have been lucky enough to be a member of this school community for nearly half of my life, and have seen it grow and evolve over the years. It has never been more of a beautiful representation of what we value than it has become over these past couple of years and will continue to become as these projects are completed and the next ones begin.”
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