As the director of alumni relations at Webb, it’s always exciting to receive news about our talented and accomplished alumni. I’m never at a loss for amazing people to talk about – like Jawbone founder Hosain Rahman ’93, Vanity Fair editor Punch Hutton ’89, Kaiser Permanente technology executive Faye Karnavy Sahai '86, or world-renowned paleontologist Dr. Daniel Fisher ’67.  The list goes on and on.

Even more impressive is that so many alumni give back to their alma mater. Each year, the Alumni Relations Office works with hundreds of alumni who contribute their time and resources to Webb. A perfect example of this is Sophomore Career Evening, an annual event sponsored by the Alumni Council that brings alumni back to campus to share their expertise and career stories with students. Steve Mercer '89 was one of this month’s speakers. Now a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, Steve recently appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court where he argued and won a unanimous judgment to uphold a first-degree murder conviction. Students heard his first-hand account of this extraordinary experience. Another participant was Kip Konwiser ’81, producer of the Emmy award-winning movie Miss Evers’ Boys, starring Laurence Fishburn and Alfre Woodard. Kip attributes much of his success to his Webb days where he was active in the theater department, glee club, and class president in his freshman and senior year. The 11^th Annual Sophomore Career Evening took place on Thursday, April 15, 2010.  To see the full list of alumni speakers, click here. 

Today Webb alumni total over 4,000 worldwide, in 50 states and 45 countries. To celebrate them we created two special sections of our website. The first section, Notable Alumni, is devoted to lifetime achievements. Here you will find search options by category or decade to see many fascinating profiles, such as Art Clokey '39, the creator of Gumby, or Steve Boyer '64, a retired emergency physician who donates his time in Darfur, the DRC (Congo), and most recently Haiti. You can also link to alumni such as Josh Marshall '87 who writes one of the most award-winning political blogs on the internet.

The second section, Alumni Spotlight, covers recent news and events such as a recipe by Portland restauranteur Jenn Louis '89 featured on NPR or the recent appointment of Forrest Beanum '93 as VP of Public Affairs and Communications for Coda Automotive, the company behind the first energy efficient all-electrical vehicle.

I hope you enjoy learning about our alumni throughout the world, and if you are an alumnus or alumna reading this, you can certainly rest assured that you are in good company.

At the pinning this weekend of the Class of 1959, the ceremony which marks a class’s entry into the 50 Plus Club, the Head of Schools briefly recounted as she always does the winding life-path of each man in attendance. She touched lightly on their many memberships and professional achievements, and then shared what was written about them by their teachers and Thompson and Vivian Webb when they were boys more than fifty years ago. At this year’s ceremony, as in all that I’ve witnessed in the past 10 years, the men sat and listened and were stunned silent. They were surprised I suppose that the words and thoughts of their teachers and headmaster had survived along with them more than 50 years, and too, by the realization that they were really known here, seen and known when they were boys.

Susan Nelson tells parents at the beginning of every school year that she and the school can make few promises, in fact, she says, mainly just this, “I promise you that your sons and daughters will be known. They will be known and they will be cared for.”  For a long time these words just struck me as old-fashioned, gooey and sentimental. In fact, I often observed parents in the auditorium looking at each other in mild confusion. Is that the job of a school?  Isn’t that the role of parent and family?  Well, of course, yes, in answer to both questions. It is the role of the family to know the son and know the daughter, but strangely it is also the miraculous sum-total of what happens to you here at Webb.

I finally get it. I saw it this weekend on the faces of Webb alumni from the fifth to the fiftieth reunion. Each of them did indeed enter Webb as students, as strangers, but then they became known, known for their character, for their uncommon gifts, for their flaws and frailties, and more. They were known here. They are still known. Distance has not diminished it. Years have not diminished it. This knowing has survived even beyond death as classmates gathered and remembered even those no longer among us.

As I think about it all this morning, I see that beyond the learning and skills and academic achievement, even beyond college placement if you can believe that, of all the things that happen for you and to you at Webb, this is the most powerful and lasting. You were known here. You will always be known.