Welcoming students back to The Webb Schools after summer break has always been one of my favorite roles as Head of Schools. Watching our student leaders open the academic year is a very tangible realization of our schools’ mission; not merely words and fine-sounding ideas, but real doing. It’s easy to say we’re about developing leaders who are people of character, but it’s not an easy task, and elsewhere it isn’t always backed up by action. But this summer, my many glimpses of our students in action reassured me that Webb really does provide students real-life opportunities to step up, be self-directed and to lead.

For example, the Junior Fellows who helped staff the Summer Programs at Webb were an integral part of the success of those programs. Mrs. Wishek, the director of summer programs, couldn’t say enough about the work ethic, the intelligence, the independence, the caring that every single one gave every day. “I tell them, these jobs are yours,” she explained to me. “If you don’t perform them, they won’t get done. You are needed here, and everything you do here matters – people are relying on you.”

The same is also true of our Vivian Webb student teachers in the G.I.R.L.S. Camp. With Mrs. Kingsbury’s support, the student leaders themselves designed and implemented an exciting, week-long curriculum in the sciences for middle school girls, which included organizing outings, teaching, and encouraging the girls to create their own experiments. They may very well have changed those girls’ lives by encouraging their budding interest in the sciences and supporting their emerging sense of themselves as real-life scientists.  

Our two faculty paleontologists, Dr. Don Lofgren and Dr. Andy Farke, worked with student leaders this summer in Montana and South Dakota in support of their research project, which will be presented at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Conference in Pittsburgh later this fall. More than 20 of our students accompanied Dr. Farke to the Grand Staircase Escalante Monument to prospect for new localities and to continue the collection of a nearly complete plant-eating dinosaur skeleton that was found by one of our students at the end of last year’s expedition. Amazingly, on the last day of this year’s expedition, what may be a very important find was made by one of our juniors – building up even more excitement for what the next trip will uncover.

These are only a few examples of the many leadership opportunities our students undertook off-campus this summer. Altogether, it is a testament to how they as young adults are defining who they are, what they really want and care about – what they value – and how they lead. It’s not hard to be proud of them and of our school. 

"Hey, this is kind of interesting."

Mr. Kevin Quick, a science department faculty member and assistant on our summer Peccary Trip, handed me a fist-sized rock cobble with a piece of fossil bone poking out of the side.

"Where did you find that?!" I exclaimed. Seeing a distinctive dimpled texture on the bone's surface, I was definitely intrigued. Not only was it from a crocodile, it was a piece of crocodile skull! A very rare find, indeed.

This is just one snapshot of a day collecting fossils in southern Utah. Every summer, Alf Museum staff, Webb faculty, students, and volunteers make the trek from Claremont to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. As one of the last, great, unexplored dinosaur deposits in the continental United States, a major find could turn up at any time. In 2004, a museum volunteer found the skull of a new species of dinosaur. In 2005, a Webb student discovered the partial skeleton of a previously unknown tyrannosaur. And just a few weeks ago, this non-descript piece of rock added another important dimension to our knowledge of Earth's past.

Although our primary purpose is scientific, these summer Peccary Trips (named after a peccary, or pig, skull found on an early expedition) also offer important life lessons for our Webb students. We have to hike several miles across some of Utah's most remote and rugged terrain just to get to the edge of the fossil beds. This effort isn't purely physical - it also takes a mental toughness to push through to the end. Even the students who have never camped or hiked in such conditions before quickly rise to the challenge. In the pursuit of discovering fossils, students learn perseverance and the importance of teamwork, and this new crocodile find would prove to be a great challenge.

The cobble of rock had a relatively fresh broken surface, so more bone had to be out there somewhere. One of the most basic rules of fossil collecting is to always follow the bone uphill. In this case, the task was daunting. The original find was found at the bottom of a steep 100-foot high slope covered in brush, loose rock, and mud from a recent rainstorm. The fossil could have come from nearly anywhere!

Recruiting a half-dozen students, Mr. Quick started the arduous task of locating the original bone layer. Literally leaving no stone unturned, they spent nearly two hours on that slope. Searching on the last day of the trip, we didn't have a lot of time, so this could be our only chance to find the rest of the specimen.

Finally, Sam Woodward ’12 found it. A thin lens of sandstone, nearly entirely obscured by loose debris, hosted a big chunk of crocodile skull. Sam and Mr. Quick did a fantastic job of carefully exposing the fossil, using small hand tools and special glues to preserve the delicate bone. I let out a brief exclamation of extreme happiness - this could be a major find!

We only had a few hours left before we had to leave the field, not nearly enough time to properly collect the specimen. Furthermore, I could see that the find was potentially large enough that we would need an excavation permit to continue. Sadly, we will have to endure another long lesson in patience as it won’t be until next year when find out just how much of that crocodile is in the hillside. Somewhat reluctantly, we stabilized the specimen and covered the site for the coming winter.

Mr. Quick, the students, and I are all abuzz about our latest find.  How much of the crocodile skull is there? What kind of crocodile is it? Is it a species new to science? After 75 million years, we'll just have to wait one more year to find out.

Community service is thriving at Webb. Over the last two years, the opportunities at Webb for service learning have greatly expanded, both in the local community and abroad. Recently, thirteen students and two faculty members returned from an amazing service trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands where they helped construct a bathroom and rest area in the remote and rural village of Purcara. The group spent their entire spring break working for the good of others. Members of the group reported that the experience was “life changing,” and something that they would like to do again. Last year, twenty students and two teachers journeyed to Urumbamba, Peru, high in the Andes, where they too worked tirelessly on behalf of those with much less than we have. In conjunction with Global Works Travel, Webb’s footprint now makes its mark on a global scale.

However, Webb students can be just as active in the local community where service opportunities abound. Between participation in the after-school service program or as a member of the sixty-plus member Service Council, Webb students can choose from a wide variety of volunteer projects. Over the last two years, the Service Council has focused their energies on collaborating and volunteering at a few select local agencies. These agencies include the Claremont Prison Library Project, Leroy Haynes Foster Home, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Global Citizens Corps, Project HOPE dog and cat adoption, the Green Club, and CLASP-Claremont After-School tutoring program. The mission of the Service Council and Webb’s service program is “service through action,” as opposed to simply writing a check or donating cash. The students select the projects they would like to lead and manage all aspects of the project. A few dedicated Webb teachers have found service as something they too are passionate about. Madame Likover is a tireless supporter of local agencies, and Ms. Wilsdon spends every weekend taking students with her to Project HOPE.

The growth and popularity of the service program at Webb over the last two years has been simply amazing. These are students who understand the value of giving back without receiving accolades or awards. And, Webb has no service requirement! Our students serve as volunteers, role models, and teachers in the community and beyond. Our students represent Webb with style and selflessness. Some have gone on to perform service or serve on boards at the national level, much like our own Kate Sim ’10, and her work with Habitat for Humanity. Several students are pursuing education degrees following their work in the after-school tutoring program. As the community service advisor, I find great reward and personal growth in leading and working alongside such incredibly dedicated students and faculty.

When I was growing up, my mom used to have a ritual toward the end of each month of clearing off a portion of the dining room table, setting out her bills and other papers, and making her payments one check at a time, all the while keeping her balance in the back of her check book.  My brothers and I couldn’t help but see her doing this, and on occasion we’d ask a question or two.  “How come we spend so much on electricity?”  “Did summer camp really cost that much?”  “Wow, look how much we spend on food!” It was never a big deal, but subtly, over time, we were exposed to the business of running a family. 

Today, in my house, and I suspect in yours, much of these day-to-day financial activities are done in the confines of a computer screen, and the kids have no idea about the comings and goings of money.  While incredibly convenient and efficient on one hand, these online advances have taken the business of family money out of the thoroughfare of family activities, thereby limiting kids’ exposure to the realities of financial planning and the costs and benefits of each decision we make.

This is only one of many changes that have occurred since we were kids in terms of money.  Credit and debit cards have made spending so much easier.  The pain and reality check of pulling out your hard-earned cash to purchase an item has been dashed away by a swipe, or a scanning of a card.  South Korea has now developed a way to pay using a beam on your cell phone, and this technology will be here in the U.S. within 15 months.  So as easy as it is to spend now, it will be even easier in a short period of time. 

There has been a quiet epidemic in this country involving chronic spending, and the main target is our kids.  At a conference in San Francisco recently, I attended a session by the highly respected organization Share Save Spend.  During this seminar, I learned some startling statistics:

• People spend 20% more on average using a credit card than when using cash.  And people using this new phone technology spend an average of 20% more than those using credit cards.  The easier it is to spend, the more we spend and less we are inclined to save. 


• Teenagers alone spend $70 billion a year on products, and this doesn’t include clothing. 


• People 18 and younger spend or influence the spending of $1 trillion a year.


• The average savings rate for people 35 and younger is NEGATIVE 16%.  Do you remember when people actually saved?  My grandparents were great savers – whatever happened to that idea? 


• The average college student has 4 credit cards and is over $3,000 in debt.  (Credit card companies have multi-billion deals with colleges and universities all over this country.  When you attend a college orientation, you are likely to see all of these companies preying on new freshmen).


• Americans experience over 5,000 advertising impressions each day (when including Internet, commercials, billboards, etc.).  The most intensive ad campaigns target kids 5-18.

There are many other statistics along these lines that boggle the mind.  Suffice to say, we have a spending-crazed culture, and little to no formalized effort on behalf of families or schools to fight back, to protect our kids and ourselves from this media-driven, hyper-consumer culture, where savings is not only hardly mentioned, but even discouraged.

I am looking forward to taking action in this arena here at Webb, by exposing our students to the realities of finance, and equipping them with the skills to be savvy spenders and - yes - successful savers.  There is more to come on this project, but if you have any ideas, or a perspective to share in the meantime, please let me know.

The story of Edison's invention of the electric light bulb is legendary. We all find it hard to believe when we first hear that it took him over 2,000 tries before his idea came to light. Talk about composing a failure résumé!  But like all entrepreneurial spirits with Herculean levels of initiative, Edison knew that all big problems are big opportunities. What makes some people run toward problems? Can that be taught? What are the results of having that mindset and disposition?

Americans are universally described as innovative and entrepreneurial and those two qualities and skill sets are frequently ascribed to our national character and to our success as a global leader. Leadership is also frequently described as the ability to take initiative and trust your creativity. None of this can be developed or practiced without an almost infinitely high tolerance for failure. And, along with Tony Wagner - whose fourth survival skill for the 21st century is "initiative and entrepreneurialism” - I believe that as a nation and certainly as educators we must do all we can to nurture these vital skills that connect so clearly to other vital 21st skills such as creative problem solving and adaptability.

I asked a couple of Webb students to tell me what "initiative and entrepreneurialism” mean to them. Here's what they said: “Entrepreneurialism is designing, planning, and executing business schemes. It means taking big risks, planning ahead to minimize resources wasted and maximize profit and outcome, but also planning for failure and how you get past failure.” Another student reflected on initiative. “I used to think initiative meant being the first to step up, to help out, but now I think it's a lot more than that. It's evaluating the past and thinking of something new and different to be done; it means that practices of the past do not dictate what happens in your future.” 

When I asked if these are skills or habits of mind that can be learned, I heard a resounding "absolutely” from every student. And when I asked why entrepreneurialism and initiative are important skills, I got the following responses. "Entrepreneurialism is the ability to create value, to learn from failure, to turn failure into success; it's really what the world revolves around, and it's not just about money. It's a way to solve problems for people.” On the importance of initiative, one of my students said, “Initiative breaks the mold. It sees opportunity and leverages everything to make new things happen. It's scary because it means a lot of failure, but it's also creative and cool.”

Teaching kids how to fail sounds counter-intuitive and maybe even downright un-American; but, in fact, failure is the fundamental requirement of success. Teaching kids to think big also sounds unrealistic to some - a set-up, so to speak, for their failure. Well, exactly. I recently listened to a speech by a Stanford professor entitled "Innovation as an Extreme Sport” and when she talked about what is being taught at Stanford's "New Design Institute,” I couldn't help but be reminded of Wagner and of my Webb students. "Fail fast and frequently” Stanford students are encouraged. "More failure equals more success.” "Come up with the best idea for something and the worst idea and then make the worst the best.”

So, I embarked on composing my own failure resume. Try it yourself. I promise it's a liberating experience, and one that will make you think of great ideas and big opportunities in a whole new way.

If you’re going to change the world, it will probably happen by the time you turn 17.

In a recent chapel talk to the students, I shared with them the reasons that I got into this profession of education in the first place.  I conveyed to them many of the factors that led me down this road.  But the core reason, when it comes right down to it, is that I believe passionately that if you’re going to change the world, it will probably happen by the time you turn 17.  

By changing the world, I do not mean necessarily becoming a famous general, business tycoon, or politician.  By changing the world, I mean choosing a life of purpose where day-in and day-out you contribute something to making the world a better place – be it large or small.  The first question you have to ask, therefore, is how can you make everything you have learned at Webb, educationally and socially, work for you?

When I was a young child growing up in San Diego in the late 60’s/early 70’s, my mother taught a class in junior high school in a little town south of San Diego – less than a quarter mile north of the U.S. Mexico boarder.  Basically, it was a large class of Spanish-speaking students who were attempting to cross the bridge from Spanish-speaking classes to a traditional English-speaking high school curriculum.  This eighth grade program was a sort of do-or-die scenario for many of the students.  If they survived it and thrived, chances are they would be successful in high school, and continue on to junior college, or maybe even traditional four-year college.  If they didn’t, chances are they would go downhill from there, most probably never graduating from high school.  

Many of the students in the program were actually illegal aliens – students who would literally get up at 3:00 a.m., and sneak across the border so that they could attend classes in the U.S. that day.  They would then sneak back across the border that night, or stay at a friend’s home in the U.S.   

Bear in mind, this was well before the hot-button political issues surrounding immigration.  The U.S. had a pretty casual position on the topic, so much so that, periodically, the principal of the school would assemble the teachers, and inform them that he had been tipped off that the Federal Marshals would be paying the school a visit to do what they termed an illegal alien sweep.  The teachers, including my mom, would then prepare packets for these students to take back home to Mexico for up to 3 weeks, until the coast was clear.  

As a child, I remember being mesmerized by her stories of these kids.  I was dumbfounded – why would students go so far out of their way to go to school?  I only did it because I had to, because my parents made me; or so I thought.  

Fast forward now 35 years.  Several years ago, my mom and dad were on a bus going to a San Diego Charger football game.  A man approached my mom and asked “are you Mrs. Stockdale?” Yes my mom said, thinking that he had recognized my dad and just wanted to say hello.  You probably don’t recognize me, I was in your Southwest 8th grade class.  This person was one of those who had to sneak across the border every morning to go to school.  As it turns out, he is now an American citizen and after graduating from college, went on to receive an advanced degree.  He is now a professor of English Literature at a university in San Diego.  He went on to inform my mom that his best friend from this now acclaimed 8th grade class, who was also once a Tijuana citizen, is also now an American and, after graduating from college, now works in the San Diego Sheriff’s department.  
This story is important to me for two reasons.  First, I am incredibly proud of my mother and her spirit of helping everyone around her become a better person.  

Second, it reinforces beautifully why I am so passionate about working with teenagers – if you want to make a real difference in the world someday, the life-changing experiences when you are young will set the stage forever.  Those kids from Tijuana had an insatiable appetite to learn and to be educated.  They were young and daring in one way, but very wise in another and their actions allowed them to make better lives for themselves and eventually to make a real difference in the world.  All they needed was a teacher who believed in them, and who inspired them to pursue their dreams.   

When hiring teachers at Webb, I certainly look at their skill sets, their educational backgrounds, and their experiences as educational leaders.  But more importantly, I look for people who truly know and understand the importance of this work – that we are in the business of changing students’ lives by inspiring them to make our world a better place.  How privileged I feel to be at a school with such a clear and uncompromising focus on educating honorable leaders who are destined to make the world a better place.

I’ve been in a LOT of very good meetings lately, all of which have had some focus on the work we do with Webb students, in and out of the classroom. Through all of these conversations I have been reminded of one of my guiding principles in working at schools, that being, as simple as it might seem, to leave every place that I work in better shape than I found it. As our world changes, and at an alarming pace, one’s grounding in the foundation of his or her personal belief structure becomes increasingly important. It has always been my strongest belief that we have a responsibility to our students to assist them in developing more than an intellectual base from which to build their lives. As, if not more, important is to help them develop a conscience that will allow them to move forward in life confident that they have it within themselves to make a difference in the quality of their lives and the lives of those around them.

When working with faculty and students, I often find myself reflecting back on the teachings of Dr. Nel Noddings who so eloquently reminds us of the importance of having students learn to care about the things and beings around them – think of the applications and interpretations that can grow from such a simple idea. If students learn not to “do,” but to “care” about a subject, it will likely follow that their dedication to that subject will become a part of their learning process. This allows for a subtle shift of focus (and energy) away from teachers having to motivate (or entertain) students, to finding ways to have them channel their newfound energies.

Noddings also argues the importance of having students learn to know that they are cared for – in essence that they matter and that their contributions matter, however great or small. While we continue to encourage our students to learn and cultivate their own senses of identity and individuality, they must also learn that it will likely be through acts of communal collaboration that they are ultimately successful in school and in life, whether that collaboration be with a teacher, another student, a colleague or a life partner. It is essential that students learn to be aware that they play a role in a bigger picture – caring requires that they turn their attention outward, rather than inward – and they must be taught to constantly consider their impact on the greater good.

Daily, we struggle as a faculty to achieve that fine balance where we have confidence that we are teaching content and process in ways proportionate as to allow our students to be most successful in this new world. Constantly, we remind ourselves of the responsibility and opportunity we have as an independent school to equip our students with the essential tools that will allow them to distinguish themselves among the masses of capable and driven young adults who will shape the legacy of their generation. As an example, take the use of technology - our challenge is to guide our students in developing a conscience that will allow them to be discerning with their research, the choosing of applications, the sharing of resources, or the generation of original (and often very public) material, all while staying grounded in a true, not virtual, reality where they are capable of original thought. Learning this sense of responsibility is a transferable skill that they will need to sharpen to succeed at such seemingly simple tasks as interpreting the news or forming a political opinion. They must learn to wade, intellectually, through the white noise that our media-driven society produces. We are challenged constantly to find ways to provide students with skills of discrimination that will afford them a sense of balance from which to make constructive choices.

Simple, yes?  No, not really… but this work is so worthy of our full attention as we are challenged to secure the foundations of our students for “when the winds of changes shift.” In one of my meetings I was struck by the phrase “boundary dissolution” – its many implications and potential applications in the work we do with your children. Such a simple concept, yet consistent with a teaching premise that lends a different, critical importance to every, single thing that we choose to share with and inspire in your children, and the connections we guide them to make. This is noble, demanding, rewarding, ever-evolving work, and why I’ve spent my life in good places like this.