Unbounded Thinking in the American West

T wo schools on one campus. A fully accredited museum of paleontology. An honor code carried out by the students themselves. A college placement record with few rivals. Students on campus from 17 states and 19 countries.  A commitment to team sports and outdoor activities and participation in the arts. 

These attributes just begin to describe what makes Webb, Webb. While the school was founded in the great tradition of the best boarding schools of the eastern United States, Webb has since grown to embrace the pioneer spirit of the American West in which it was established in 1922. Webb today is a vibrant community of unbounded thinkers pushing to solve problems and educate young boys and girls to be honor-bound leaders.

Firmly rooted in the American West, but global in mind-set and commitment, Webb students in 2012-2013 join us from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.

And from: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand and United Kingdom.

Uncommon and Unequalled

Webb is the only school in the United States to celebrate the formative differences between boys and girls through founding two schools on a single campus. Founded in 1922 as a school for boys focused on educating honor-bound leaders, Webb created in 1981 a second school on its campus to provide the same opportunity for girls. Without peer, Webb forged its own path. Webb crafted two schools on the same campus with their own traditions, faculties, and student-governing bodies, thus doubling the best opportunities for boys and girls. Webb today continues in this path-breaking tradition by offering a majority of ninth and tenth grade classes separately for boys and girls, while transitioning students to co-educational classes in their junior year.

The Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology

Not long ago, the Alf Museum at Webb received national  recognition for its discovery of a juvenile duck-billed dinosaur. A team of Webb students and volunteers first discovered the fossil in a remote section of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The excavated fossil was airlifted by helicopter from the site and taken to the Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah where it was prepared and studied. The unique fossil find, among many others, will soon make its home in a newly renovated Hall of Life at Webb.

Every Webb student is involved in some way in the fun and work of the Alf Museum at Webb. Since the 1930s, students have been collecting, preparing and displaying fossils, offering an extraordinary example of unbounded thinking in action. More than just a place where students go to look at fossils, the Alf Museum is a place where students are part of the scientific process, where they learn the joy of discovery, where they actually advance scientific knowledge. The museum is also the only AAM-accredited museum located on the grounds of a high school campus in the United States, and also the only museum of its kind in Southern California – dedicated solely to the science of paleontology.

Graduating Honorable Leaders of Distinction

Just as important as providing a rich boarding life and a rigorous academic program, Webb means to educate students in leadership and personal responsibility. Webb works to show students that they have the power to set the tone for their own community and make a real difference in the world around them. We work and live in a trust-based community, founded on an Honor Code, a code of conduct administered by the students themselves.

The Honor Code provides a foundation to help students develop the values and judgment to act with integrity in every aspect of their lives. By the time they graduate, our students are prepared to take on the academic and social challenges of college, and to get the most out of the university experience. And their success doesn’t end there either. Whatever careers or professions they choose, studies show that even typical boarding school students are more likely to advance quickly, enjoy greater levels of prosperity, and lead rich, active and engaged lives of community service, philanthropy, and leadership.