One of the great traditions of the Alf Museum is the Freshman Peccary Trip, when all Webb freshmen try their hands at fossil collecting. Over the past two weekends (first with the VWS trip and then the WSC trip), our crew continued to add to this rich record of California's past life.

There is no more joy in my life as an educator than to see a boy or girl truly take flight. The shy boy who finds himself with a gift for debate, or the girl who never has run track, takes a risk, and becomes a college record holder. To scan the unknown below and drop in when one wants to is what life is about. We know this, so we must let our children experience this.

I am pleased to announce a new exhibit installation in the Alf Museum, "Biostratigraphy of Barstow”, that presents the results of our five-day Unbounded Days Program. Our team made some amazing discoveries and worked hard to prepare them for display. Everything you'll see - from the specimens to the exhibit text - is Webb student work. Click here for highlights and photos.

As an historian, I’m not easily impressed by pronouncements of dramatic change in education. Yes, the World Wide Web, hand-held digital devices, and multimedia software have the potential to truly alter learning, but the key word here is “potential.” After all, the lecture should have died soon after the printing press was invented in the 15^th century, yet, as we all know, it is still used in college classrooms. Why lecture when students themselves can read information in books? People have also predicted the demise of traditional classroom teaching with the explosion of the Internet. What does it mean to teach when students can find all of the answers online?

The winter sports seasion is upon us, so come take a look at some of our exciting preview of our winter teams!

I recently took a tour of the Hall of Life in our Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology. Its renovation is complete, and the enormity of the project has been amazing to witness. As I toured the new exhibits during the grand reopening, I saw something that caught my eye just inside the entrance. There on the wall is a quote that Ray Alf was famous for: “What will you do with your moment in time?” - an exhortation of sorts, a call to seize the moment, “Carpe Diem!” It’s all Ray Alf and I so wish I could have met him.

It’s hard for me to believe that there are so many other educators out there that have chosen to commit themselves to helping young people find their way to college. And looking at the long list of professional development sessions and workshops this conference provides us shows me how committed these individuals are to this profession. Yet, I find I get the most out of these conferences from what happens after the sessions and workshops are over.

When I first moved to Bulgaria, the clock across the street showed 37 degrees Celsius. Moving two years’ worth of luggage up three flights of stairs, all I knew was I was hot, since Celsius meant little to me. I stayed in our apartment all day, afraid if I left I’d get lost in the web of neighboring apartment blocks. The sounds of people speaking Bulgarian drifted into our open windows and overwhelmed me. Moving across international borders is never easy.