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.

We have a wonderful tradition at Webb, just prior to our students leaving for winter holiday. Our boys line the walkways to the girls’ dormitories with candles in preparation for an evening of caroling, hot chocolate and, of course, Santa Claus (actually one of our revered venerable teachers but, then, no one is telling). They practice heartily before going off to each girls’ dorm. The girls, of course, love it even more so when the tradition ends with the boys inviting them to their annual Christmas party. They all march together to be welcomed by one dormitory’s courtyard bristling with lights carefully draped over the trees, some neatly so and some others… well, you get the point.

I remember those very large classes in high school where anonymity was more common than notoriety. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my high school - it was large, noisy, and just plain fun. But it was so easy to cruise by being in the middle where most of us lived. No, I am not saying those of us in the middle were not capable of being superior students. Most of us were simply bursting with unrecognized talent and because we were not the very top students we were not separated out into our own classes, which is what they did back then. It was “tracking” in every sense of the word but no one told us so. We were allowed to happily muddle along, get decent grades, and enjoy the ride.