Two-School Model

Our VWS classes in 9th and 10th grade and two-school leadership structure are both key to helping Vivian Webb students build their confidence and capacity for leadership. Research demonstrates that girls’ school graduates are more likely to seek leadership and be present in more male-dominated fields, in part because of the confidence they build in themselves in all-girls communities. And of course, empowering women as leaders remains a relevant task in 2019. Only about 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. have women at the helm. Approximately 30 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives and 25 percent of the U.S. Senate are women, numbers that have grown substantially in the last few years. And women are still underrepresented in key industries including computer science and engineering. 

Many boys also benefit from all-boys spaces. Boys respond to positive models of masculinity that embrace the challenges and realities they face as they enter high school, a critical moment in their adolescent development. By meeting boys where they are in 9th and 10th grade, Webb faculty allow them to build their academic skills and confidence in a comfortable setting. Both inside and outside the classroom, boys create deep bonds of friendship, allowing them to be vulnerable and to take appropriate risks, to develop empathy for others and to forge their own sense of what it means to be a man. In doing so, they are guided in constructing an identity that is true to themselves and prepares them to be a positive force in the world.

Rachel Simmons: Even As She Is, The Curse of the Good Girl, Odd Girl Out, Odd Girl Speaks Out

Lisa Damour: Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls, and
Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood