Pandemic Inspires Novel Approaches

Pandemic Inspires Novel Approaches to Instruction, Student Support

by John Ferrari

Webb’s faculty and staff devised new ways in 2020-21 to deliver world-class academics while intensifying their focus on strengthening community.

Resilience. As an individual strength, it’s showcased at Webb every day, embodied in the schools’ core values. So, when the pandemic tested the resiliency not just of an individual, but of the entire Webb community, students, faculty and staff united to forge a year of extraordinary achievement, community building and personal growth.

“We plan for a lot of situations,” Head of Schools Taylor B. Stockdale said. “But this pandemic came on so quickly and required such quick action that at first we were reacting: keeping the students safe, getting everyone home and following health guidance, all while continuing to deliver a world-class education. I’m really proud of how everyone at Webb made that happen.”

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Webb streamlined its focus to academics and emotional health, adjusting programs so students could complete the academic year despite the distance and disruption.

Later, Webb faculty and staff leaders drew on the lessons learned in spring 2020 to craft a multi-layered plan for the 2020-21 year, employing new instructional approaches, strengthening student community and leadership programs and relaunching extracurricular activities in the new environment. “We knew we needed to see kids,” Associate Head of Schools Dr. Theresa Smith said. “And we needed to keep that interaction between students and faculty. Our faculty basically spent an entire month of the summer preparing for 2020-21. That allowed us to start the year with common goals and an expanded set of tools to support students.”

While many schools opted to record classes for students who could not attend live sessions, almost all of Webb’s online classes were taught live twice, allowing students across multiple time zones to continue to participate in vibrant lessons and discussions. At the same time, classes were shortened to 45 minutes – a recognition of the need to limit the amount of time students spent in front of their screens.

From an educational standpoint, what works in a classroom may not work online, Smith said. Extended learning and preparation time over the summer allowed Webb’s faculty to adopt teaching practices specific to the online format. Teachers also increased the contacts they had with students, from small-group and one-on-one advisory sessions to class meetings, even taking time at the beginning of every class to check in with students.

“Overall, we were very pleased with how we were able to continue,” Vivian Webb School Dean of Students Sarah Lantz said. “It’s amazing what the faculty has been able to do.”

Maintaining Webb’s strong sense of community took innovative thinking, too, and that came from students as well as teachers.

For freshmen, a big part of this effort was Webb’s Peer Advisor program, which trains older students as mentors who meet weekly with a class of first-year students.

Freshmen Angela Du and Naomi Kang, both international students, said they were challenged during the pandemic by the lack of regular interaction.

“For me, the biggest challenge was reaching out to my teachers and staying connected with my friends online,” Du said.

“If we were on campus with other students and teachers, there would have been more opportunities to spend time together,” Kang said.

That’s where their peer advisors – or PAs – made a difference.

“ The PAs helped us feel connected by making us feel comfortable and by being a friend. They empathized with our struggles,” Kang said.

“The PAs have definitely helped with making us feel connected with the Webb community by informing us about campus activities and life when, obviously, we can’t be there,” Du said.

Student leaders also created online events – from dance parties to baking demonstrations – and worked with Lantz and Webb School of California Dean of Students Rick Duque to ensure key Webb traditions – Chapel Talks, Honor Symposia, Dies Mulieres and Men in the Arena, among others – were successful online events that brought together and strengthened the Webb community.

“ When we have these events, and when our attendance at them is upwards of 300, it really is a sign that our students crave these community connections and value the time their classmates put in to make these events that students from around the world could attend,” Lantz said.

Webb also reintroduced afternoon activities in online and, eventually, in-person formats.

“After we sent students home, one of the things that came to the fore was how important those activities are, from athletics to theater,” Director of Athletics Steve Wishek said. “They’re part of the decompression cycle for our students.”

As Wishek and others led online fitness and activity sessions, they soon realized that the value of the activities lay in the opportunity for students to interact with each other.

“It was less about the activity itself and more about just seeing each other and interacting outside of classes,” he said.

Webb’s goal was always to bring students back to campus as soon as it was safe to do so. As the year progressed, some Webb student-athletes were able to return to campus for practice and competition over a shortened season with social distancing and COVID-19 rapid testing protocols.

When this initial return went well, other on-campus opportunities were developed and offered to students, most notably study groups. These allowed students to take their online classes on campus – each student assigned his or her own dorm room – socializing between classes and at lunch.

“We knew we needed to build in what would be missing – the best parts of Webb: community and friends,” Director of Counseling and Health Education Melanie Bauman said. “The year made everyone think with even more intentionality about community, relationships and education. We had to be creative to find every social and community space that we could expand into.”

Webb’s on-campus programming for the year culminated in hybrid online and in-person events, including a spring play, the Jubilee arts celebration, prom, candlelight ceremonies and commencement. In each, video technology connected the on-campus and online Webb communities.

Laura Caldwell ’21 performed in multiple productions during the year.

“It was absolutely important to keep the arts alive, even with no one there to see them live. The arts mean a lot to so many people, even if the performances and art cafés and whatever weren’t as grand or as ... normal as normal,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell said Webb theater provided her with a much needed outletfor expression. “It provided a place where I could be comfortable and surrounded by people I liked. It just makes me happy beyond reason to be on that stage acting in front of people. Zoom took away a little of the sparkle, but the intention was still there,” she said. “It was a success to even just get back in the theater, I think, but more than that, we managed to create something incredible despite everything going against us.”

Behind the online instruction and activities, Webb’s Medical Advisory Board, a team of Webb administrators and physicians, met weekly to review rapidly evolving health regulations and plan for different contingencies.

“We really wanted to try to make a push to get some programming on campus,” said Stephanie Baron ’96, PA-C, Webb’s health center director and Medical Advisory Board member. “I never felt like we were doing too much too soon ... we were always working at the right pace, and I feel it was a good, staged opening, starting with sports. When that went well, we just slowly started doing more things.”

The Medical Advisory Board includes Dr. Daniel Gluckstein P ’05, ’08, medical director of infectious disease at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and an Alf Museum Board member.

“We looked at a lot of details about testing, masking protocols and bringing students back to campus,” Gluckstein said. “Bringing students back even in a very regulated way made students and the Webb faculty, staff and museum staff happy.”

Students Pursue Activism

Despite Pandemic Disruptions

2020 wasn’t just the year the COVID-19 pandemic struck, it also was a year that launched social justice movements. Students found ways to advocate for change within the Webb community and beyond.

by John Ferrari

“In many ways, Webb is a very inclusive campus,” Nick Lee ’22 said. “It’s such a powerful community.”

But Lee said he is aware of inequalities between public schools and private schools like Webb. As a sophomore, Lee attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) organized by the National Association of Independent Schools.

The conference gave him and other Webb attendees tools to think about and discuss issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Momentum for action increased when the Black Lives Matter movement drew new levels of attention during the pandemic.

Working through the Empowering Student Voices Initiative (ESVI) established three years ago, students urged Webb to address DEI concerns. ESVI members discussed social justice issues with Head of Schools Taylor B. Stockdale and Associate Head of Schools Dr. Theresa Smith, ultimately meeting with the Board of Trustees.

“Not only did they get on board, they went a step further,” Lee said.

“The meeting with the Board was scary but also validating,” ESVI Co-President Isabel Flores ’21 added. “It’s comforting to know our voices were being heard. We had a lot of hard discussions about how Webb can support students.”

To engage with these issues, science faculty member John Choi P ’22, ’24, who came to Webb with a strong background in DEI and education, was appointed first to the new position of DEI coordinator and later as director of equity.

“Webb’s commitment to DEI allowed us to implement change,” Lee said. “I think with all the work we’ve been doing, we’re moving toward a shift in culture.”

Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Co-President Keigan McCullagh ’21 said the need for advocacy couldn’t be deterred by the pandemic.

“We still wanted to try to build the club and be even more active than we were in past years when we were in person. We were able to adapt things like movie nights, and we were still able to organize Pride Month,” McCullagh said.

She said Webb administrators have been receptive to the organization’s calls for structural changes to increase equity and inclusiveness, but added that there is still work to be done.

“I’m the kind of person who will give myself a voice wherever I am. That is an attitude I came to Webb with, but one that Webb also has fostered,” she said. “When we have brought proposals to Webb, they have been open to those proposals.”

While the GSA and similar student-led groups continue to advocate for change at Webb, they also serve as safe spaces and educational presences on campus, McCullagh added, and that enriches the campus community.

Other student leaders attended (virtually) the Empowering Female Voices conference hosted by the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS). The three-week program brought together students from girls schools nationwide to study social issues and develop solutions. Members of the program’s criminal justice committee, including Sofia Centeno ’22 and Paige Woodard ’21, examined the issue of felon disenfranchisement.

“I had taken a class in the fall, Honors American Crime and Punishment,” Centeno said. “It turned out to be my favorite class at Webb. I was so engaged in the class, but I didn’t know what to do about the issues. The NCGS program made making change feel more accessible to a young person.”

Centeno, president of Webb’s Bookworm Club, also collaborated with Black Student Union President Karma Griggs ’23 to organize a group read and ongoing discussion of the novel Dear Martin, by Nic Stone.

Centeno, who attended the SDLC, said the community read was her way of continuing the conversation launched at the conference.

“The read was a great student collaboration and totally student driven,” said Dr. Mark Dzula, Webb’s director of teaching and learning resources. “It was a good opportunity for both students and teachers to discuss life, and as we come back together it will be a touchpoint.”

At the root of all Webb’s student advocacy is an understanding that Webb is a community in which students – and their voices – play a significant role, Flores said.

“I think that coming to Webb has made me an educated student in ways that other schools couldn’t,” Flores said. “I’m really going to hold on to this sense of community that Webb has given me. I want to make change in the world, just like I did here in the Webb community.”