Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: The Webb Schools

Title of entry: The First 100: Webb's Centennial

About this entry: Webb officially celebrated its Centennial in October 2022. The occasion was marked by a dinner event with 700 guests at the culmination of Alumni Weekend. In anticipation of that event, staff collaborated with Alumni Council volunteers and a professional filmmaker to blend archival photos, videos, and audio recordings with current narration, video, and commentary to create a short film, The First 100, celebrating our enduring legacy. The theme was derived as a complement to our current comprehensive fundraising campaign, The Next 100, which focuses on support for our second century. The video was played live on large movie screens at the event and was sent simultaneously by email to alumni, parents and friends around the world. Careful attention was taken to represent all time periods of the history of our two schools on one campus in addition to our museum of paleontology. The video celebrates the faculty and staff and the foresight of our founders. And perhaps most importantly, it focuses on the impact of a Webb education in the lives of our community members. The outbursts of delight, laughter, and tears shared by event attendees and the subsequent email responses we received prove that this form of engagement was deeply meaningful.

The video was then shared externally on our website as promotional material for prospective families and to support institutional branding. It was shown in its entirety on the website and short snippets are being used in social media and in admission emails.