Farewell, FirstClass!

Dear FirstClass,

First, thank you for being such a dependable system for nearly twenty years. Since 1998, Webbies have relied on you to communicate STAS announcements, send emails, and most recently, print homework. However, we have been experiencing an increasing amount of glitches as you grow more and more obsolete.

Because of these issues, the Tech Office decided to replace you with Microsoft Office. The Tech Office has been providing electronic support to help students transition smoothly into the new software. As of 3:00 pm on January 19, I am sorry to inform you that The Webb Schools no longer operates on your system.

FirstClass, bidding your farewell marks a fundamental shift in Webb culture. No longer will we rely on you for weekly Saturday check-in reminders to save us from campusing. No longer will we use your Students To All Students (STAS) to post announcements about our lost textbooks and missing key cards. No longer will we use you to send out survey links begging others to devote two minutes of their time to help us out with a project. No longer will we use you to re-forward seniors’ college acceptances expressing how proud we are of them.

Your code programmed you as a platform that would allow users share messages instantaneously. However, I realize this ability has been both a blessing and a curse. Your club conference feature has helped student leaders coordinate hundreds of meetings that have united large groups of people. However, we can’t forget the infamous political STAS debacle of 2017 that tore apart our community during those early August and September months of the school year.

It’s not just me who will be disappointed that you are gone. It seems as soon as I finished learning the ropes of your system, you must sadly disappear. Vivien Xi (‘21) said, “I like FirstClass because it took me four months to get used to it and I find it pretty convenient. I don’t want to get used to an entire new system and reorganize all my files.”

On the other hand, I must admit that some of your users have expressed more optimistic views about your farewell. Sonia Malik (‘18), remarked, “I’m for Microsoft Office because FirstClass has crashed so many times and the online site doesn’t even work anymore. Microsoft is a legit company that I trust. Plus it is linked to Word and Excel. The only confusing thing about Office 365 is I have to download Outlook Groups as a separate app to get STAS, Student News, and VWS News. Also, I don’t really know how I feel about Outlook being like social media where you can like other people’s STAS posts.”

Regardless, you will always have a special place in Webbies’ hearts. We will dearly miss your iconic nineties retro look and signing off our messages with “Sent from FirstClass with my iPhone.” Farewell, FirstClass!

Sincerely,

Sydney Wuu