For the 2024–25 school year, Webb has implemented a new sign-out system called REACH. With the switch to this new system, all students at Webb have formed different opinions. After running a poll for an insight on students’ opinions, most respondents showed a strong preference for the previous sign out system, rather than REACH. Out of the 74.4% of boarders and 25.6% of day students who participated in the poll, 76.7% of the student body does not think that REACH has made their life easier. 

Comments that anonymous respondents left include:

 “This app does not successfully open half the time, and when it does, it does not load correctly. I have to ask the OD to sign me in to both Saturday check-in and signing in and out of campus. I do not mind the online [format]; it is the app in particular.”  

 In contrast, other respondents reported that REACH has made their life simpler.  

“It’s easier to do an overnight pass every week from my phone.” 

 Also, some students have mentioned that while some parts of REACH have been difficult to use, others mentioned that it is easier than the paper sign-outs.  

“I feel that it has added extra steps to my life and slows things down. Instead of just signing out at the books, we now have to make a pass and then use our camera to sign out. However, it does make signing [and] Saturday check-in [easier].”  

To understand how REACH has affected student life, 4 students shared their experiences with REACH, its impacts on daily life, and how they feel about it. 

Ava Darby (‘25) 

Ava Darby (‘25) is a day student and a student-athlete. Since she goes off-campus regularly for soccer practices and games, she signs in and out of campus often. Although she uses REACH frequently, she does not notice major differences between the new and old system. Overall, she thinks this is a positive change that has been implemented this year. 

“I think it’s good knowing where students are, and it’s quick and easy,” Ava said. “It hasn’t changed much, and it’s just a different way of signing in and out.” 

As a day student, Ava primarily uses REACH during evening labs and acknowledges that many day students around her are confused on whether they are accurately using REACH. 

“I don’t really go on and off campus that often,” said Ava, “[REACH] doesn’t affect my athletics that much. I normally use it after the academic day.”

Kat Lazar (‘28) 

Kat Lazar (‘28) is a Jones Dormitory resident from Hong Kong. As a new student and member of the Webb community, Kat has no prior experience with Webb’s past sign-out system. Due to this, Kat didn’t have strong opinions during her introduction to REACH. 

“I’m new to Webb, so I don’t know how different or effective the past system was,” Kat said. 

Having been at Webb for over a month now, Kat’s main utilization of REACH includes creating weekend passes to go on Webb runs and to spend time with family. Kat has faced difficulties with REACH when using it to spend time with family.  

“It’s kind of stressful because I have to communicate with my family a lot to approve my pass or [about] when they will pick me up.”  

As someone who prefers manual sign-outs, Kat is not a huge fan of REACH. 

“I don’t like the format of the system personally because I don’t enjoy doing everything online,” Kat said. “I feel that paper is easier because creating the pass online is more time consuming than [on] paper.” 

Dorothy Ma (‘25) 

Dorothy Ma (‘25), a head day student prefect and a day student who drives herself to campus daily, thinks that REACH has a lot of potential but has not gotten there yet. She was first introduced to the program at the leadership retreat with other student leaders before the beginning of the school year. In her opinion, the biggest problem with the app currently is the location of the sign-in tags.  

“Location is one of the biggest priorities,” Dorothy said. “For many day students, especially those who drive, it’s inconvenient.” 

As of now, the tags are only in the dorms, Stockdale Community Center, and Fawcett Library. This can be difficult, especially for day students arriving and leaving through the DSPL. The switch to REACH has also significantly changed Dorothy’s daily life, as she finds herself worrying about rearranging her schedule to be able to sign in and out when arriving at Webb and leaving for the day.  

 “I definitely see its potential,” Dorothy said. “It could be a lot better than our old format, but right now, it’s still in the beginning stages”. 

Jacky Qi (‘25)  

As a dorm resident and a head dorm prefect, Jacky Qi (‘25) finds REACH to be an improvement to his dorm life overall, despite certain setbacks and confusion. Jacky uses REACH when he goes off-campus for away games during football season and on the weekends. When he goes to labs in the evenings, REACH does not change too much of his routine as a student; if anything, Jacky likes it better in the labs when there is not a need to use the sign-in books, which keeps the sign-in lines shorter and the process faster.  

In his role as a prefect, Jacky thought REACH was confusing at first but soon found it helpful, especially during the 7:30 p.m. check-in process. REACH is a new component that has been implemented in the prefect’s job, so they had to spend additional time ahead to figure out how it works, and then explain it to the dorm residents.  

“Each prefect’s explanation about the system [was] different,” Jacky said. “We [did not] even know [how it worked].”  

However, despite the flaws of REACH, Jacky acknowledges the increased efficiency it has brought him as a student and dorm prefect at Webb.  

As Webb students familiarize themselves with the REACH system, opinions may change. As of now, the majority of students do not think the app has made their lives easier mainly due to technical reasons, a lack of understanding of the app, and inconvenience. As Webb continues to troubleshoot the app, feelings may shift.