The Student News Site of The Webb Schools

Webb Canyon Chronicle
The Student News Site of The Webb Schools

Webb Canyon Chronicle
The Student News Site of The Webb Schools

Webb Canyon Chronicle
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How different cultures at Webb Celebrates Lunar New Year.

Anna Meng and Emma Liu
February 25, 2025
As the drumbeats, mystical creatures of blue and red scales entered. This mysterious creature is the dragon and lion for the lion dance performance. These traditions, fortunately, bring a sense of home to international students. “Watching the lion dance reminds me of performances I watched at home in Shanghai,” said Jessica Lu (‘27).
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Alexandra Wang (‘27) took this photo on her balcony back at Arcadia, documenting the rapid spread of the Eaton fire in Altadena. Along with the dry Winter weather and rapid blowing Santa Ana winds from inland, the fire exponentially increased in a short period of time, spreading fear among many local residents as well as Webb students tracking the hourly growth of the fires on the Calfire website, “I noticed that the Eaton Fire was getting close to my home in Arcadia on the evacuation map on Tuesday night, so I was kind of worried,” Kevin Wang (‘27) said. Boarding students with homes near the fires felt anxious especially, fearing their family’s potential evacuation.
Gale Force Tuesday: Webb tackles extreme winds and the Californian fires
Daira Kaufman, Webb’s choreographer for the dance company instructs the whole dance team. Ms. Kaufman has been choreographing the dancers in many different styles of dancing to perform for the dance show. ”Styles and themes include contemporary dance, jazz, hip hop, K-pop, ballet, dance theater, dance as political satire, dance as resistance, a Community Dinner like you've never seen before, and so much more,” said Ms. Kaufman.
Webb’s dance program leaps into a new chapter
Tyler Liu (‘25), a local day student, runs alongside West Baseline Road. Here, the road is riddled with imperfections and hasty patches, though there may be hope for a solution soon. The City of Claremont began a near $2 million citywide street resurfacing project approved at the May 28 City Council meeting. This project, which will span from Indian Boulevard to Towne Avenue, has locals hoping that this is a precursor to changes across all streets. “I can definitely feel some bumps while driving to school,” Tyler said.
Claremont, local politics, and you: what changes are happening around Webb?
Every Monday, prefects gather in the Arts Lab to brainstorm ideas and finalize plans for the upcoming holiday party. Led by Dr. Ardina Greco, prefect council advisor, the prefects have been organizing the event since before Thanksgiving break, with each prefect contributing ideas to make the evening memorable. “Every time the prefects host some sort of event on campus, there’s a lot of work that happens behind the scenes that people don’t always recognize,” Sydney Morales (‘25) said. Every year, the Holiday party is the most anticipated event of the winter season.
Upper Dorms light up for the Holiday party
Students fill nearly every seat in the dining hall, catching up with friends over lunch. Food is undeniably an important part of the Webb life, so a total of 250 students and faculty communicated their opinions about the dining hall food through the food survey sent out by Michael Hoe, Assistant Head of School. “It's empowering to be able to give feedback on stuff that's going well and not going well,” Hanbo Xu (‘25) said. It has been about a month since students took the survey; what is occurring behind the scenes?
Food survey bridges student-admin communication
Natalie Au (‘26) portraying Pablo Picasso gives her presentation about Picasso’s life and achievements while Anna Park (‘26) records her as part of the project. Other students performing at the central tables in the library speak as their Spanish-speaking figures as well. “I had the most creative freedom during this project out of all my years [of Spanish] and [got] to bring in my passions from outside of Spanish class,” Natalie said. The project was an intriguing scene for anyone who saw students in their costumes; what happens behind the scenes?
Behind the scenes: Honors Spanish 3 students vivify Spanish-speaking figures
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Webb students Freya Fu (‘26), Sebastian Saeedy (‘26), and Thomas Chiu (‘26) mimic a common scene Webbies exhibit during finals or assessment-heavy weeks. To combat Webb’s stressful nature, events held by various leadership groups—such as the PA’s Stress Less Week—aim to create a more peaceful environment on campus. "Typically, I go to the Stress Less Week events and have fun, but this year I wasn’t really stressed, and it was really cold when they held the water balloon fight,” said Maya Chin (‘26). Whether Stress Less Week effectively achieves its goal of reducing stress, considering its planned activities and timing, is called into question, making it necessary to explore what an ideal version of Stress Less Week might look like.
Stress Less Week
Nichole Lee (‘25) frets over Webb’s change in the Niche Rankings. Since 2022, Webb has fallen from 25th best American boarding high school to 41st. “Of course, the school is more than rankings, but such an enormous drop is not a good sign,” said Nichole.
Webb rankings decline: what happened?
Waving proudly above the Price dining hall on a cold winter morning, flags hang, representing the different countries that Webb students come from. "I think the flags in Price are a beautiful way of displaying students’ culture,” Rebecca Bronshtein (’27) said. These flags are one of the steps Webb takes in its commitment to representation. "They really make our community feel closer together.”
A window into Webb’s diverse cultures
New Years Resolutions
New Years Resolutions
Each carefully tended plant is a testament to the collective care of the Lopez Urban Farm. From access to education to sustainable practices, the volunteers are always focusing on impact. "I think the most meaningful part of the work that we do is creating access. So, a lot of the things that we offer are normally monetized,” Bianca Ustrell-Friend said. Whether it is food or clothes to put on your back, the Lopez Urban Farm always meets the needs of the locally underserved.
Growing seeds of change within and beyond Webb
Webb students often use AI tools like ChatGPT to navigate questions they have about their classes, some students even having ChatGPT Pro subscriptions. “I think it becomes a habit that’s hard to break because ChatGPT is such a versatile and accessible tool to use for everything,” Triet Pham (‘26) said. However, headlines have been surfacing linking the detrimental environmental impact of AI, with some news sources even tying the recent California wildfires to AI’s resource use. This research has raised questions on whether investing in AI is worth it.
The dangers of AI: what do Webbies know?
About the Contributors
Anna Meng
Anna Meng, Staff Writer
Anna Meng (‘25) is a creative force on campus, always blending her artistic talent with a spirit of exploration. Whether it is crafting digital art, hanging out with her friends, or trying different activities at Webb, Anna brings a vibrant energy to everything. Continuing trying new activities, this past summer, Anna began to explore the world of editing and writing at an online journalism program with Georgetown University. She learned how to write articles for a publication, edit articles, and try out different sections of the newspaper. While at the journalism program, Anna loved to write opinion articles but because she is always on the lookout for trying new things. Anna hopes to step out of her comfort zone and continue to let her creativity flourish by exploring different sections of the Webb Canyon Chronicle, especially features, hoping to write more articles on other people's perspectives.  Favorite Song: PRIDE. by Kendrick Lamar 
Emma Liu
Emma Liu, Staff Writer
Emma Liu (‘26) has a keen sense of dedication and creativity. She is always a colorful presence on campus, spreading amazing talents like a bee pollinating the flowers. Originally from Shanghai, Emma has been passionate about dance since kindergarten. Despite taking a brief pause, she rekindled her love for it last year with the Webb dance company. This summer, she expanded her dance repertoire by diving into K-pop, jazz, and hip-hop. However, Emma's enthusiasm extends beyond dance: she also broadened her horizons by exploring different countries in the world and indulging her passion of reading and writing.  As the founder of the Business club, she showcases her leadership skills and entrepreneurial spirit. Academically, she enjoys humanities courses the most, particularly Advanced Studies Faith Narrative of the Holy Cities, and has been actively involved in theatre for the past two years. Emma often spends her weekends with her ragdoll cat and poodle dog, watching action and fantasy movies, and of course, busting out a couple new moves for her two furry friends. Just like her pets, she holds her advocacy for environmental issues and feminism very close to her, highlighting her commitment to making a positive impact on the world. In addition to her leadership and passion for art, she hopes to bring kindness and authenticity to journalism through her work in the publication.  Favorite Song: Galway Girl by Ed Sheeran