The first-ever Leadership and Honor Symposium at Webb, held on February 3rd and 4th, aimed to instill values of leadership and honor in students through a series of activities scattered across campus. Both underclassmen and upperclassmen were separated into randomized groups and rotated through various stations.  

The first day consisted of moral dilemma exercises and problem solving in fictional scenarios, while the second day focused on discussions about grey areas in morality and academic honesty, using films and real-life examples to demonstrate these ethical conflicts. However, despite the ambitious goals of the event, the rushed structure and lack of engagement made the event seem superficial, leading to students questioning its effectiveness.   

The concept of an honor and leadership symposium had high potential. The idea of immersing students in ethical dilemmas and leadership challenges could have provided meaningful lessons about decision-making and responsibility. However, the execution fell short of this goal. The activities such as the questions prompting ethical dilemmas or the salad activity, where each student would bring an ingredient to the table, didn’t feel age appropriate and failed to challenge students in ways that would foster real leadership skills. The schedule had too many activities to compact into one day.  

“The activities didn’t require that much brainpower; it was more like common sense,” Armen Xue (‘25) said. “In the one where we had to complete a bunch of activities in 10 minutes, we weren’t really thinking it through.” 

Leadership, in its true form, is not something that can be taught in a two-day event—it requires practice, real-world challenges, and meaningful mentorship. Compared to a student’s average school day, the symposium felt like busy work, and that it was performative rather than a practical learning experience.   

“[The Leadership and Honor Symposium] felt like it addressed the problem that leadership has not been integrated into the curriculum in the ways that we want it to be,” Gavin Hamilton (‘27) said. “It felt very much like we’re trying to follow through on something that we just haven’t had.” 

Beyond the lack of depth in the activities, many students did not feel present in the moment during the symposium. The rushed nature of the sessions meant that students were constantly moving from one station to another, never given the chance to truly process or reflect on their experiences.  

“It was a big waste of time,” Sophy Sun (‘26) said. “It could have been in some other form instead of having students wait outside for 20 minutes and have a 10-minute activity and be like, ‘Oh, go to the next one.’” 

This chaotic structure and scheduling problem prevented students from fully engaging with the content, and instead, it felt like another school related obligation rather than an opportunity for growth.  

The group activities on Day 2 seemed like an attempt to tie the activities more closely with real world applications, where students worked in their group to increase sustainability, accessibility, inclusivity, as well as other real-world issues on campus. However, this event stood solitary compared to the tone of other events, confusing students and also deriving from the original attempt to instill leadership.  

“I think the last [sustainability] project we worked on was pretty fun, and we worked on water waste as our topic,” Peter Dai (‘28) said. “Compared to being in a classroom, our group got a lot more time to work together.” 

While this part of the symposium was enjoyable, the core themes of leadership and honor were not effectively conveyed, and it seemed more like another experimental learning class project.  

Another major flaw in the symposium was its disconnect from real-world leadership. Many students pointed out that leadership is best learned through real experience, not hypothetical exercises. Instead of helping those who need help and using those experiences to learn empathy and leadership, students were instead placed in superficial settings, completing meaningless tasks. 

“Frankly, I would have loved to do some community service where we made something for people in need, especially since this was just two weeks after the fire.” said Eric Hansen, humanities department faculty and Honor Council advisor. 

While the Leadership and Honor Symposium had good intentions, its execution fell short of what the student body expected. If the event is to be held again next year, there could be potential ways it could be changed to better match the needs of the student body.  

First, the symposium should be condensed into a half-day format, allowing students more time to reflect on their experiences rather than being shuffled from station to station for a full day. While students could engage in these organized activities in the morning, they could use time in the afternoon to wind down and think about what they completed. This year, students were rushed from one activity to another and failed to have deep reflection time to rewind and ponder upon what they had just learned.  

Second, leadership activities should be more immersive and applicable to real-world settings, similar to the previous years when Webb hosted “Men in the Arena.” 

“I prefer going out because Webb is a really big bubble,” Victor Zhang (‘27) said. “Going outside of that [bubble] and learning about real-world experience is really important.” 

Incorporating off-campus leadership opportunities, service projects, or community-based initiatives could make the experience more meaningful. 

Third, there should be more student input in the planning process. Many students felt disconnected from the purpose of the event, and their perspectives could help shape future symposiums into something more engaging and relevant, which more impactful than theoretical exercises. 

Finally, there should be an emphasis on leadership development beyond a single event. Leadership is not something that can be taught in two days—it requires ongoing practice in and outside of the classrooms.  

 “People skills are such an important part of leadership,” Gavin said. “If we had done actual workshops on leading in small groups or business, that would have been way more useful.”  

Encouraging students to take part in the abundance of leadership opportunities Webb already has in place would teach students more about true leadership than a 2-day session.   

The Honor and Leadership Symposium was an ambitious attempt to instill values of honor and leadership in students, but its lack of engagement and shallow activities failed to provide real-world leadership skills. While some students enjoyed the teambuilding aspect of the event, it lacked meaning and real-world application. If the symposium is to continue in the future, Webb should take student reviews into account in order to truly prepare students for the challenges of leadership in the real world.