The sentiment that we are two schools would make sense if VWS was actually an all-girls campus, or if WSC was an all-boys school. The schools are not that separated though, and to say we are is a mock of truly single-gendered schools. Possibly the most insulting example of this faux separation though, would be graduation.
Graduations represent the end of an era. It is the final moment where students can stand together and look back on all they have overcome, as individuals and as a class. The final moments as students in the Webb community.
While there are valid arguments to keep the graduations of VWS and WSC separate, the symbolism that is held by commencement and the overarching connection outweighs any metaphor that could be concocted out of the independent graduations.
When the girls first arrived on campus in 1981, Webb would have felt like two separate schools on one campus because the girls had to create their own atmosphere for the first time. Therefore, having two different graduations would be more necessary and impactful.
VWS commencement has important attributes that separate it from the boys. Sending young, female students into the world as leaders from Webb is an important part of girls’ schools.
The WSC graduation holds almost a hundred years of history of boy students graduating on the Alamo Lawn, which is quite impressive.
While both hold their own weight in feeling, connecting the two would be more powerful in reflecting the true relationship the boys’ and girls’ schools have with each other.
As the girls’ school has found their home on campus, that feeling of separation has nearly vanished from the school. The feeling of separation, or not belonging, is extinct on our campus because the girls do belong.
I have never once felt out of place. I have endured the highest of highs and the lowest of lows with people in my class across the board equally–both with the boys and the girls.
This June, the senior class will be leaving Webb–the place where I met the class of 2019 for the first time four years ago. A class that has gone through many losses, and many successes, together.
From four-time Theme Week champions to college acceptances to test prep studying, our class has a strong record of being there for each other, even in trying times.
Disconnecting us during the final moments we will spend as official Webb students develops the notion that our educations have been so different and so divided that we have to walk towards our diplomas at separate times, on separate stages. The reality of our Webb experience is that we went through it together as ONE class of 2019, not two.
