Webb School, Rotary partners to prepare future leaders
Club members heard about that connection and the school from Webb’s president, Dr. Ansel Sanders, during the club’s meeting in Fox Den Country Club Wednesday, Sept. 9.
“We’re really indebted to Rotary, and more specifically, Rotary Club of Farragut for your partnership,” Sanders said.
The connection started with the 2009 formation of Interact, a high school-level service club, which is connected to Rotary Club, for students between the ages of 12 and 18, at Webb.
That partnership continued with Rotary Youth Exchange Program, which provides inbound students from other countries to attend the school.
This year, its inbound student from France is attending Webb entirely tuition free, RCF member Bill Nichols said.
“She went to her first football game last Friday night and was stunned and excited at the same time,” Sanders observed.
For the past several years, [Nichols is] really our liaison from your Rotary Club to the school,” Sanders said. “And that partnership, for us, is really, really important and it’s really meaningful.
“Bill helps us facilitate some of our exchange student opportunities that we have at the school,” he said.
In addition to Nichols, Sanders praised club members Jonathan Johnson and Larry Sheumaker for their support to the school and Liz Gregor, a long-time Webb faculty advisor, for also facilitating the youth exchange program at the school.
Webb School is an independent, private, college preparatory school off Dutchtown Road.
Third-generation educator Robert Webb founded Webb School of Knoxville as a high school in 1955 with four students in the basement of Sequoyah Presbyterian Church. At the end of that year, there were 11 students. Today,
there are 1,065 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and faculty and staff
of 120.
In 1956, the school was moved to the old Staub School site in downtown Knoxville, where the University of Tennessee Aquatic Center currently is located. Then, it was moved to its current location in 1959, related Sanders, who came to Webb in 2023.
The middle school was added in 1974, and the lower school was included in 1998. The pre-kindergarten section was added in 2016.
The school’s motto is “leaders, not ordinary people,” Sanders said.
At Webb, it’s about “how over what,” meaning “students learn how to think, not what to think,” he said.
Since its founding, Webb School has stood by its honor code, which he said is “central to our culture.” Students formally sign the code, promising “not to lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those who do.”
“If you visit the school, you will notice the lockers don’t have locks,” Sanders said. Books and laptops are left unattended. It’s because of the community of trust that exists. You trust the person next to you and they trust you.”
Another trademark of the school is the chapel talks, which are a core requirement for seniors. They prepare and deliver a short speech in front of the entire school on a topic of their choice.
“It is a right of passage for seniors, and they are some of the most powerful, provocative and thoughtful expressions you can imagine
from these students,” Sanders said.
