Academics

Grades 11 and 12

Individualized Exploration & Study

Established Skills and Habits of Mind

By their junior and senior years, Webb students are deeply engaged in defining their educational focus and actively involved in shaping their own academic paths. They choose from a diverse range of electives, including Honors, Advanced Studies, and Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Webb’s unique Advanced Studies courses, designed by our faculty, surpass AP-level classes to involve students in high-level intellectual exploration and learning. These courses are characterized by their depth of study, integration of the latest academic research, interdisciplinary connections, and expert guidance from Webb’s esteemed faculty.

Classes at Webb blend content, theory, and activities to create rich, multidisciplinary learning experiences. This unique approach to discovery learning serves as a model for Webb’s entire curriculum, encouraging students to think critically about real-world problems and seek innovative solutions.

Webb’s distinctive location in Southern California provides unparalleled access to world-renowned colleges, universities, and organizations such as the Claremont Colleges, UCLA, other University of California schools, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the entertainment industry in nearby Los Angeles. Relationships with these institutions offer Webb students access to college courses, professors, research opportunities, and cutting-edge technologies across a wide range of fields.

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Program Options
Class Example | Advanced Studies Gothic & Horror Literature & Culture

This course offers students an in-depth exploration of the horror genre. Students will examine the history, characteristics, and motivations of this genre in a challenging, discussion-based setting. The various evolutions and manifestations of horror across time, culture, and country will be analyzed to understand how it is inextricably linked to social and cultural desires, fears, obsessions, and events.

Students will have the opportunity to analyze and dissect representative literary and cinematic masterpieces such as Frankenstein, The Fall of the House of Usher, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Haunting of Hill House, and The Shining, alongside lesser-known or even unsuccessful examples like mass market paperback fiction and B-movies. Truly horrifying works across genres—literary, visual, theatrical, cinematic, and more—will be supplemented by a variety of critical and theoretical readings.

Students will research and write about a key author or figure in the horror genre and will analyze real-life cultural and social anxieties. The course, Gothic & Horror Literature & Culture, will celebrate the ways artists have channeled national anxieties and global myths into meticulously crafted stories of terror.
Class Example | Advanced Studies Spanish Language & Culture

In this course, students engage in real-world communication while developing the ability to understand spoken Spanish in various authentic contexts. Through the study of literature, history, art, and current events, students will develop a strong command of the Spanish language and broaden their cultural understanding of the Spanish-speaking world. The course content includes art, film, literature, songs, and interactive websites with audio and video recordings.

The focus will be on enhancing students' proficiency in integrating language skills, synthesizing written and oral material, and communicating confidently. Students will participate in fieldwork, project-based learning, and multidisciplinary efforts. Examples of possible classroom projects include persuasive essays, intertextual analysis, and a Latin American art project with a field trip to the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA). Additionally, students will visit the Los Angeles Cathedral, designed by Spanish architect José Rafael Moneo, as part of a field project.

The course will be enriched by local field studies to places such as Olvera Street and Spanish cultural events in Los Angeles. Students will also engage with the Claremont Heritage community, practicing the skills they have learned in class in authentic settings.
Class Example | Biotechnology

The use of molecules as laboratory tools has revolutionized medicine, forensics, agriculture, genetics, evolutionary biology, and anthropology. This lab-based course offers students the opportunity to learn DNA techniques and methods used in various biotechnology applications. Utilizing cutting-edge equipment at Webb and the facilities available at the Neil A. Campbell Science Learning Laboratory at the University of California, Riverside, students investigate various research topics in biotechnology, explore the ethical implications of these fields, and apply lab methods to their projects.

Topics and lab skills covered in this course include DNA isolation, gene cloning, DNA analysis by electrophoresis, DNA barcoding, bacterial and plant transformation, DNA forensic analysis, genetic modification, and DNA ancestry analysis. Students interested in biology and hands-on learning are encouraged to enroll. This full-year course includes occasional field trips to the University of California, Riverside. Completion of this course prepares students for college-level laboratory courses, including biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology.
Class Example | Filmmaking Studio

In this year-long course, students will learn videography techniques for short format, commercial, and narrative visual storytelling. The first semester focuses on the fundamentals, including framing, composition rules, camera techniques, lighting, audio, rigging, and editing.

In the second semester, students will produce, create, and shoot a short film, guiding them from pre-production to post-production. This includes planning, documentation, logistical techniques, scriptwriting basics, cinematography, and story creation skills. Students will also learn the essentials of distribution and marketing in the film industry and explore career opportunities.

Leveraging our proximity to Los Angeles and Hollywood, multiple field studies provide students with an inside look into the film industry. By the end of the course, students will have established a solid foundation for a film portfolio.
Class Example | Honors Paleontology

Students have the unique opportunity to learn and perform the tasks of a scientist working in a paleontology museum. The course is divided into three parts: procurement and documentation of fossils, preparation of fossils, and use of fossils (for exhibits, teaching, or research). Students will learn about the practice, ethics, and legalities of museum and fossil collection, as well as how to accession, identify, and prepare fossils.

For exhibits, students critically analyze existing displays and design their own, with some exhibits constructed for display in the Alf Museum. Successful students will implement fossil collection and documentation practices at a high level and communicate scientific concepts to a broad audience. The course includes field study where students learn field paleontology skills as they collect fossils that become part of the museum's permanent collections.