The Webb School celebrated its largest graduating class of 83 seniors at the 155th commencement ceremony on the sunny spring morning of Saturday, May 24, 2025.

The morning began with the Baccalaureate ceremony. Ken Cheeseman, Head of School, opened the ceremony with a call to worship and a prayer, followed by 2025 graduate Macy Simon, Honor Council President, Summa Cum Laude, and Alla Webb Scholar, who encouraged and uplifted the senior class by reading Psalm 1.

After reciting the hymn “A Mighty Fortress of Our God,” Nathanial “Buck” Smith delivered the sermon and benediction.

To the graduating class, Smith provided five pieces of advice, “We can have faith in others because all people have intrinsic value. We can have faith in others because all people have potential; all people can be redeemed. We can have faith in others when we recognize the essential role other people have played in our lives.”

He continued, “We can have faith in others if we remember the harmony that existed when we achieved truly great things. Finally, be a permeable membrane in your relationships with people. Follow the golden rule; see others as yourself, and let them in.”

Smith concluded his speech with parting words to the class of 2025, “Your time at Webb offered you the chance to know a diverse range of people very deeply, and many of them, including your families, sit under this tent right now.”

“They are people who love you, people who share your memories, and people who helped you grow,” he continued. “The person you are now and the person you will become are forever intertwined with these people.”

Following the Baccalaureate, the senior class took their class photo in front of the Junior Room, enjoying each other’s company as a class one last time before crossing the stage and becoming graduates. 

The seniors, followed by the faculty and staff, then processed back into the tent and to their seats for the Graduation Ceremony. After the National Anthem, Pamela Seals, Science Department Chair, led the Invocation, honoring the seniors with a prayer.

Cheeseman then took the stage, recognizing Angela Wilsdorf, Executive Assistant to the Head of School, who served as the project manager of Graduation, the Board of Trustees, senior parents and guardians, faculty and staff, and finally, the senior class.

“All of you have been leaders in the classroom, on W.I.L.D. trips, in advisory, on the stage, on the Honor Council in service to others, on fields and courts of athletics, and in our residential community,” Cheeseman said. “Academically, you worked alongside our extraordinary faculty as you wrote beautiful pieces of prose and poetry.”

He continued, “You orated so well as you developed arguments and counterarguments and delivered them well, as you discovered new perspectives in our labs, as you learned new languages and cultures and were enriched by them … In short, you were stretched intellectually, and we stand ready to honor Sawney Webb by turning out accurate scholars who know how to work hard.”

Cheeseman praised the diversity of the class which is composed of students from 12 countries across four continents. He also highlighted the seniors’ artistic and athletic excellence, noting the theatre, music, and visual arts departments as well as noting that athletically, the seniors “have accomplished more at a higher level than any class in the history of The Webb School.”

Cheeseman also recognized the seniors’ next steps. 48% of the Class of 2025 are attending universities outside of Tennessee, and 51% are attending public or private universities in Tennessee. Of those seniors, one will attend school outside of the US, and two students are attending world-class art and design schools. As a class, students were offered merit scholarships in excess of $3 million.

He then introduced the Commencement Speaker Dr. L. Gregory Jones, President of Belmont University who gave the Graduation Address. 

Jones taught the seniors five H’s that will carry them throughout their adult life — health, hard work, humility, hope, and happiness. His advice to seniors was to take care of their health mentally and physically, stay true to Webb’s mission of being a tireless worker, focus on something greater than themselves, remain hopeful for the future, and aim for the pursuit of happiness that our founders fought for.

“My hope is that you will discover that The Webb School prepared you so well for becoming the person who can flourish in all that you are and all that you do,” he said.

Jones concluded, “As you graduate today and go your separate ways, I hope you’ll remain connected with each other, that you’ll cheer each other along as you go and run your own races, and that you’ll finish someday, celebrating each other and the gifts that have been The Webb School.”

Cheeseman then awarded The David Newton McQuiddy Award to faculty member Whitney Bassham, science teacher before presenting several seniors with Special Awards. The award recipients are listed below.

Following the presentation of awards, Senior Class Speaker Julia Callaway, Cum Laude and Alla Webb Scholar, gave her address.

“We can leave with the lessons we’ve learned and the love that we have felt for the greater world,” Callaway said. 

“We have made it here today because of the experiences that have linked us all together,” she continued. “Whether they are insignificant or not, Webb has linked us all together as we've grown in this cocoon, and now it's time to spread our wings.”

Cheeseman and Farrar Vaughan ‘95, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, then presented the diplomas and holy books to the seniors as they walked across the stage.

The ceremony concluded with the seniors, alumni, and the audience reciting Integer Vitae. Congratulations to the Class of 2025!

 

For the list of graduates and their respective distinctions, click here.

For the full program, click here

For the list of senior Book Awards and College Acceptances and to learn more about the Special Awards below, click here.

 

Special Awards:

Excellence in Community Service: Caroline Burrahm, Quinn Shibayama, Bob Yan, and Kennedy Clarkson

The John Freeman Athletic Award: Macy Simon and Caleb Hagan

The Dale Hyatt Memorial Award: Sophie McInturff and Brady Sineus

Outstanding Boarder Award: Bob Yan and Iris Lin

The John Freeman Academic Achievement Award: Ethan Moe

Webb Follin Award: Abigail Voorhes-Fontenot

The Shelvin Brooks Bigger Science Award: Abigail Voorhes-Fontenot

Henry Harrell Mathematics Memorial Award: Bob Yan and Gerry Zhao

Honor Council Awards: Abby Faith Cheeseman, Caleb Hagan, Macy Simon, and Jackson Simpkins

Joseph Peters Meersman Jr. Award: Anne Marie Florida

The Senior Achievement Scholar-Athlete Award: Abby Faith Cheeseman and Evan Kirby

The John Hardin High Scholarship Award: Abigail Voorhes-Fontenot and Abby Faith Cheeseman

The Anna Landis Hightower Highest Scholarship Award: Macy Simon

John Lewis Morgan Award: Macy Simon

Paul Hunt Award: Nicole Depass

The Schornstein Award: Abby Faith Cheeseman

Athletics Special Recognition: Dasha Biriuk and Jax Howard
 

Class of 2025 National Merit Scholarship Competition

National Merit Commended Scholars:

Abigail Faith Cheeseman

Guanjun "Bob" Yan

 

Class of 2025 AP Scholars

AP Scholar with Distinction:

Abigail Faith Cheeseman

Olivia Antiope Dugdale

Xingnuo "Iris" Lin

Quinn Eva Shibayama

Macy Suzanne Simon

Guanjun "Bob" Yan

Shanshui "Gerry" Zhao

 

AP Scholar with Honor:

Lane Ethan Comstock

Abigail Voorhes-Fontenot

 

AP Scholar:

Donald Hughes Bradley III

Sarah Nicole Deaton

Anne Marie Florida

Frances Adeline Nunley Norris

Ryan Ann Sublette