College preparation remains an essential component of the school's purpose and identity, but it does not exclusively define a Westridge education. The school balances the academic program with student life experience that supports intellectual, social, artistic, physical, ethical, and emotional growth.
The arts at Westridge provide students with an avenue of creative exploration and expression. Whether through visual or performing arts, the program emphasizes independent and flexible thinking, a disciplined work ethic, risk-taking, and perseverance. It also encourages students to view the world from different, sometimes more sensory, perspectives.
Visual and performing art facilities include the Fran Norris Scoble Performing Arts Center, a 600-seat, state-of-the-art teaching theater that includes the Wagener Black Box Theater, outdoor Seiter Family Amphitheater, and Sigrid Burton ’69 Gallery exhibition space. Westridge visual arts students are supported with a ceramics studio with on-site kiln, two drawing and painting studios, a multimedia photography lab and darkroom, and two additional photography and art exhibition spaces. A dance studio and choral and orchestra rehearsal halls, among other areas, are also dedicated to the arts.