There’s a place for every kind of student at Westridge.
On-campus life at Westridge is vibrant, robust, and as varied as our students themselves. Students continue exploring their voice and leadership styles outside of the classroom playing sports, joining student organizations and affinity groups, participating in the arts, running the student government, and producing the student newspaper.
Students tell us that the Westridge community makes it safe to try new things and rise to new challenges without fear of failure or the need to make every endeavor a deep personal pursuit—they can just have fun.
Above all, our community is filled with joy and a desire to learn, collaborate, and grow. Learn more about our student clubs, organizations, and traditions below!
Getting Involved at Westridge
Clubs
Clubs bring students with similar interests together to share knowledge, spread passion, and affect change. Students in all divisions can join clubs that reflect their interests, or they can start their own (and they do!). Every club has a faculty advisor and a student club head who organizes meetings and events—another opportunity to learn valuable leadership skills.
Recent Westridge clubs have included:
Lower School Student Activities & Leadership Council (SALC) performs a traditional dragon dance for Lunar New Year.
The Water Warriors are just one of many clubs students can join in Middle School.
Students explore the Middle School club fair and sign up for clubs they're interested in.
Upper School students can join a variety of clubs and affinities.
The Black Student Union celebrates "Love Your Hair Day," a day inspired by the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair).
Middle Eastern & North African Affinity (MENA) host a table at the Upper School Affinity Fair.
Student Voices leads a number of themed assemblies each year, educating the student body about social justice and environmental issues.
Student Voices lead an all-school assembly on climate change and climate justice.
Above: Known for their Tiger spirit and green skirts painted with the names of students who have previously worn them, the Westridgettes are the cheer squad that performs at assemblies and events.
Affinities
Our affinity groups are spaces for students of shared cultural, racial, or ethnic backgrounds to meet, support one another, and discuss a variety of topics. There are more than 20 affinity groups on campus, including the Black Student Union, Chinese Affinity, Gender Affinity, Jewish Affinity, Latine Affinity, Multiracial Affinity, Divergent Abilities Affinity and many more.
Student affinity heads also participate in Student Voices, a student-led leadership group dedicated to addressing topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. Student Voices raises awareness about local and global issues and events through assemblies, town meetings, and lunch talks.
Student Organizations & Leadership
Other student organizations and activities at Westridge include:
- Associated Student Body (Upper School student government)
- Student Action Council (Upper School leadership group)
- Student Activities & Leadership Council (Lower School student government)
- Student Life (Upper School organization dedicated to planning Town Meetings)
- Outlook (Upper School literary magazine)
- Spyglass (student newspaper made up of Middle and Upper School editors and staff writers)
- Middle & Upper School Speech & Debate
- Robotics (Upper School team that competes in robotics competitions)
- Rocketry (Upper School team that competes in model rocketry competitions)
- The Westridgettes (Upper School student spirit group that performs at assemblies and other events)
- Yearbook
Above: Alumna Rachel Harris '19 founded the All Womxn's Debate Tournament, an all-female debate tournament hosted at Westridge and including students from various competitive programs in the area.
100 Years of Traditions
When you have more than 100 years of history behind you, you're bound to create a few traditions along the way!
Here are a handful of the most beloved Westridge traditions—some that have emerged in recent years, and many that have been with us since the days of our founder Mary Ranney, kept alive through the passing of the baton from one generation of Westridge girls to the next.