A Milestone... 15 Years of Graduates

Here's some history. In May, this year’s eighth graders will become our fifteenth class to graduate. That will bring the total number of Western graduates to 490 young men.

Fifteen classes of boys have carried their diplomas and walking sticks across the stage since this first class in 2012, below. These guys are now in their late 20s. On the far left is founding Headmaster, Mr. Jeff Presberg, and on the far right, Mr. Austin Hatch, founding Assistant Headmaster and 8th grade teacher.

Our first “WA Lifers” graduated in 2016. Pictured with their classmates above are Jackson Barr (Shell), Carl Belton (Water), Christopher "CJ" Carroll (Shell), Andrew Gosselin (Green), Peter LeBlanc (Green) and Juan Patricio Vera (Raven) were the first to attend Western for all six years, beginning as founding students in 2010.

The Class of 2018, below, numbered 40 boys for the first time, with two homerooms at “ideal capacity” as we have today

Shown below, in last year’s Class of 2025, Gabriel Aycock was the FIFTH Aycock boy to graduate, joining his brothers, (L-R) Noah ('16), Benjamin ('18), Jonah ('20), Oliver ('23) and Gabriel ('25).

At the Pigskin Classic 2013, below, we had only two graduating classes against a motley but victorious Faculty team

In the early days, Mr. John Rocha and Tim Keenley proposed the name “Old Boys” for our graduates, according to the British tradition of referring to graduates of all-male independent schools. Here we are at Founding Roots Dinner, 2013

On a sad note, we lovingly remember the two young men who have left us. 7th grader, George Belton (’13) passed away in April 2012, and we lost JJ Furnace (’17) in June 2024.

As a school, Western is still very young, and we remember all of our graduates. When they were here at school, they were BOYS. And that’s how we remember them, as our “old boys.”

Western grads work in the military, the trades, and some own their own small businesses, though the large majority attend college. To mark the 15th graduation, we provide a list of the 80 schools they have attended: