Upper School biology teacher Ryan Johnson has done some interesting things with his life, including once riding his mountain bike from New Mexico to Maine. He topped that this summer when he embarked on one of the world’s most challenging adventure races. “If you have not done the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic, do not too widely brag about any extreme adventure races you have done,” cautions on the Alaska Alpine Club’s website. “If you have done the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic, and survived, you might not brag about things anymore.”

We’re pleased to report that Johnson made it back to civilization with all ten fingers and all ten toes. Here’s his report.

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Rob Scotlan, the Charles Wright community’s favorite eighth grade English teacher, has a new blog entry reviewing the science fiction novel Ender’s Game, first published in 1985 by Orson Scott Card. Check out Scotlan’s review and recommendation on his CWA blog, The Pages In Between. Click here!

On Saturday, June 7, Charles Wright Academy celebrated its 45th commencement. The class of 2008 selected retiring English teacher BJ Smith to deliver the faculty address. Student responses were offered by Mary Wakefield, Patrick Philley and Russell Wyatt.

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The completion of eighth grade is a big occasion at Charles Wright. The transition from Middle School to Upper School is traditionally marked by a ceremony that celebrates the individuality of all these students at a point in their lives when defines themselves as individuals is critically important. The faculty spend weeks coming up with the three perfect words to describe each graduate and their unique personality.

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Charles Wright’s 2008 Distinguished Alum was announced at graduation and the award recipient is Dr. David Hirschberg, a 1980 graduate.  As a student, Hirschberg was a three-sport athlete, journalist, actor and leader among his peers.  Today he is a leading medical research scientist who has dedicated nearly 25 years to helping doctors and patients better understand how the human body works, building diagnostic instruments, and finding new treatments and cures for the world’s most dreaded diseases. 

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Bruce Haertl, a Charles Wright graduate in 1976, recently won the prestigious 2007 Hod Humiston Award for Sports Broadcasting.  Haertl is the sports director at KWCH TV in Wichita, Kansas.  For more than 20 years, he has guided the Eyewitness Sports team to be a market leader in Wichita.  He has covered stories ranging from college bowls, World Series games, and Final Fours, to Kansas Eight-Man Football championships.  He is the TV voice of the Wichita State Shocker men’s basketball and baseball teams and he is a pre-game radio correspondent for the coverage of Kansas State University football. 

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This was a very successful year for Charles Wright’s athletic program.  Across three seasons, the Tarriers racked up eight league championships, five district titles, and two state championships.  Charles Wright athletes competed at the state level in eleven different sports and nine students returned with top-three finishes.  All-league honors were awarded to 49 Tarriers with seven athletes winning honors in more than one sport.  If all-league golf teams had been named this year, that figure would have been well over 50.

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Charles Wright Chaplain Mike Moffitt has produced a new episode of his podcast Waiting for the Whisper.  In this show he focuses on re-creation in various forms.  He interviews students and faculty about their summer plans for recreation.  He interviews Headmaster Rob Camner and Kit Granum, board member, capital campaign co-chair, parent and alum, about the re-creation of the CWA campus with construction of the new language and performing arts center.  Finally, Moffitt sits down with Emily Rome ’08 to talk about graduation, CWA memories and plans for the future.

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Parents, students and faculty overwhelmingly nominated Mr. Leon Phillips, 8th grade mathematics teacher extraordinaire, to be this year’s recipient of the Charles Wright Academy Parent Association’s Inspirational Faculty Award. His commendations remind us of the great importance, complexity and significance of the role of “teacher”, particularly for an age group that is so often ill-at-ease with the adults in their world. Leon masters the art of teaching young teenagers and of seamlessly managing the faculty-student relationship that is at the heart and soul of the Charles Wright experience.

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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer today published a guest column by Howard Wouters, a member of Charles Wright’s Upper School faculty who will complete his 40th year of teaching math this week.  In this piece, Wouters tackles the tough question of how parents can improve math education in this state.  “Freshmen at the University of Washington can’t solve middle school math problems.  So said 60 of their professors in an open letter released this spring,” begins Wouters.  “If you thought math was a problem just for those students struggling to the pass the WASL and graduate from high school, it’s time to take a second look.” Read the rest of this entry »