CWA sends six to compete at state Solo and Ensemble competition
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Five CWA musicians won honors at the regional solo and ensemble competitions in March and will advance to the state instrumental and vocal contests in late April at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Junior Lauren Dudley won the very competitive soprano vocalist category. Sophomore Sarah Yamamoto won the cellists’ division. CWA’s senior flute trio of Kara Chevrier, Cindy Chen and Sarah LeFrancois also advance to state. Read the rest of this entry »
Track and field attracts more athletes than any other spring sport at CWA. This year 60 Upper School students – 22 girls and 38 boys – have turned out for the team to compete in sprint, relay, hurdle, distance, jumping and field events. Leading the team are co-captains senior Diane Lawrence, a sprinter, senior Max LaBerge, a distance runner, and junior Rachael Williams, a sprinter and jumper. 
This year’s CWA girls golf team is relatively young and inexperienced, but more girls have turned out for the program this season than any other year in recent memory and the players and their coach and excited about the potential for developing a very strong program. 
CWA’s Knowledge Bowl teams competed in their first 3A state tournament last weekend and returned home proud that both the A and B squad made it to the semifinals. In their first appearance at the 3A level, the Tarriers recorded third and sixth place finishes. The title was won by Camas High School. It was an impressive showing for CWA, a 1A school, competing two classes up for the first time in school history. While the members of this year’s A squad will all graduate in June, members of the B squad look forward to carrying on the school’s tradition of excellence in this competition.
After months of extensive research and analysis on their chosen topics, three CWA students have qualified for the state History Day competition in May. Sophomore Sarah Sadlier won first place at the regional competition in Auburn last week with her six-foot-tall museum exhibit on the innovative chronometer which solved the longitude problem in 1714 and dramatically changed navigation on land and sea. Freshmen Saager Varu and Devika Agrawal placed first and second in the website division, respectively, with entries examining the impact of the microprocessor and blood typing. 
CWA’s gala fundraising event, the annual Charles Wright Spirit Auction, was held last weekend in the Dome. The “Get Wild About CWA” theme was almost upstaged when a transformer blew down the street from the school taking all the lights on campus with it, but the power was restored, bidding resumed, and more than 500 happy guests went home with a great story as one of their auction prizes. 
Early in her college search, CWA senior Megan Konrad narrowed her hunt to schools in the South Sound. “Originally I was looking for colleges that were nearby so that my dad wouldn’t have to spend a ton of money for room and board,” she explains. There are quite a few good colleges in the area, however. Knowing she was interested in continuing her studies in English literature and Japanese, Megan narrowed her search further by focusing on schools with strong programs in both areas. She quickly identified the University of Puget Sound as her top choice. “Washington’s my home,” she says. “I would have enjoyed going out of state and spreading my wings a little wider, but staying close to home’s not bad. I’m really looking forward to it.” 
Today three students from CWA’s sister school in Mukogawa, Japan, are wrapping up their second of three weeks at Charles Wright. Momko Fujioka, Naho Maeda and Mai Suzuki are all staying with host families and attending classes at CWA while improving their English skills and sharing their cultural traditions. 
For some students, deciding where to apply to college is a long and agonizing process. Not for CWA senior Alex Bede. “UW has always been where I have wanted to go to college,” she says. “I have grown up in a family with more Husky spirit than any other I’ve seen.”