CWA recently dedicated the school’s baseball field in his honor.  Click here to learn more about the dedication.

Here is the text of Camner’s email:

Friends,

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to let you know that we just learned from his daughter that Bob Minnerly passed away today after battling several serious illnesses over the past few months.  His daughter Sydney wrote the following earlier today:

“Thank you for all of your friendships you have given my parents and we greatly appreciate all of your support and well wishes during this long fought battle. There were just too many wars going on and not enough troop support…although he fought as long as he could.”

Bob will be remembered for his outgoing, warm personality and his generosity of spirit.  He led the school as Headmaster during the difficult economic circumstances of the late1980s and early 1990s and set the stage through his hard work for the successes the school has enjoyed in the nearly decade and a half since his retirement.  He will be sorely missed.  Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Services will be held in Texas, where the Minnerlys made their home for the last few years.  Details will be forthcoming shortly.

Rob

One  highlight of the evening was the fund-a-need live bidding to honor faculty members Marc and Turi Janes.  At the end of this school year, the Charles Wright community will bid a fond farewell to Marc and Turi as they embark on a well-earned retirement.  The fund-a-need effort supported the new Language and Performing Arts Center by dedicating “Janes Landing”, a terraced nook between the new building and the Upper School.

Teachers Miles Struxness and Jim Dempsey have built Adirondack chairs for the spot.  Bruce Dees and Associates sketched what the finished “Janes Landing” will look like.  The names of the 136 fund-a-need donors will be etched in bricks in recognition of their generous support.

Marc joined the faculty of Charles Wright in 1986 and Turi followed suit in 1987.  Together they have dedicated a combined 47 years of their lives and careers to our students.  Marc has taught math and English here and served as head of the Lower School.  He is now the co-director of college counseling.  Turi has taught kindergarten to nearly 350 Tarriers.

“From the moment a kindergartner finishes reading his very first chapter book to the day a senior opens her last college acceptance letter, Marc and Turi are by their side,” wrote auction co-chairs Emily Dienst and Laura Reynolds.  “And behind the scene, they have supported, encouraged and mentored members of our faculty and staff through thick and thin.”

As she began considering her college options, Jordan knew she wanted to keep the best parts of the life she’s enjoyed here – close relationships with her family, a school with small classes and a close sense of community, and several hours of riding after school every day – but she was also ready to make some major changes like moving more than 3,000 miles away from home.  She’s settled on Stetson University, a small liberal arts school just outside Dayton Beach, Florida.

Stetson was one of the schools her older sister considered so Jordan put it on her list early in the college search process.  “I knew I wanted to go somewhere with warm weather and find a school that’s a lot like Charles Wright because I’ve had a lot of success here,” she explains.  “I really like the small class sizes and I’ve developed really strong relationships here with my teachers and the other kids.”  She visited several schools but “When I got Stetson, I walked around and just knew it was a good fit.  People were so welcoming.  I just kind of had that feeling that ‘Oh, this is the school for me.’”

More than 2,200 undergraduates attend Stetson at the school’s 175-acre DeLand campus.  They are taught by 195 faculty members, creating a student-teacher ratio just slightly above that at CWA.  Jordan is particularly interested in Stetson’s business program when she’ll have the option to major in accounting, management, finance, international business, management information systems, marketing, family business or general business.

Just as important, Jordan’s sister, Maren Foster ’97, lives 45 minutes away from Stetson.  She is a horse trainer and Jordan will be able to take her three horses, Latour, Lionheart and Star Wars, with her to school, boarding them at the stables where her sister works.  “I’m really close to my sister and I’m looking forward to spending more time with her,” says Jordan.

Throughout her middle and high school years, Jordan has competed year-round in English and eventing riding shows in Washington, Oregon and Montana.  Eventing includes three phases: dressage, or “ballet for horses,” as Jordan describes it, a precise event judged on accuracy of movements; cross-country, where riders gallop across an open field and jump natural obstacles, including ditches, banks, water; and show jumping in an arena where riders are timed and try not to knock down rails.  She’s also active in The United States Pony Club and the regional Young Riders Association.

“Training and caring for my horses has really helped me develop time management skills,” says Jordan.  “Finding a school where I could take my horses was definitely a consideration, but I purposely chose a school that does not have a riding club.  I want to have a true traditional college experience and just keep riding and competing in my own time.”

The very first Jumping Jaguars are now college graduates.  Alums of the program include Brandon White, a senior varsity football and basketball player who was a rope turner back in fifth grade, girls basketball players McKenzi Hayford and Janay Davis, soccer and tennis player Dillon Truscott, and soccer and football player Cory Barrett.  For many, the Jumping Jaguars was their first experience with team athletics.

“Fourteen years ago a student came in from recess crying because other children were making fun of him for trying to jump rope,” recalls Coach Jim Pelander.  “This led us to develop a rope skipping team to promote self-confidence and that little boy, Andrew Evans, was the very first member.  He is now a graduate of Brown University.  His sister, Lindsey Evans, was on the team for six years.  She began as a Beginning Schooler.  We have two team awards named after Andrew and Lindsey that are presented at the end of the season.  The Andrew Evans Award is persistence and risk-taking and the Lindsey Evans award is for the Jaguar showing commitment far and beyond.”

After all these years, the Jaguars program is still about promoting self-confidence, but it also teaches teamwork, goal setting, persistence, leadership and the value of entertaining others.  “Athletic ability is just one of the many characteristics necessary to become a team member,” says Pelander.  “More importantly, each Jaguar possesses a special inner quality that contributes to the team achieving its goals.”

The Jaguars practice after school twice a week for two hours.  While entertaining their audience is their primary objective, team members compete with each other for performance positions.

“Our team is pretty much student-driven” says Pelander.  “We have two team announcers who learn their scripts so well that they don’t use notes and several musical technicians who handle our music during performances.  Often the students come up with their own tricks and routines.”

The Jaguars final event of the season will be the Junior Daffodil Parade in Tacoma on Saturday, March 27.

Here’s the schedule for Friday:

8:20 am Lower School Town Meeting

11:30 am MS Spirit Assembly (Wight Gym)

2 pm Upper School Pep Rally (Wight Gym)

3-9 pm Sports Boosters Open for Business (Dome)

3:30 – 7pm Wright Stuff Halloween Costume Sale (Dome)

5pm Lower School Pick and Shovel Family Fun Run (Track)
o    ½ -Mile Run begins at 5:00 p.m.
o    1-Mile Run begins at 5:10 p.m.

5-7pm Homecoming Dinner hosted by Sports Boosters (Dome)

5-7pm Athletic Hall of Fame Reception/ Bruce Haertl Recognition (Language and Performing Arts Center) This year’s inductees are Troy Bloedel ’81,     Kristen Schriver ’85, and  Zack Daniels ’98.

6:30 pm Bonfire

6:40 pm Senior Fall Athlete/Parent Recognition (Field)

7 pm Varsity Football vs. Port Townsend

7-9 pm Alumni Tent Open (South Goal Line)

Halftime Homecoming Parade/Class Floats

• Hall of Fame Induction
• E. Bruce Haertl Field Dedication
• Bumblebee Football Game

Saturday, October 24
8 pm to Midnight Upper School Homecoming Dance

During the pregame ceremony on September 19, the Seattle Sounders FC honored Chursky and 13 other players from the team’s early years.  Chursky joined the team in 1976, when the Sounders played in the Kingdome.  He played three years in Seattle before being traded to a California team.  At the time, he had the league’s best record as a goalkeeper.  According to the Wikipedia page about him, Chursky played in 145 NASL regular season games and 11 play-off games, including Soccer Bowl 1977, during his career.  He is a member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame and was the first soccer player inducted into the Simon Fraser University Athletic Hall of Fame.  His name also turns up more Google hits than any teacher on campus.  We thought this link was particularly well worth sharing.  Apparently, even during his professional soccer days, Chursky’s love of literature was well known.  His students probably won’t be surprised to learn his nickname was The Poetry Man.

At CWA, Chursky teaches senior English.  He also serves as the director of soccer, overseeing the girls program and filling the head-coach position for the Upper School varsity boys team in the spring and the Middle School varsity boys team in the fall.  The boys team has made 16 state appearances, played in the championship game in 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 2002 and 2003, and won the state title in 1988 and 2002.  The girls team has an equally competitive history with 12 state appearances in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003, and four trips to the semifinals.

After graduating from Charles Wright in 1988, Kreger studied at Smith College and what is now now Claremont Graduate University in California.  She returned to teach English at CWA from 1992 to 1994, then earned her doctorate and became an college professor.  She is now the director of advancement at the University of Washington’s graduate school.  She is one of three co-editors of a new book titled Spur Up Your Pegasus: The Family Letters of Salmon, Kate and Nettie Chase, 1844-1873, published by Kent State University Press.  According the University of Washington, is not the kind of book most people would sit down and read cover to cover. But it provides a new and necessary resource, adding the voices of these bright, accomplished women to the history of a complicated and often misunderstood figure in American history.  Their father, Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873), was a consummate politician. He served as United States senator from Ohio and as that state’s governor; he was secretary of the treasury under Abraham Lincoln and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court during Reconstruction. He had powerful presidential ambitions and a resume easily worthy of the White House.  You can read more about the book here.

According to Ron Swaner at The Weekly Volcano, “When the City Club of Tacoma announced it was putting on a show to celebrate its first 25 year of existence, it wasn’t hard to predict how the party would go down. The club brought in artist Lynn Di Nino to produce it under event chair Sue Schaeffer. Di Nino, in turn, brought in musician/actor/comedian Doug Mackey. Mackey and Di Nino have had their hands on just about every cool and innovative event in town. When the party finally happened last night at Washington State History Museum, their event, titled ‘All Together Now,’ had everyone in tears — induced by laughter.”  Gula was one of six local high school students selected for the ensemble that entertained the party goers.  Swaner wrote: “Ringleader Mackey and the kids took the crowd on a musical journey through Tacoma’s dark side. They reworked famous Beatles songs changing the lyrics to poke fun at the Luzon building, Frank Russell, The spire, Tollefson Plaza, Bicentennial Pavilion, downtown condos, LeMay Car Museum, Rep. Norm Dicks, potholes, and unfortunately for Tacoma, many more.  It was the funniest roast of Tacoma I have seen.” You can read the whole article here.

]]> http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2009/10/14/chursky-kreger-and-gula-make-headlines/feed/ 0 http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2009/10/07/cwa-arts-guild-a-new-way-to-get-involved/ http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2009/10/07/cwa-arts-guild-a-new-way-to-get-involved/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:25:45 +0000 Althea Cawley-Murphree http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/?p=1238 There’s a new way for Charles Wright parents, particularly the parents of Middle and Upper School students who spend less time volunteering in the classroom, to get involved.  The Arts Guild is a newly reconstituted group organized to support and promote CWA’s arts programs.  Initially the group is focusing its efforts on Middle and Upper School performing arts.  Arts Guild volunteers had their first major event of the year in September when they helped welcome guests to the new Language and Performing Arts Center for the PassTempo show.  Now they’re getting ready for the first Upper School choral and instrumental concert which will be held next week in the Donn Laughlin Theater.

During the 2009-2010 school year the Arts Guild has five priorities:

1)    Concessions/Refreshments: Coordinating with parents of students involved in concerts to provide refreshments after performances and offering concessions for sale at intermission during drama productions.

2)    Chaperones: Providing extra adult supervision for concerts, particularly at the Middle School level, when there are a lot of students performing and fewer faculty available to chaperone.

3)    Chormical: Assisting Choral Director Aimee Mell in producing the annual choir/musical with seventh and eighth grade choir and drama students in the spring.

4)    Event Volunteers: Support specific events such as the regional Instrumental Solo and Ensemble Contest to be held at CWA in March 2010.

5)    Special Skills: Provide skilled support for particular projects, such as drama production costumes, hemming pants and skirts for the choir, videotaping concerts, locating special or hard-to-find props, etc.

The Arts Guild has its own webpage, www.charleswright.org/Spotlight/Arts-Guild, and Arts Guild announcements will be included in the Parent Association newsletter. If you would like to be on the Arts Guild direct email list, please send an email to CWAArtsGuild at gmail.com. Include your name, phone number and interests so that we can be in touch with you for specific needs as well as providing you with general information about ways to participate in supporting the arts at CWA.

You can also learn more about the Board of Trustees by reading their bios here on CWA website.

As cast member Frank Roberts ’09  said later, “My experience in the new theater was simply fantastic.  While the hidden trampolines, mass amounts of confetti, and robot lights were cool, the real reason I loved the new theater was a real sense that everybody, not just the theater department, but everybody in the entire school, wanted all the arts to succeed.  And that’s something that I will always find wonderfully unique about the Charles Wright community.”

There will be a full report in the next issue of Ties, but here are some pictures of this great evening just in case you weren’t one of the luck 520 people who got to see the show in person.

]]> http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2009/09/21/pastempo-surpasses-all-expectations/feed/ 0