Rafael McCauley picks Carnegie Mellon
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Carnegie Mellon University is a school many people have never heard of, but it’s one of the nation’s top research universities and the alma mater of six Nobel Laureates. The computer science department alone can attract more than $100 million a year in research grants, many from the Department of Defense and National Science Foundation. It’s peer institutions include Cal Tech, Cornell, Duke, MIT, Princeton and Stanford. Like all those schools, Carnegie Mellon is extremely selective – fewer than one in three applicants are admitted – but CWA senior Rafael McCauley is one of the lucky ones. Read the rest of this entry »
Ask CWA senior Max LaBerge what he likes about running and he won’t mention his state championship title in the 3200 meter or the challenge of competing against himself in pursuit of an elusive new personal best, although those are certainly part of running’s appeal. Instead, Max talks about the calm that comes when all you can hear is the sound of your own heartbeat and air rushing in and out of your lungs. “Sometimes you’re just there with your own thoughts,” he says. 
All winter CWA’s Jumping Jaguars have wowed the crowds at half-time during Upper School varsity basketball games with jump roping skill and their stage presence. This week they will make their last on-campus performance of the season on Friday during a Lower School Town Meeting. The Jaguars will be helping kick off the CWA Winter Olympics for the Lower School. The squad has 18 rope jumping members in this, their 14th season at CWA. 
Natalie Powell loves soccer. She has played at Charles Wright since she arrived on campus in sixth grade and competed outside of school on the elite Washington Premier 91 club team since she was 12 years old. She has long dreamed of playing the most competitive soccer of her life when she reached college. Her parents and coaches realized years ago that she is a gifted athlete with the potential to make that dream a reality. 
Willamette University is a strong liberal arts school that many Charles Wright students consider. Located in Salem, Oregon, it’s just a three hours drive from home. Willamette has an undergraduate study body of 1,800 and most classes have no more than 30 students. At the same time, the school offers a broad array of academic, athletic and social opportunities. All of this appealed to Tana Watanabe, a CWA student who applied to Willamette a few months ago and was accepted early into the class of 2014. 
Megan Kelley is one of 13 lifers in this year’s senior class. She came to Charles Wright as a kindergartner and has thrown herself into the life of the school ever since. Next year she’ll trade in her green and white gear for blue and buff. She’s picked a college with a mascot almost as unusual as a Tarrier. She’s going to be a Hamilton College Continental. 
Today is national signing day for college-bound student athletes and in a short ceremony in the Upper School commons, three CWA seniors this morning formally declared their intent to compete in collegiate athletics at specific schools. Natalie Powell will play Division I women’s soccer for Saint Mary’s College of California. Max LaBerge will run cross country, indoor track and outdoor track for Williams College. Megan Kelley will play women’s tennis for Hamilton College. Proud parents, siblings, coaches, teammates, classmates and school administrators gathered for the signing event. 
CWA will celebrate Winter Homecoming on Friday, January 29. It’s an opportunity for the entire Charles Wright community to come together and celebrate the school’s winter athletes. There will be food, music, jumping, dancing and lots of basketball. 
It’s been pretty quiet around the Charles Wright campus the past two weeks, but while most teachers and students are on winter break the Upper School boys and girls basketball teams continue to practice and compete. Both squads lost several strong starters last year and this year’s senior class has fewer basketball players than most. None the less, both teams are proving they can be competitive.
Every two years, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) redraws the classification lines for high school athletics. The 2010-2012 classification ranges were finalized this week. Charles Wright Academy is once again classified as 1A, but there are some significant changes among the teams they compete against.