DID YOU KNOW?
Tacoma’s story spans more than two centuries from the time Captain George Vancouver anchored off Tacoma’s north shore in 1792.
In 1870, Tacoma’s natural deep-water port became an attraction that the Northern Pacific Railroad couldn’t pass up, when it made Tacoma a stop on its transcontinental line.
Old Tacoma and New Tacoma merged in 1884 and incorporated as Tacoma. By 1890, the population reached 36,000 people.
Tacoma is home to the Port of Tacoma, the seventh-largest container port in the United States, and it is within 20 miles of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and 36 miles of the city of Seattle.
Catherine Grider,
Beginning School
Catherine Grider teaches in the Beginning School and finds that Charles Wright’s pre-k through 12th grade campus creates unique opportunities for her class to do activities with other students not only in the Lower School, but also in the Middle and Upper Schools.
Every Thursday her students meet with their third grade buddies. The annual field trip to the pumpkin patch is guided by eighth graders and pumpkin carving is assisted by fifth graders. The Upper School drama class does skits for the students. Grider’s students develop friends and mentors all across campus and are immediately part of the Charles Wright community.
Grider holds a bachelors degree from Pacific Lutheran University and a masters from City University. She joined the Charles Wright faculty in 2000 after teaching kindergarten through second grade for 10 years at Tillicum Elementary in Lakewood.
“I love the moment when one of our young students realizes that by saying sounds together they can create a word. By creating words, they can read.” she says. Outside of school, Grider enjoys baking, boating, skiing and spending time with her family.
Every Thursday her students meet with their third grade buddies. The annual field trip to the pumpkin patch is guided by eighth graders and pumpkin carving is assisted by fifth graders. The Upper School drama class does skits for the students. Grider’s students develop friends and mentors all across campus and are immediately part of the Charles Wright community.
Grider holds a bachelors degree from Pacific Lutheran University and a masters from City University. She joined the Charles Wright faculty in 2000 after teaching kindergarten through second grade for 10 years at Tillicum Elementary in Lakewood.
“I love the moment when one of our young students realizes that by saying sounds together they can create a word. By creating words, they can read.” she says. Outside of school, Grider enjoys baking, boating, skiing and spending time with her family.
