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.
Laurel Webster,
Upper School Mathematics, GSA Advisor
Laurel Webster teaches core geometry, pre-calculus and advanced placement calculus in the Upper School. “When I flew out from the east coast to interview at CWA, it took me about five minutes inside the Upper School to know that I would love working here,” says Webster.
“Unlike a lot of other schools where I had interviewed, I could tell that this was a place that valued the individuality of the students, a place where they felt comfortable enough to be themselves. It’s just not an uptight kind of place. I get to know so many dimensions of my students. We’re not trying to fit the kids into little boxes; we’re just trying to help them figure out what their personal definition of success may be.”
Webster graduated from Hamilton College in New York and went on to earn a masters degree at Tufts University in Massachusetts. She joined the Charles Wright faculty in 2005. In addition to teaching, she advises the gay-straight student alliance and serves on the school’s honor board.
Webster enjoys “crafty things” like quilting, knitting and scrapbooking. Her family participates in Street Scrambles in the Seattle/Tacoma area. “In a Street Scramble you are given a map with several places circled, and you get points for each place you visit within the time allotted,” she explains. “My two young daughters look at it as a sort of treasure hunt, and it gets us all out running and walking around together. It’s a great way to get to know neighborhoods.”
Visit her home page
“Unlike a lot of other schools where I had interviewed, I could tell that this was a place that valued the individuality of the students, a place where they felt comfortable enough to be themselves. It’s just not an uptight kind of place. I get to know so many dimensions of my students. We’re not trying to fit the kids into little boxes; we’re just trying to help them figure out what their personal definition of success may be.”
Webster graduated from Hamilton College in New York and went on to earn a masters degree at Tufts University in Massachusetts. She joined the Charles Wright faculty in 2005. In addition to teaching, she advises the gay-straight student alliance and serves on the school’s honor board.
Webster enjoys “crafty things” like quilting, knitting and scrapbooking. Her family participates in Street Scrambles in the Seattle/Tacoma area. “In a Street Scramble you are given a map with several places circled, and you get points for each place you visit within the time allotted,” she explains. “My two young daughters look at it as a sort of treasure hunt, and it gets us all out running and walking around together. It’s a great way to get to know neighborhoods.”
Visit her home page
