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.
Sue Tjardes,
Upper School English, History
Sue Tjardes teaches history and English in the Upper School. “I love having conversations with individual students,” she says. “I like getting to know them as whole people. They’re all great people, very intelligent and interesting.”
“The most important thing about Charles Wright is that everything and everyone here is student-centered,” says Tjardes. “The number of opportunities for students also makes a big difference. They don’t have to choose between sports and arts, or between loving science and literature.”
Tjardes completed her bachelors degree in speech and theater and her masters degree in communications at Colorado State University. She earned her Ph.D. in rhetorical studies at the University of Iowa. She came to Washington to teach at the University of Puget Sound and joined the faculty of Charles Wright in 2007. Her favorite areas of study are satire, new fiction, and media technology literacies, from orality to cyber-literacy.
“At heart, I'm just a cowgirl who grew up in Eastern Colorado,” says Tjardes. “I have a spunky sorrell gelding, Roy, who lives on my folks’ place.” She also enjoys playing and promoting acoustic music and has worked with various local events including Wintergrass, the Commencement Bay Maritime Festival, Ethnic Fest, and numerous open mics. She has also written for many regional music magazines.
“The most important thing about Charles Wright is that everything and everyone here is student-centered,” says Tjardes. “The number of opportunities for students also makes a big difference. They don’t have to choose between sports and arts, or between loving science and literature.”
Tjardes completed her bachelors degree in speech and theater and her masters degree in communications at Colorado State University. She earned her Ph.D. in rhetorical studies at the University of Iowa. She came to Washington to teach at the University of Puget Sound and joined the faculty of Charles Wright in 2007. Her favorite areas of study are satire, new fiction, and media technology literacies, from orality to cyber-literacy.
“At heart, I'm just a cowgirl who grew up in Eastern Colorado,” says Tjardes. “I have a spunky sorrell gelding, Roy, who lives on my folks’ place.” She also enjoys playing and promoting acoustic music and has worked with various local events including Wintergrass, the Commencement Bay Maritime Festival, Ethnic Fest, and numerous open mics. She has also written for many regional music magazines.
