by George J Elbaum

Charles Wright Academy (CWA) was one of the 2 schools where I spoke for the first time in October 2010.  Now it was the 9th consecutive year that I spoke at CWA’s annual Global Summit, which this year consisted of the 55 students of the CWA freshman class plus 36 high school students and 8 teachers from Colombia, England, Germany and Poland.

The Global Summit is a 10-day program designed to promote peace and social justice by exposing the visiting students to and developing their understanding of the concepts of universal human rights, justice, fair trade and sustainable life styles, and by demonstrating how the choices that each of us makes every day can impact the world. The core of the Summit is a series of speakers whose personal experiences reflect directly on these subjects, and their presentations are followed by group discussions on these very concepts.

This year’s Global Summit was again organized and managed by Ann Vogel, CWA’s Director of International Programs.  She also was one of six Global Ambassadors for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and her son and daughter both graduated from CWA.  Ann was assisted by teachers Ana Carolina Gonzalez and Alfonso Soriano from Colombia; Krissie Shaw and Michelle Mudge from England; Lennart Marx and Diemo Schneider from Germany, Ana Szewczyk-Hereta and Kasia Krolik from Poland; and CWA teachers Lynn Ellis, Rafe Wadleigh, Christina Bertucchi, and David Bishop.  CWA teachers and students hosted the visiting delegations.