by George J Elbaum

Charles Wright Academy (CWA) was one of the 2 Seattle area schools where I spoke for the very first time in October 2010, and today it was the 10th consecutive year that I spoke at their annual Global Summit.  This year the Summit consisted of 29 high school students and 6 teachers visiting from Colombia, France and Poland, plus students from CWA’s 8^th grade class.

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 visiting teachers Marina Larrahondo Rico and Robby Pena Nelson from Colombia; Marie Bourgeon and Olivier Tabary from France; Magda Wnuczek and Grzegorz Martyniuk from Poland; and CWA teachers Dan Wicklund, Christina Bertucchi, Rafe Wadleigh, David Bishop, Susan Sparrow, and Jacquie Silberman (who, together with her husband Dan, provided personal “shuttle service”😊 from/to the airport and conversation that was both enjoyable and meaningful).  As usual, the visiting delegations were hosted by CWA teachers and students.

Due to an undetected malfunction of Ann Vogel’s camera, we will be gathering photos from various attendees to supplement the few available at this posting.