In this issue of Strength, we pose the question, “Where can IB my full self?” As an IB World School, this question is both grammatically playful and critically important. Annie Wright works to create a community where every member feels comfortable being their full self. We do this by providing robust academic and extracurricular programming, creating intentional community and holding ourselves accountable to areas of growth. And while each of these is important, the focus of my note today is core to our value proposition: academic preparation.
Our goal is clear. We want our graduates ready for courageous, independent action. For this to happen, they must know things (content knowledge), and they must know how to do things (skills). I will argue that in the information-rich 21st century, where content knowledge can be easily acquired at the end of a Google search, it is skill acquisition that leads to long-term success. How can I ask a more provocative question? How can I identify a reliable source? How can I speak persuasively and write analytically? How can I contribute effectively to a group project? How can I take feedback and use it for growth? How can I learn to ask for help when needed? Such skills-based questions can be easily overlooked, and yet they are the foundation upon which all academic success occurs.
For exactly this reason, the IB program is designed as an inquiry-based program, one that asks teachers to intentionally integrate the skill-based Approaches to Learning (ATLs) into their daily lesson plans and overall units of study. There are five ATL catagories: Thinking, Research, Communication, Social, and Self-Management.
If you ponder each of these for just a moment, you can quickly see that a student’s mastery of these ATLs will directly relate to their ability to perform on the standard suite of academic assessment tools
(papers, tests, projects, etc.). For this reason, we spend considerable time as a faculty (and staff) considering the ATLs and the ways in which we can infuse them into everything that happens in the Annie Wright classroom.
It has become cliché, but it is true: we are preparing our students for jobs that don’t yet exist. But I’m not sure that matters. If we continue to take a skills-based approach to learning, if we continue to help students strengthen their ability to obtain, synthesize, and communicate information, then we are preparing them for whatever the world of tomorrow will need. Here at Annie Wright, we want students to define academic success on their own terms. Providing them with a robust toolkit of skills upon which they can draw ensures they can do exactly this, just as it ensures they can find success both academically and personally as they blaze their path.
Sincerely,
Jake Guadnola Head of Schools“
Our goal is clear. We want our graduates ready for courageous, independent action.”
BY THE NUMBERS
The Denver Broncos named Damani Team President ahead of the current NFL season.
A highly respected sports executive and innovator with 25 years of experience at both the professional and collegiate levels, Damani joined the Broncos after serving as Chief Operating Officer of NFL International for the last three seasons. Damani will lead the business operations of the Broncos and Stadium Management Company, which operates Empower Field at Mile High.
Post-Annie Wright and high school, Damani went to Princeton where, as a defensive back, he was a three-time first-team All-Ivy League selection, and he earned third-team All-America honors. While working on his Masters in Higher Ed. Admin from Indiana University, he joined the NCAA as an intern, and, as they say, the rest is history. Damani was named a Sports Business Journal “40 under 40” winner in 2014, and he received the NFL Commissioner’s Award for helping launch the Black Engagement Network at the League office in 2018.
Damani reflects fondly on his time at Annie Wright, sharing that, “AWS was foundational in my academic development and, more importantly, developing learning fundamentals and intellectual curiosity.” That curiosity sparked a passion for sports and leadership that has led him to a successful, decades-long career in the NFL.
As for future AWS alumni hoping for a similar career trajectory? The ball is in their court, so to speak. He offers them the following advice: “Compete and be curious. Challenge yourself and the people/things/ practices around you. Constantly try to be better—in what you do and in how you connect interpersonally with people. Everything else will figure itself out.”
He added one more reflection on his time at Annie Wright: “Our AWS MS boys’ basketball team was really good, but Jake Guadnola was a ball hog!”
I used my Endeavor Grant funds to enroll in a Level 1 Scots Gaelic language class offered online by the Colaisde na Gàidhlig in Canada. As promised, the language was tremendously difficult!
My teacher was wonderfully engaging, had a real passion for the quirks of the language and was
QWhat would you consider a career
My career path began while I was still at AWS. I was passionate about art and design my whole life, and the diverse art program offered to me at AWS let me explore this passion. I looked forward to art class every week, and especially loved ceramics and the glass art courses. There, I realized that I preferred to work in 3D, making objects rather than only drawing or painting. My junior year at AWS, I decided to enroll in a pre-college program at the Academy of Art University, where I took classes in fashion design, interior architecture, and toy design. It opened my eyes to the options available to me in college. It was so inspiring to see that it was possible to pursue my passion for art and design as a degree, and then, a career!
One career highlight was traveling to Florence, Italy to work with the leathergoods and hardware/jewelry factories while at Proenza Schouler. Once, I even went to Murano, Venice to work with master glassblowing artisans to launch blown glass bracelets and earrings for the Spring 2018 runway collection. Another highlight is making the artwork for Simone Biles’ 2021 Met Gala red carpet dress- a fully embellished crystal gown with a 7-foot train in swirling feather patterns.
QIf you had one piece of advice for future AWS alumni, what would it be?
Since graduating AWS in 2009, I went on to complete a BFA in Apparel Design at the Rhode Island School of Design. While there, I interned for Proenza Schouler and post-graduation, was offered a position in their Accessories Design Department working on handbags, jewelry, and small leather goods where I stayed for nearly 7 years before leaving in 2019. I went on to freelance for the next two years for various designers, including AREA, Loeffler Randall, and Alexis Bittar. In mid 2021, I accepted my current job as the Senior Designer of Accessories, Embellishments, and Trims at AREA.
I have a few key pieces of advice to offer AWS alumns that want to go into a Fashion or Accessories design career. First of all, there are a few different types of companies that are available to you after graduation, with pros and cons to each. If you want to work in high fashion, think runway shows, couture collections, higher price points, the teams tend to be smaller, meaning more autonomy. The work will be more exciting and creative, but the work calendar is more rigorous, and the hours are longer. If you want to have a better work/life balance, consider a more commercial company, such as Coach, J Crew, Ralph Lauren, etc. There, teams are bigger, and each person is able to do one specific job and go home at the end of the day. However, in my experience, the bigger the company, the less exciting the day-to-day work is. Either way, the most important advice I can give is: work hard and make sure you are organized, punctual, and have excellent problem solving skills—all things that were taught to me at AWS and honed throughout my career.
an adult learner of Gaelic herself. Many of my classmates were like me, American but of Scottish ancestry and interested in exploring their roots. My teacher noted that Gaelic cultures believe strongly that if you spoke the language you were “one of us” no matter where you came from or what you looked like. I really appreciated that.
While I can still only manage a few sentences of casual Gaelic, some of the larger concepts will stay with me for a long time. For example, ideas of ownership and identity are different in Gaelic due to the clan structures of the original speakers. It’s
a language very much shaped by colonization, and the (often purposefully obnoxious or secretly humorous) resistance to control by outsiders. It highlighted for me how much my world and thought processes are shaped by speaking English. These concepts are “brain breakers” according to my teacher: you learn a new language not to acquire new words, but to rewire your brain with new concepts or question deep-held beliefs. Someday, I’d like to travel to the Colaisde na Gàidhlig for an intensive summer course and learn more of the language. It’s a difficult, but rewarding, endeavor.
QHow did your time at AWS prepare you to pursue your career/passions?
QWhat is your current position and how long have you been in your field?
in Washington State offering the continuum of IB programming for ages 3–18.
Open-minded exploration of self and world
IB centers students and encourages them to be deep learners, to ask good questions, to set and pursue effective goals, and to self-advocate. Assessment requires students to demonstrate higher-order thinking.
In the PYP, students use transdisciplinary approaches to explore six themes: who we are; where we are in place and time; how we express ourselves; how the world works; how we organize ourselves; sharing the planet.
In the MYP, through eight core subjects, students explore six global contexts that extend from and are based on the PYP themes: identities and relationships; personal and cultural expression; orientation in space and time; scientific and technical innovation; fairness and development; globalization and sustainability.
In the DP, students focus on six subject groups and the three elements of the DP core: Theory of Knowledge, an opportunity to reflect on perspectives and assumptions and how we know what we think we know; Extended Essay, an independent, self-directed research project yielding a 4,000-word paper; and Creativity, Activity, Service, a series of moments and a project related to these concepts.
It is always a pleasure to catch up with our alumni, and Alumni Weekend 2022 was no exception. From the cocktail hour to the Alumni Chapel to the champagne brunch, stories and memories abounded and friendships shined. We are already planning for Alumni Weekend 2023 and can’t wait to see more wonderful smiles!
Claire (Guenwoldt) Zaner ’92 (Back Row), Sonia (Morales) Rodriguez True ’92, Hannah Burdge ’92, Kathryn (Hendrickson) Jurus ’92 (Front Row) Ross Syford-Hoyle ’63, Dorothea (Cragin) Hanich ’63, The Rev. Elizabeth Appling ’63 Anne (Middleton) Foster ’70, Hurlaine (Johnson) Hamilton ’69, Will Foster Hurlaine (Johnson) Hamilton ’69 and Julie Johnson Kimberly Anderson ’96MS, Kathy Medley Maxy ’78, Estella Weir ’78, Pamela Allen ’78Lynn shares, “Three of my Annie Wright classmates got together for lunch in Sun Valley in late August of this year.”
daughter graduated 6 years ago, got her degree from Evergreen State College and is now teaching in Clover Lake. I think her last name is Betts. It was so out of the blue to make an AWS connection in Houston. I will always remember it.
PATTI SPAULDING-KLEWIN ’89
Patti recently took on a new professional role as the City of Federal Way Human Services Coordinator.
Please see update on page 4.
HANNAH BURDGE ’92, MARIA ESTRADA-HARRIS ’92, SONIA (MORALES) RODRIGUEZ TRUE ’92, CAROLE (KOZA) VARGHESE ’92 CLAIRE (GRUENWOLDT) ZANER ’92
Members of class of ’92 at dinner during Alumni Weekend.
After many years, I now have time to re-connect, hopefully, with some of you!
I have been on the Olympic Peninsula since 1984 after moving here on a sailboat my then husband and I built. I have 2 sons and 4 grandchildren, all living in the area.
I just want to share a surprising AWS connection I made at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. My dad, who lives in Seattle, is visiting me, and we went to the museum. I mentioned to my Dad that I could recognize so many of the paintings and I could name the artist before looking at the plaque, because of my art history classes with Beverly Brown. We entered a gallery where there were photos of several newspaper front pages covering the 1979 lunar eclipse, one of which was the Tacoma News Tribune. We heard a man nearby talking about Tacoma, and we asked him if he was from Washington. He said he lived in WA for 20 years while serving at Ft. Lewis, and some of that time he lived in Tacoma. We continued chatting, and then I told him that I went to school in Tacoma. He asked where and when I said Annie Wright, and his eyes lit up. He said his daughter, her mother and her grandmother all went to Annie Wright. He said his
Sonia was appointed Yakima County Superior Court Judge by Governor Inslee. Sworn in on September 1, she is the first Latina and 6th woman to serve in more than 100 years of our court history.
I have been a Medical Assistant 2 / Care Coordinator for LifeLong Medical Care for 20 years. My daughter is in her 3rd year at St. Mary’s College, and my son is a 14 year old football player at Salesian College Preparatory High School. I started a small business about 5 years ago, and I have Annie Wright and the blue ties to thank for shaping my foundation.
Sorry I missed our reunion. I hope to be able to see my fellow Annie Wright friends. I miss all of you so much!!!
To hear more about Tahira’s professional development, check out her feature in episode #015 of the Perfectly Unfiltered podcast.
Deloitte Canada recently announced the new 2022 (Fiscal 2023) Partner class, which includes lifer alum Tahira Adatia ’06. This group of dedicated professionals have clearly demonstrated they possess the skills, dedication, and motivation to grow their careers and help our organization flourish in the years ahead. This new partner class reflects hard-earned recognition to these leaders who have demonstrated outstanding performances, bringing Deloitte’s shared values and purpose to life.
Tahira is honored and thrilled to accomplish this significant career milestone which, in addition to hard work, would not have been achieved without her mentors, advocates, and sponsors guiding and championing her throughout the process.
The Harvey Hudson family welcomed Asa Robert on Bastille Day, 7/14/22. He joins big sister Eliza, who is 3 years old. We love being a family of four at our new home in University Place.
After being an interior designer doing high-end residential projects for years in San Francisco and New York, I finally moved back to Taiwan and am in the process of opening a HomeGoods store, curating artful everyday objects from around the world.
My husband and I (married in March 2019) are currently living in Port Angeles, WA right by Olympic National Park. While we are enjoying the beautiful views and the lovely sea breeze, I am also working towards a M.A. in Special Education at The University of Texas Permian Basin. I graduated from Utah State University in May 2019 with a dual degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education. I am currently working as an early childhood special education teacher in Forks, WA. I will forever be grateful for the wonderful education and connections I made while attending Annie Wright Schools.
JENNY LI ’09
Please see update on page 5.
Jenny stopped by campus early this fall to say hello.
With strength in our hearts, we honor those we have lost from our Annie Wright Schools Community.
Jacqueline (Harris) Blaney ’62
Margaret (Snyder) Cunningham ’44
Marjorie (Fisher) Dugan ’45
Anne Gyllenberg ’54
Elizabeth “Betty” (Byrne) Hancock
Sally (Moffitt) Kennedy ’49
Stephanie L. Parker ’88
Marsha (York) Solmssen ’47
Alana (Hougland) Strauch ’67
Virgina “Ginny” (Stouffer) Torres ’64
Lynda Ann Woodle ’61
Jake Guadnola ’90MS, Head of Schools
Sandra Forero Bush, Assistant Head of Schools
Jeff Barber, Director of Residential Life
Rex Bates, Director of International Advancement
Eireann Corrigan, Director of Upper School for Girls
Ann Dicks, Director of Lower School
Grace Finch, Director of Development
Mike Finch, Director of Athletics
Annie Green, Director of Arts
Alicia Mathurin, Director of Community Engagement
Jeremy Stubbs, Director of Upper School for Boys
Clare Wagstaff-Brown, Director of Middle School
Jean Webber, Director of Finance and Operations
Jim Defebaugh, Chair
David Overton, Vice Chair
John Parrott, Treasurer
Janelle Guirguis-Blake, Secretary
Sally (Peterson) Atherton ’66
Diane Bai
Medina Broadenax
Tenley Cederstrand
Stephanie Cook ‘88
Jeffrey Davis
Bill Driscoll
Jason Griffiths
Damani Leech ‘90MS
Marjorie Oda-Burns ‘66
Brian Prior Merritt (Klarsch) Pulliam ‘92 Kevin Sanders Monica Torrez-Pfister Alana Zautner
“
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.”— Chinese Proverb
