Molly Wilcox Pennell '95,
Director of Alumni Relations
DID YOU KNOW?
CWA has more than 2,000 alumni.
Seven alums have been outdoor leaders for Charles Wright.
Charlie Frank '65 played Scott Carpenter in the movie "The Right Stuff."
Ten alumni are currently on the CWA Board of Trustees.
Alumna Dena Paris '89 started a girls soccer program in Morocco.
Former Math Department chair Bernie Tolan has a pony tail.
Visit the new Alumni Events & Info page
Alumni stories on the CWA Blog
A message from Molly Wilcox Pennell '95, Director of Alumni Relations:
When I first returned to work at Charles Wright four years ago, my husband was not sold on the idea of sending our kids to school here. “Nothing against C-Dub,” he said, “I just don’t know what I think about private schools in general.” Our conversations on the matter continued on a regular basis for two years. My side always sounded like an out of breath and slightly frantic version of this…
It’s not private schooling that I’m lobbying for, it’s Charles Wright. Charles Wright taught me how to think and how to write. It provided me as many opportunities to fail as it did to succeed. (He was always perplexed by this one.) The brilliant thing about CWA is that you can participate in everything regardless of your ability to excel at it. You can play basketball in high school even if you’ve never shot a free throw and don’t know what a jump shot is. You can try your hand at theater even if the only line you’ve ever memorized is your standing breakfast order at McDonald’s and the only audience you’ve performed for is your slightly mildew-y shower curtain. At Charles Wright, it’s okay to try.
It i
s no wonder that this exposure to a wide range of experiences leads to a broad base of friendships among CWA students. In not-so-recent preparation for my 10-year high school reunion, I printed a list with the names of each of the 63 members of my graduating class. I was not surprised that I recognized every name and could picture the 18-year old face of each of them. My guess is that this is not unusual for a CW graduate. And, not only because our graduating classes tend to hover around 70 students, but because at Charles Wright, it is impossible to be invisible, impossible to go unnoticed. As I sorted through rsvp’s for my class reunion, John continually asked, “Were you friends with her? Was he a buddy? Did you two get along?” I found myself explaining again…
When there are only 63 kids in your grade and often less than 15 in any given course section, everyone is sort of friends with everyone. I say “sort of” because of course you have better friends and best friends, but to not be friends at all with a member of your own class is a relative rarity.
Now, over a decade removed from my days as a student at CWA, many of my closest friends and all of my favorite teachers are still the ones I me
t here. It’s difficult to describe the way this community becomes your family; the way people and memories stay with you long after you leave the campus. But, I don’t have to tell you that.
John and I continued our habitual banter about Charles Wright until Wyatt (our oldest) turned three. It was time to consider applying for Beginning School. And then, it seemed, a light turned on for John. “Molly,” he said, while flipping through the Beginning School application, “I just can’t think of a better place than Charles Wright to send our kids to school.” At last, we arrived.
I hope as you tour through this website, you catch a glimpse of familiar faces and memories from your own days spent here. Welcome home!
