YASUKO WADA
Japanese Teacher, 1975 to 1996
Through the years I have worn many hats as part of the Charles Wright Academy community. When our son Richard was in 6th grade at the Lower School and we were beginning his preparation for Middle School, I realized that the foreign language offerings were limited to the more traditional languages. Ray Smith and I were convinced that the students should be introduced to some of the less commonly taught languages such as Japanese. Thus began my over 20 year association  with the school.

At CWA I was given the opportunity to work on what I always believed about the education of our youth. . . that school should not only provide academic and sports experiences. In addition it should also stimulate, nurture and feed the students’ curiosity and provide learning experiences that would expand their horizons, better preparing them for higher education as well as life itself. The Winterim Program did just that and when I was asked to run the program I seized the opportunity. I ran the program for 6 years, creating 55-65 courses. Through the years the course of Winterim has changed but I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to work with so many valuable and talented community members and students.

Another dimension in my teaching at CWA was in the area of Drama. I helped create costumes for the once yearly play. Oliver brought opportunities for younger students from the Lower School to be involved but the most challenging was creating authentic costuming for Romeo and Juliet when our daughter Christine was the student director. As we worked side by side with Don Laughlin we could see the perfection he demanded. We  realized that this demand gave us a deeper satisfaction when the project was completed.

CWA allowed me to serve on the NAIS and NW committees on diversity issues, particularly education for girls and female teachers and administrators. Of course, the word diversity was not yet used in this capacity. Instead it was a minority concerns committee. I must say we have come a long way.

Near the end of my career I was surprised to be chosen to participate as a member of the committee to write National Curriculum Guidelines for teaching Japanese in the secondary schools and to work on the SAT subject test. This project involved Japanese scholars and the result was to change the direction of the Japanese language program to a more communicative approach. A $60,000 national grant helped CWA Japanese teachers to collaboratively start changing the direction and also enabled the establishment of a language lab for the students’ use.

One of the most gratifying experiences I had as a teacher came as I retired. As my retirement approached I was able to secure a wonderfully well suited person to fill my position. I had taught her from 7th to 12th grades at CWA. Her name is Stephanie Rush and she now runs the Japanese Language program.

As you can see, I wore many hats at CWA: teacher; Winterim coordinator and course instructor; costume designer and seamstress; National committee member on diversity; committee member on writing National Curriculum Guidelines for teaching Japanese; and a parent of three CWA graduates.