Upper School (9-12)

Preparing students to successfully navigate the future with confidence.

Advanced coursework, fifteen athletic teams, arts for every student, and international travel - all on our 80+ acre campus. Our Upper School program asks a lot of students and provides the support they need to achieve.

Over the past 15 years, CWA has provided our 3 boys a safe place to grow, instilling respect for others. It is a place they have developed a love for learning and given them a solid academic foundation.Current Upper School Family

Academics

College-level work, before college

By the time our graduates walk into a college lecture hall, none of it is unfamiliar. They've already done original research, defended their thinking, and revised until it was right.

UPPER SCHOOL COURSE CATALOG

Platinum AP Honor Roll School

Charles Wright Academy is a proud Platinum AP Honor Roll School, meaning our AP programs are delivering results for students while also broadening access. Schools earn this distinct recognition annually based on criteria that reflect a commitment to increasing college-going culture, providing opportunities for students to earn college credit, and maximizing college readiness. In the 2023-24 school year, 96% of our seniors took at least one AP exam, with 88% earning a score of 3 or higher on their AP exams. 49% of seniors took five or more AP exams during their time at Charles Wright Academy. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and expertise of our Upper School faculty and the tradition of Charles Wright Academy students challenging themselves in the pursuit of academic excellence.

Where our graduates go

Large public research universities, small liberal arts colleges, conservatories, and service academies. What graduates tell us afterward is that the transition felt manageable.

COLLEGE COUNSELING

MATRICULATION LIST - LAST FIVE GRADUATING CLASSES

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION

Learning beyond the classroom

One of the defining features of a Charles Wright education is the opportunity for students to learn beyond the classroom. Through outdoor education, service learning, travel, retreats, and hands-on experiences, students develop the confidence, skills, and perspective needed to navigate an increasingly complex world. These experiences bring our mission and Portrait of a Tarrier to life by fostering curiosity, resilience, collaboration, and a sense of purpose.

Experiential Education Week is a week-long opportunity in the fall for students in each grade level to learn and serve together. Opportunities span from college application workshops to river rafting and team-building trips.

Winterim courses are week-long experiential education programs that allow students and faculty to share a concentrated exploration of themes and activities beyond the academic curriculum. The purpose of Winterim is to enrich the Upper School curriculum while deepening personal connections through a variety of programs that range from service learning opportunities, international and domestic experiences, and the development of new skills.

Experiential Education by Grade

9th Grade

Experiential Education Week

Ninth graders begin their Upper School years on a river in Oregon. Over a week of rafting, camping, and floating, students navigate real challenges together. From reading water, setting up camp, and depending on classmates they may have met only weeks before. It is a deliberate first lesson in perseverance, and one students carry back to campus long after the gear is put away.

Winterim

For one week each February, regular classes pause, and the entire Upper School takes up something else entirely. Ninth and tenth graders spend that week in service — choosing from local and regional projects that let them find work they care about and stay with it long enough to understand the people behind it.

10th Grade

Experiential Education Week

Building on their ninth grade experience in Oregon, tenth graders spend a week backpacking. The trip is harder by design: longer miles, heavier loads, fewer comforts. It's also supported by design, led by faculty who know the difference between a student who needs encouragement and one who needs a hand with their pack. Challenge and support in the same week, the whole CWA approach, compressed into seven days.

Winterim

By the time Charles Wright students apply to college, they've been thinking about it for years, not months. The sophomore Winterim trip to Southern California is an early and formative part of that. Students visit a range of campuses, meet admission representatives and current undergraduates, and return with a clearer sense of what they're looking for, well before the pressure of senior fall.

11th Grade

Experiential Education Week

By junior year, students have spent two years exploring what they're capable of and where they might be headed. Experiential Education Week brings both into focus: a service retreat that asks students to step outside themselves, paired with visits to universities across the region. It's a week of looking outward and looking ahead at the same time.

Winterim

Winterim culminates in junior and senior year. Students split into five groups bound for five different regions, each trip built around a distinct experience. By this point they've rafted together, backpacked together, and served together; they know how to travel well, look after one another, and get something real out of unfamiliar places. Students have the choice to choose between five regions: Japan, Central/South America, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, and East/Southeast Asia.

12th Grade

Experiential Education Week

Seniors begin their final year in two ways at once. First, focused time on college applications, with their College Counselor alongside them. Then, a class retreat off campus, a last stretch of unhurried time together before the year fills up with deadlines, seasons, and goodbyes.

Winterim

Athletics

Every student participates, with fifteen teams to choose from in the Nisqually 1A League. Students who have never played a sport have the ability to try something new!

ATHLETICS

Visual and Performing Arts

At Charles Wright, every student can be an artist! Students have access to courses like ceramics and printmaking, and studio spaces in our Visual Arts Complex and the black box theater in our Language and Performing Arts Center.

ARTS

Student Life

Advisory

Upper School advisories allow students the chance to deepen connections with their peers while exploring their unique path to graduation. Advisors are grade-level experts, reading to support students in all of their needs each year at CWA, from academic advising to social problem-solving and anything in between. By the time Upper School students graduate, they will have a team of advisors in their corner, ready to help launch them into the next phase of life.

Student Government

Leadership opportunities present themselves in a variety of ways and are an integrated part of the Charles Wright Upper School experience. Student Government is a meaningful and fun way to get involved! The Student Government is composed of representatives from each grade, as well as members elected by the entire student body. Student Government members gain leadership and community organizing experience, lift the voices of the Upper School student body, and work closely with their peers and faculty to foster an Upper School community valuing respect and collaboration.

Clubs

Clubs at CWA are student-created and student-run, which is why the roster looks different every year. Spirit Club, Gardening Club, Crochet Club, Disc Golf Club, Chess Club — each one exists because a student wanted it to. If the club you're looking for isn't here yet, it will be once you find a few people who want it too!

Competitive Teams

CWA is known for our renowned competitive robotics, Model UN, and Knowledge Bowl teams! Each teaches students the values of teamwork, innovation, and communication skills that will prepare them to navigate the future with confidence.

Affinity and Alliance Groups

All students have opportunities to join discussion groups that help support, educate, and empower others. In affinity spaces, those who share an identifier, such as race, religion, or gender, come together to discuss their personal and shared experiences. In alliance spaces, students of all identities who share a common goal meet to learn and to think about how they might further educate their community about building a safe, inclusive, and equitable school. Some of our offerings include Black Student Union, Women’s Empowerment, Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), Mental Health Alliance, and more!

Service Learning

CWA students are required to complete service learning hours throughout their time in the Upper School. With many school-hosted opportunities to learn about stewardship, students have the opportunity to go off-campus to connect with local organizations throughout the school year.