Charles Wright Academy

Specialties

Charles Wright Academy is an independent pre-​K-​12 school for boys and girls that provides a rigorous liberal arts program guided by an ethos of excellence and compassion. Within a diverse learning community, we foster self-​reliance, integrity, social responsibility, and humor – empowering our students to achieve their personal best in mind, body, and spirit.

History

Established in 1957.

When an earthquake damaged Tacoma’s Lowell Elementary School in 1947, Annie Wright Seminary, a K-​12 girls’ school in the North End, took in some younger students. Parents of boys who attended wanted the school to continue co-​ed into higher grades, but Annie Wright demurred, as it was by charter a girls’ school. Sam and Nathalie Brown proposed the founding of a boys’ school to Bishop Stephen Bayne of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, who gave the concept his blessing, and plans went forward. A group purchased 127 acres of land, including a frost-​killed peach orchard, a spaghetti restaurant, a cottage, a pump house, and several sheds. The first school year began with 40 boys and a faculty of five in September 1957. In September 1970 CWA admitted its first girls and has been co-​ed ever since. Today, Charles Wright serves nearly 700 students in grades pre-​K-​12 with a demanding academic program in an environment that fosters the development of character and independence.