Charles Wright Academy is hosting the sixth annual Global Teen Summit, with events running through Sept. 29. Every year the college preparatory school invites delegations of students and teachers from other schools based around the world to campus or a week-long conference.
This year’s delegations hail from China, Poland, and Colombia. Charles Wright student leader Hayley Tillett '15, shares an update from the first few days of events.
Last Thursday marked the beginning of CWA's Global Teen Summit 2013. The Polish and Chinese students arrived in the early morning, and the Colombian students arrived around 8 o’clock at night. Their presence in the halls immediately engendered a holiday-like atmosphere, and I find it easy to see why.
The excitement that they bring with their luminous personalities, contrasting backgrounds, and eagerness to absorb culture is painfully ephemeral; they stay with us for less time in the fall than in the winter do our Christmas trees. However short their visit may be, we manage in 10 days to fit in as many activities as would normally fit in a month. Mr. Coddington, Upper School history teacher and Global Teen Summit coordinator, deserves the most credit for this. Already this past weekend, he has taken the hosts and guests to Mt. Rainier for a day hike and put together a wonderful BBQ potluck and culture night.
Our group was blessed with a beautiful day for a hike—mildly sunny and completely dry. With Mt. Rainier being a significant presence in my childhood and a favorite place of mine, I was euphoric to lead a group of 10 Colombians, Chinese, and Americans up the Skyline Trail to take in the hills, the cliffs, and the trees. Back down at the gift shop the stuffed mountain animal toys were favorites with the students, as were the furry animal hats. On the ride back home we had the opportunity to stop at the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad station, where a Civil War re-enactment was taking place. Students were given the rare and unexpected opportunity to see a less well-known facet of American culture while handling relics from battles, listening to Civil War-era songs, and talking with passionate amateur historians in costume.
Sunday was a family day, and while each host wishes they had more days like this one to give their guests a slice of traditional American family life, everyone used their time to the fullest. I heard of trips to the Puyallup Fair, downtown Seattle, and the Tacoma Mall, to name a few. According to her request, my guest spent the day with my mother and me at the Bellevue Mall doing more shopping in six hours than anyone I have ever seen. She had been giving me lists of favorite stores for weeks, waxing poetic over the plethora of fabulous American clothing that she had always wished to buy but that is not sold in her own country. Upon attaining nearly all of her desired items, she wore a smile that, despite my fatigue from running 26.2 down myriad aisles of merchandise, was so genuine as to affect me as well. When we finished shopping we drove to the BBQ, where we ate burgers and hot dogs and watched each school’s presentation about their country. Having attended the culture night at GTS 2011, I remembered the inevitable awkwardness of teenagers speaking publicly in a foreign language, and I expected the presentations to be far from smooth. This year’s students surprised me; each had a commendable grasp of the English language, and their mistakes were fairly small. Most importantly, they gave engaging and informative talks on their countries, schools, and cultures. The highlight of the BBQ was not the food or the presentations, however; it was the social interaction. Over the course of the evening I could practically see the sense of community grow as students from different schools crossed the threshold and conversed with each other at last.
Now a fairly confident and comfortable group, we head into the school-week program: five days of incessant activity and personal and intellectual growth that hold promise to be some of the best days of the year for its happy, enthusiastic, and altogether psyched participants.