There are a lot of new faces around Annie Wright this year, and some of them are students from the new Upper School for Boys. Perhaps you have seen them in the hallway, but haven’t know their name or known them enough to start a conversation. Here are profiles of seven of the new Upper School boys:

Nelson Athow

Age: 14 (but turning 15 on the 17th!)

Previous School: Homeschooled

Boarding or Day: Day

How did you hear about Annie Wright?

“I honestly don’t remember. I think my mom heard about it through the fencing community that we share with Gracie (Kim ‘21). Some of the people there went to Annie Wright before.”

Favorite Part of the Day at AWS: Global studies/politics and tutorial

Fun Facts: Fences three days a week and plays violin in the Tacoma Young Artists’ Orchestra

Mac Bryant

Age: 15

Previous School: Harbor Montessori

Boarding or Day: 5-day boarding

How did you hear about Annie Wright?

“My teacher actually recommended it to me. My teacher mentioned it to the whole class that was graduating. She said “They just started – it’s a pioneer thing. You should go do it.”

Favorite Part of the Day at AWS: lunch

Fun Fact: Favorite food is BBQ ribs

Eli Connolly

Age: 15

Previous School: Soundview

Boarding or Day: 5-day boarding

How did you hear about Annie Wright?

“My parents. We knew someone at our school who told us about this school.”

Favorite Part of the Day at AWS: after school

Fun Facts: Plays violin, enjoys doing math in his free time, has ten dogs, enjoys video games

Thinh Dang

Age: 15

Previous School: Tran Dai Nghia High School

Boarding or Day: 7-day boarding

How did you hear about Annie Wright?

“My sister [Class of ‘15 alumna An Dang] found it.”

Favorite Part of the Day at AWS: The weekend

Fun Facts: Moved to the USA temporarily to go to AWS. “I like sneakers and my major back in Vietnam was literature.”

Eli Dugan

Age: 14  

What school(s) did you go to before Annie Wright?

“I actually just moved to the US this summer, after having lived in Singapore for almost 10 years. I attended a local primary school for 1st through 6th grades, then attended an international IB school for 7th and 8th grade before moving here.”

How did you hear about Annie Wright?

“Since my mom is actually a graduate of Annie Wright, she heard about it and thought it was a great opportunity to be a part of the pioneer class of boys.”

What were your first thoughts?

“I knew that the teachers here were going to be really invested in the student experience. I also have experience with the IB program and I know how successful it is and how it allows a student to grow and develop.”

What is your favorite part of the day?

“I really like most of what we do in class, so that would probably be it. If you want me to be more specific, I guess I like the work we are doing in physics mostly because I haven’t really covered it before. I also enjoy our architecture class as we are trying to figure out ways to make Tacoma a better place to work or live in, which isn’t the typical project a 9th grader gets to work on in most schools.”

Philip Greene

Age: 14 (but 15 on the 15th!)

Previous School: Hope Lutheran

How did you hear about Annie Wright?

“My Grandma had it as an idea for the whole of last summer, but then my mom only told me about it about a week before school started. In fact, I was about to go to Vashon High School but we switched it about a week before school started,”

Boarding or Day: becoming 7-day boarder from a 5-day boarder

Favorite part of the day at AWS: lunch

Fun facts: has played guitar for two years and is in a Shakespeare program on Vashon

Kian Russell

Age: 14

Previous School: Charles Wright Academy

Boarding or Day: Day

How did you hear about AWS?

“I heard about AWS from my parents. They heard AWS was accepting boys from a family friend.”

Favorite Part of the Day at AWS: Lunch

Fun Facts: “I’m from England. I’ve been playing guitar for seven years and am in four bands.”

Owen Satoris

Age: 14

Boarding or Day: 5-day boarding

Previous School: Harbor Montessori

How did you hear about Annie Wright? Through Mac (above) when they were in Middle School together

Favorite part of the Day at AWS: lunch, fencing

Fun Fact: Went to five schools before Annie Wright; two in Las Vegas, one in North Dakota, one in Washington