Mr W's email
BIO
Although I was born in southern California (don't tell anyone-- shhhhh!) my family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii just before I started 3rd grade.t Hawaii was a great place to be outside all year 'round and I surfed, body surfed and snorkled--although I spent most of my spare time competing in swimming.
I swam all through high school and college and was fortunate to land a scholarship at UPS where I majored in physics & history and minored in math.
My first job out of college was at the Mauna Kea Observatory at almost 14,000 ft on the "Big Island" of Hawaii. My shift was 6:00 PM until 5:30 AM. (It took a lot of getting used to eating "lunch" at midnight).
Check out this "shadow on the sky" that the mountain sometimes casts at sunrise & sunset.
While I was there, Mauna Loa which is the biggest active volcano on Earth, erupted in an eruption that was so big that it would have filled a million dump trucks every day!
I worked as a database consultant for 15 years before finally giving in to a long time desire to teach. I went back to school at UW/Tacoma for my masters and I am absolutely thrilled to be teaching at Gig Harbor.
I was selected to attend an astrobiology seminar at the University of Hawaii in the summer of 2009.
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Did You Know...
That Brian May (he's the guitarist for the rock group Queen who rote "We Will Rock You") received his PhD in Astrophysics this year?
Click here to read about his thesis:"Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud"
He also wrote my favorite song called '39. If you look closely, you'll see it's all about Einstein and Relativity and faster than light travel (really!)
MR WOLGEMUTH
My Philosophy of Teaching
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TRAVEL
I enjoy travel a great deal, and so far I've managed to visit the Scotish Highlands (check out the Ring of Brogar), New Zealand (the original bungy jump and yes, I did), Greece (The eruption that destroyed much of the island of Santorini is most likely the basis for the Atlantis myth. The central caldera/lagoon is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen), Namibia (this is a very cool backpacker's lodge), Botswana (The amazing Okavango Delta-- ask me about the time my guide and I were charged by an elephant on foot (really), Zimbabwe (I liked the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe so much that when I came home, I named my new cat Mutare-- unfortunately the country is in a very bad way now (ask your Social Studies teacher about that!!)), Zambia (check out the spectacular Victoria Falls! I had a truly amazing rafting experience that started right at the base of the falls) , Chile (Torre del Paines is the Yosemite of South America) and the Falkland Islands are just about as far away as you can get from anywhere. The husband and wife who owned the hotel I stayed at took me to visit a sheep ranch, and I spent the day helping while they sheered the sheep. They insisted that I give it a try, but I'm afraid I wasn't very good at it and mostly I pushed a broom around.)
I love to look at a map and just kind of wonder what is out there. My rule is that I don't carry anything more than I can fit in a backpack that will fit in the overhead compartment on the plane. It is such an incredible feeling to be in a part of the world that is waayyyyy different from home. I can't recomend travel highly enough.
