All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
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Summer Reading Author Speaks to Students
It is rare for a guest speaker to earn applause from the Woodberry Forest student body following the opening sentence of his speech. But the author of the all-school summer reading selection, The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, garnered just that reaction when he confessed, "My name is Charles Fishman, and I am the guy who ruined your summer." The best-selling author and award-winning journalist went on to win over his skeptical audience on September 16, 2013, by sharing not only information about water, but also his philosophy that there is no substitute for first-hand experience and that great things can come from asking silly questions.
It was just such a question, Charles Fishman related, that prompted his four-year odyssey of writing and travel that took him around the planet to get a hands-on understanding of water in our world. He wondered, "Does the $7.00 bottle of Fiji water I found in my Miami hotel room really come from Fiji?" After traveling to the Pacific island nation, he visited locations around the world, including a water-guzzling rice farm in an arid region of Australia, a Campbell's soup factory in Ohio that uses flowing water to transport vegetables, and a polluted river in India. While in India, he tried the task of carrying twenty-one gallons of water in an open container for three miles on his head. During his speech he demonstrated the task, routinely accomplished by twelve-year-old girls who carry twice as much water, using a case of bottled water.
While at the Forest, Charles visited with Mark Beall, Woodberry's waterworks operator, and discovered many admirable facts about the campus water supply. He told students that all their drinking water comes from two wells located near Gillespie Family Field. He praised Woodberry for irrigating fields with only non-potable water and favorably compared the school's rate of water use with the national average.
Charles's praise of Woodberry did not end with his evaluation of the school's water supply. At the end of a day which included classroom visits and a dining hall meal, he commented on the warm welcome he received from every student and faculty member he met, calling Woodberry Forest "a remarkable oasis."
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It was just such a question, Charles Fishman related, that prompted his four-year odyssey of writing and travel that took him around the planet to get a hands-on understanding of water in our world. He wondered, "Does the $7.00 bottle of Fiji water I found in my Miami hotel room really come from Fiji?" After traveling to the Pacific island nation, he visited locations around the world, including a water-guzzling rice farm in an arid region of Australia, a Campbell's soup factory in Ohio that uses flowing water to transport vegetables, and a polluted river in India. While in India, he tried the task of carrying twenty-one gallons of water in an open container for three miles on his head. During his speech he demonstrated the task, routinely accomplished by twelve-year-old girls who carry twice as much water, using a case of bottled water.
While at the Forest, Charles visited with Mark Beall, Woodberry's waterworks operator, and discovered many admirable facts about the campus water supply. He told students that all their drinking water comes from two wells located near Gillespie Family Field. He praised Woodberry for irrigating fields with only non-potable water and favorably compared the school's rate of water use with the national average.
Charles's praise of Woodberry did not end with his evaluation of the school's water supply. At the end of a day which included classroom visits and a dining hall meal, he commented on the warm welcome he received from every student and faculty member he met, calling Woodberry Forest "a remarkable oasis."
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.