by Teddy Tsai

Staff writer

Although Dr. Eric Wehrli is known as the history teacher who was here since the beginning of Canterbury, above all, he has consistently been an advocate for students. In this personal mission, he’s taken a lot into account, one of those things being was diversity.

Dr. Wehrli came from a small town in New Jersey, and diversity wasn’t something on his radar, as his town was a majority white.

“I remember when the first black family moved in to the neighborhood, and I didn’t even interact with a black person until graduate school,” Dr. Wehrli explained.

Although Dr. Wehrli came from this background, he has made it his duty to hear students out to include diversity into history at Canterbury. 

Dr. Wehrli said, “It started as wondering whether language used in our lesson plans could be seen as offensive to different groups, but I hope we can hear all criticism and recommendations to build an accepting environment here.”

At the meeting he organized January 29, he hoped to create discourse about all student input. 

“It’s the best way to talk about both the past and society today,” Dr. Wehrli said. 

Axaraly Ortiz, senior, said “I’m glad we go to talk about this. Dr. Wehrli and I have talked so extensively about the lack of history regarding Latin America without our countries being oppressed, and I wanted to see a change.”

Dr. Wehrli has also taken initiative in different ways, always putting students’ opinions first. The Cum Laude group was previously just a group of high-achieving students and teachers, but Dr. Werhli wanted to make it a group that could discuss different student needs and concerns. 

“I wanted to make it an outlet for students to be able to discuss different topics in a safe space where teachers could hear them out,” Dr. Wehrli explained.

His efforts towards the Cum Laude group have achieved exactly that. 

Roni Wrobleski, senior Cum Laude member, noted, “I feel like sometimes students feel like they have no voice and no one to talk to, so I’m glad we have these meetings to discuss both the faults and benefits of being at Canterbury.”

Topics that have been discussed are ideas regarding student stress, specific student problems, concerns with student events, and more. These meetings have also sparked actual change, with the senior decision day chapel, an event that causes many anxiety, now including the possibility of opting out. None of this would have happened without Dr. Wehrli and his advocacy for students, and for that he deserves kudos.