Trinity School at Meadow View Annual Appeal 2018-19
ANNUAL REPORT 2018/2019 TrinitySchools . . T R U T H B E A U T Y G O O D N E S S
- Page 2 and 3: 2 Trinity Schools 2018 / 2019
- Page 4 and 5: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT WITH ALUM
- Page 6 and 7: WHO WE ARE In 1981 Trinity School o
- Page 8 and 9: OUR SCHOOLS SHARING OUR GIFTS The T
- Page 10 and 11: STUDENTS AND ALUMNI WE SERVE TRINIT
- Page 12 and 13: MEET OUR BOARD Trinity Schools are
- Page 14 and 15: STEWARDSHIP OF OUR MISSION Trinity
- Page 16 and 17: GRATITUDE The Heads of School, facu
- Page 18 and 19: MEADOW VIEW CAMPUS OUR STUDENTS Tri
- Page 20: OUR FACULTY “The best moments in
ANNUAL REPORT <strong>2018</strong>/20<strong>19</strong><br />
<strong>Trinity</strong><strong>School</strong>s<br />
. .<br />
T R U T H B E A U T Y G O O D N E S S
2 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
TABLE OF CONTENTS<br />
4<br />
6<br />
8<br />
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT<br />
WHO WE ARE<br />
OUR SCHOOLS<br />
10<br />
STUDENTS & ALUMNI WE SERVE<br />
12<br />
MEET OUR BOARD<br />
14<br />
STEWARDSHIP OF OUR MISSION<br />
16<br />
GRATITUDE<br />
18<br />
MEADOW VIEW CAMPUS<br />
<strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s 3
LETTER<br />
FROM<br />
THE<br />
PRESIDENT<br />
WITH ALUMNI FROM THREE CAMPUSES,<br />
2,370 STUDENTS ARE IN THE WORLD AS<br />
TRINITY SCHOOL GRADUATES.<br />
4 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
Dear Parents, Alumni, and Friends of <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>,<br />
For nearly forty years, <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s has been<br />
offering excellence in educ<strong>at</strong>ion with one clear<br />
mission: to train students to be of use to God in<br />
the wise care and governance of his cre<strong>at</strong>ion and<br />
in the building of his kingdom by establishing<br />
a culture marked by the discovery of truth, the<br />
practice of goodness, the cre<strong>at</strong>ion of beauty, and<br />
the development of intellectual and aesthetic<br />
habits of mind.<br />
With alumni from three campuses, 2,370 students<br />
have gone into the world as <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />
gradu<strong>at</strong>es. They serve as doctors, lawyers, priests<br />
and pastors, engineers, homemakers, educ<strong>at</strong>ors,<br />
missionaries, and in hundreds of other ways.<br />
For the last several years, we have been working<br />
to bolster our communic<strong>at</strong>ions with the launch<br />
of new web sites for each campus, the cre<strong>at</strong>ion of<br />
Veritas Journal, an online journal of educ<strong>at</strong>ion and<br />
human awakening, and several other initi<strong>at</strong>ives.<br />
This newest tool for keeping you informed will be<br />
regularly published with content common to all<br />
three of our schools as well as content specific to<br />
each of our campuses. This first issue also serves<br />
as our annual report, fe<strong>at</strong>uring an overview of<br />
our schools’ history, new initi<strong>at</strong>ives th<strong>at</strong> we have<br />
undertaken, a budget report, and a word on our<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ional board.<br />
I hope you find it helpful. If you have any suggestions,<br />
please let us know.<br />
In Christ,<br />
Jon Balsbaugh<br />
President
WHO<br />
WE<br />
ARE<br />
In <strong>19</strong>81 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong> opened its first campus,<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>at</strong> Greenlawn in South Bend, IN.<br />
Two schools followed. <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>at</strong> River Ridge<br />
in Eagan, MN opened in <strong>19</strong>87 and <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />
<strong>at</strong> <strong>Meadow</strong> <strong>View</strong> in Falls Church, VA held its first<br />
classes in the fall of <strong>19</strong>98. From the beginning, it was<br />
clear th<strong>at</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> would provide not only a different<br />
kind of educ<strong>at</strong>ion, but also a different understanding<br />
of wh<strong>at</strong> it means to be educ<strong>at</strong>ed.<br />
Early on, the founders realized th<strong>at</strong> it would not<br />
be enough to simply take the existing templ<strong>at</strong>e for<br />
educ<strong>at</strong>ion and try to improve upon it. In order to<br />
cre<strong>at</strong>e a genuinely different educ<strong>at</strong>ion, they knew<br />
they would have to start from a different found<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
So instead of merely asking how to “do school”<br />
better, the founders of the school began instead<br />
with the desired outcome and asked, “Wh<strong>at</strong> should<br />
educ<strong>at</strong>ed adults in our time really know? Wh<strong>at</strong><br />
intellectual skills should they possess to deal with<br />
the world in which they find themselves? Wh<strong>at</strong><br />
topics and texts should they have wrestled with?”<br />
The answers to these questions became the <strong>Trinity</strong><br />
<strong>School</strong> curriculum. The m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics and sciences<br />
th<strong>at</strong> have shaped our world, the history and political<br />
theory th<strong>at</strong> have brought us to where we are now,<br />
and gre<strong>at</strong> works of philosophy and liter<strong>at</strong>ure—we<br />
believe all students should encounter these things.<br />
And the way we chose to educ<strong>at</strong>e is as important<br />
as the curriculum. We believe th<strong>at</strong> educ<strong>at</strong>ion ought<br />
to be about awakening, awakening minds and souls<br />
to the pursuit of truth, the cre<strong>at</strong>ion of beauty and<br />
the practice of goodness. In fact, we believe th<strong>at</strong><br />
genuine learning only happens when we encounter<br />
reality in this way.<br />
In the years since our founding, we have become a<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ional leader in educ<strong>at</strong>ion. <strong>Trinity</strong> schools have<br />
been awarded an astonishing ten blue ribbon awards<br />
for excellence from the United St<strong>at</strong>es Department<br />
of Educ<strong>at</strong>ion. We are widely recognized as early<br />
pioneers of wh<strong>at</strong> would come to be known as the<br />
classical educ<strong>at</strong>ion movement. And our curriculum<br />
and philosophy of educ<strong>at</strong>ion have served as the<br />
explicit model for dozens of priv<strong>at</strong>e and charter<br />
schools in the United St<strong>at</strong>es.<br />
We are honored by this legacy and continue to<br />
measure our own success by the kind of young<br />
men and women our gradu<strong>at</strong>es become. At <strong>Trinity</strong><br />
<strong>School</strong>, students become articul<strong>at</strong>e, educ<strong>at</strong>ed, and<br />
inquisitive agents of their own learning. They are<br />
well-rounded, dynamic young men and women<br />
who we are proud to go out into the world as <strong>Trinity</strong><br />
gradu<strong>at</strong>es.<br />
6 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
TO US, THE REAL MEASURE OF<br />
EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS IS SEEN<br />
IN OUR GRADUATES. AT TRINITY<br />
SCHOOL, STUDENTS BECOME<br />
ARTICULATE, EDUCATED AND<br />
INQUISITIVE AGENTS OF THEIR<br />
OWN LEARNING. OUR ALUMNI<br />
ARE WELL-ROUNDED, DYNAMIC<br />
MEN AND WOMEN. WE ARE<br />
PROUD TO HAVE THEM GO OUT<br />
INTO THE WORLD AS TRINITY<br />
GRADUATES.
OUR<br />
SCHOOLS<br />
SHARING OUR GIFTS<br />
The <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s curriculum has been adopted<br />
by over thirty priv<strong>at</strong>e and charter schools<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ionwide serving nearly 20,000 students.<br />
OUR MEMBER SCHOOLS<br />
In 2014, <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s began a fresh initi<strong>at</strong>ive in<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ional educ<strong>at</strong>ion—the <strong>Trinity</strong> Member <strong>School</strong><br />
Program. In partnership with the Wilberforce <strong>School</strong><br />
in Princeton, NJ and <strong>Trinity</strong> Academy in Portland,<br />
OR, <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s provides curriculum, teacher<br />
training and ongoing development to independent,<br />
like-minded schools.<br />
8 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
248 STUDENTS<br />
TRINITY AT GREENLAWN<br />
SOUTH BEND<br />
275 STUDENTS<br />
TRINITY AT RIVER RIDGE<br />
EAGAN (suburb of Minneapolis)<br />
152 STUDENTS<br />
TRINITY AT MEADOW VIEW<br />
FALLS CHURCH (just outside DC)<br />
<strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s 9
STUDENTS<br />
AND ALUMNI<br />
WE SERVE<br />
TRINITY SCHOOLS TOTAL ENROLLMENT<br />
TRINITY AT GREENLAWN<br />
TRINITY AT RIVER RIDGE<br />
TRINITY AT MEADOW VIEW<br />
10 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
ONE OF OUR HIGHEST GOALS IS TO<br />
PRESERVE AND ENCOURAGE EACH<br />
STUDENT’S SENSE OF WONDER. OUR<br />
EFFORTS TO ASK HELPFUL QUESTIONS AND<br />
THEIR GROWING ABILITY TO FORMULATE<br />
THEIR OWN GREAT QUESTIONS LEADS<br />
TO INSIGHTFUL CONVERSATIONS AND<br />
DEEPER UNDERSTANDING. TRINITY SCHOOL<br />
ALUMNI AND STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED<br />
TO LOOK DEEPLY INTO THE WORLD<br />
AROUND THEM.<br />
TRINITY SCHOOLS TOTAL ALUMNI<br />
<strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s 11
MEET<br />
OUR<br />
BOARD<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s are oper<strong>at</strong>ed jointly and governed by<br />
a n<strong>at</strong>ional board of trustees. Our board is responsible<br />
for overseeing the mission and vision of the schools<br />
as well as the financial security of the schools.<br />
Our board members come from many walks of<br />
life. They are professionals with expertise in law,<br />
educ<strong>at</strong>ion, business and the sciences. Many are<br />
parents of current students or alumni. Each brings<br />
wisdom and experience to the management of<br />
the schools. Our board meets three times a year<br />
to engage in board development, explore new and<br />
ongoing str<strong>at</strong>egic initi<strong>at</strong>ives, and review and approve<br />
the budget.<br />
Craig Lent, Chair<br />
Ph.D. Physics, University of Minnesota, B.S., Physics<br />
University of California, Frank M. Freimann Professor<br />
of Electrical Engineering and concurrent Professor of<br />
Physics, University of Notre Dame<br />
Jon Balsbaugh (ex officio)<br />
M.A. English, University of St. Thomas, President,<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s<br />
Dan Brewer<br />
J.D. Golden G<strong>at</strong>e University - <strong>School</strong> of Law, Director<br />
of Human Resources and Financial Aid, <strong>Trinity</strong><br />
<strong>School</strong>s (retired)<br />
Beth Bulger<br />
M.A. English, University of Minnesota, B.A. in English,<br />
Carleton University, Freelance Editor, Bulger Editing<br />
Johanna Clark<br />
Ph.D. Pharmacology, Georgetown University, B.S. in<br />
Chemistry, St. Mary’s College, Head of <strong>School</strong>,<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> Academy<br />
Larry Lamanna<br />
B.A. in Theology and Liberal Studies, University of<br />
Notre Dame, M.A. in Intern<strong>at</strong>ional Rel<strong>at</strong>ions, Yale<br />
University, Ph.D. in Political Science and Intern<strong>at</strong>ional<br />
Affairs, University of Georgia<br />
Laurie Magill<br />
B.A. in the Program of Liberal Studies, University of<br />
Notre Dame, Former Faculty and Administr<strong>at</strong>or <strong>at</strong><br />
Greenlawn and <strong>Meadow</strong> <strong>View</strong> campuses<br />
Kevin Ranaghan<br />
Ph.D. Theology, University of Notre Dame, Chairman,<br />
Branch Rel<strong>at</strong>ions Council, People of Praise<br />
12 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong><br />
Walt Seale<br />
M.A. Teaching Writing and Liter<strong>at</strong>ure and M.F.A. Cre<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
Writing, George Mason University, Coordin<strong>at</strong>or,<br />
Indianapolis, Campus Division, People of Praise
ATHLETICS COMPLEMENT THE<br />
CLASSROOM AND THE VIBRANCY<br />
OF THE SCHOOL’S CHRISTIAN<br />
CULTURE, AS WELL AS PROVIDE<br />
A FORUM THAT ENHANCES OUR<br />
STUDENTS’ CHARACTER AND<br />
DEVELOPMENT.
STEWARDSHIP<br />
OF OUR MISSION<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s oper<strong>at</strong>es a single budget for the<br />
nonprofit corpor<strong>at</strong>ion. With input from local<br />
heads of schools, the president presents a budget<br />
incorpor<strong>at</strong>ing each of the oper<strong>at</strong>ing expenses of the<br />
three schools and the expenses of the central office<br />
to the Board of Trustees for approval.<br />
The work of the central office involves curriculum<br />
development, teacher training, branding and<br />
messaging, and other similar functions th<strong>at</strong> are held<br />
in common by all <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s. Moreover, a wide<br />
variety of practical financial m<strong>at</strong>ters such as payroll,<br />
insurance negoti<strong>at</strong>ions, and reimbursements are<br />
handled centrally to support the schools.<br />
In order to support a project or need <strong>at</strong> a local<br />
campus, <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s offer a wide range of ways<br />
in which donors and generous benefactors can<br />
partner with us financially, including restricted<br />
don<strong>at</strong>ions. All scholarship don<strong>at</strong>ions are distributed<br />
locally, all capital campaigns are local, and we have<br />
a wide variety of ongoing initi<strong>at</strong>ives <strong>at</strong> each campus.<br />
The Director of Development <strong>at</strong> each local campus<br />
works with our benefactors to find a method of<br />
giving to the school th<strong>at</strong> honors and maintains the<br />
intentions of those benefactors.<br />
The budget for the central office represents<br />
approxim<strong>at</strong>ely 6% of the overall budget of <strong>Trinity</strong><br />
<strong>School</strong>s annually.<br />
14 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
TRINITY SCHOOLS<br />
<strong>2018</strong>-20<strong>19</strong> SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES<br />
OPERATING REVENUE<br />
Tuition and Fees $ 9,818,786<br />
Scholarship and Restricted Giving $ 871,841<br />
Public Funds $ 300,298<br />
<strong>Annual</strong> Giving $ 142,670<br />
Investment Income $ 120,000<br />
Other (misc gifts, affili<strong>at</strong>e fees, etc.) $ 79,677<br />
TOTAL $ 11,333,272<br />
PUBLIC FUNDS<br />
OPERATIONAL EXPENSES<br />
Salary and Benefits (all faculty and staff) $ 5,728,653<br />
Unfunded Financial Aid $ 1,783,123<br />
General Oper<strong>at</strong>ing Expenses $ 1,439,615<br />
Buildings and Grounds $ 1,324,103<br />
Office of the President $ 730,000<br />
Funded Financial Aid $ 315,000<br />
TOTAL $ 11,320,494<br />
<strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s 15
GRATITUDE<br />
The Heads of <strong>School</strong>, faculty, and professional staff <strong>at</strong><br />
each campus are extremely gr<strong>at</strong>eful for the amazing<br />
generosity of so many dedic<strong>at</strong>ed partners and<br />
engaged members of <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s’ community of<br />
learners.<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s’ mission to form its students is only<br />
possible through the generous partnership it enjoys<br />
with current student families, alumni parents,<br />
alumni, grandparents, benefactors, and supportive<br />
friends in each campus community. It begins<br />
with thousands of volunteer hours th<strong>at</strong> support all<br />
manner of activities throughout the academic year.<br />
From the performing arts and sporting events to<br />
student field trips and extracurricular activities to<br />
community-building g<strong>at</strong>herings of all kinds, volunteers<br />
enhance and strengthen each campus’ school<br />
community.<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s also benefits gre<strong>at</strong>ly from the varied<br />
professional expertise of its parents and alumni who<br />
contribute to both the academic and oper<strong>at</strong>ional life<br />
of each school campus. Many partners step forward<br />
each year to make a variety of contributions. These<br />
include faculty members <strong>at</strong> local universities<br />
offering guest lectures, advisors for a mock trial<br />
team or a robotics team, and coaches for <strong>at</strong>hletic<br />
teams as well as those who sit on committees both<br />
formal and informal supporting str<strong>at</strong>egic, financial,<br />
and development goals <strong>at</strong> each campus.<br />
Additionally, members of each school community<br />
contribute generous financial gifts <strong>at</strong> all levels. This<br />
annual support enables each campus to respond to<br />
several important areas of need including unfunded<br />
student financial aid, faculty recruitment and development,<br />
and classroom enhancements. Generous<br />
benefactors also make possible improvements to the<br />
academic and <strong>at</strong>hletic facilities. All of these efforts<br />
continually work to enrich the experience of the<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s mission for our students, families,<br />
and partners.<br />
TRINITY PROVIDES<br />
A CAREFULLY-CRAFTED<br />
CURRICULUM. READING<br />
GREAT LITERATURE, STUDYING<br />
GEOGRAPHY, CREATING MUSIC<br />
AND ART, AND STUDYING<br />
CALCULUS-BASED PHYSICS<br />
ARE JUST SOME OF THE WAYS<br />
THAT TRINITY STUDENTS<br />
ENCOUNTER REALITY.<br />
16 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
<strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s 17
MEADOW<br />
VIEW<br />
CAMPUS<br />
OUR STUDENTS<br />
<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>at</strong> <strong>Meadow</strong> <strong>View</strong> students regularly<br />
benefit from a variety of summer internships. This<br />
past summer, twelfth grader Peter Pappas was<br />
selected to particip<strong>at</strong>e in the Witherspoon Institute:<br />
Moral Life and the Classical Tradition, <strong>at</strong> Princeton<br />
University. The week-long program brought<br />
together high school juniors and seniors to discuss<br />
ancient philosophy’s impact on the Christian moral<br />
tradition. “I liked the true Socr<strong>at</strong>ic approach th<strong>at</strong><br />
was part of this academic experience,” says Peter.<br />
“My <strong>Trinity</strong> background, and all th<strong>at</strong> I had read and<br />
discussed in HL 11, made me very fit and ready for<br />
this type of classroom experience.”<br />
Peter also took part in the Vitreous St<strong>at</strong>e Labor<strong>at</strong>ory<br />
Research Internship <strong>at</strong> the C<strong>at</strong>holic University of<br />
America. His work <strong>at</strong> the lab focused on the elastic<br />
properties of DNA. “Having a background in MATLAB<br />
was so important and helpful,” says Peter. “We had a<br />
tremendous amount of d<strong>at</strong>a to analyze and we used<br />
MATLAB for this. It was ideal th<strong>at</strong> I already understood<br />
the interface.”<br />
18 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>
Kerstin Fagerstrom, also a <strong>Trinity</strong> twelfth grader, took part<br />
in the Vitreous St<strong>at</strong>e Labor<strong>at</strong>ory Research Internship, too.<br />
Her summer work focused on glass erosion and nuclear<br />
waste. “The d<strong>at</strong>a analysis I was accustomed to in my<br />
physics class <strong>at</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> prepared me for my work <strong>at</strong> the<br />
lab,” says Kerstin. “In addition, I needed to sort through a<br />
number of scientific papers and lab manuals describing the<br />
expected outcome of my experiments with glass. This was<br />
not difficult for me. My time <strong>at</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> made me <strong>at</strong> ease<br />
with analytic reading.”<br />
OUR PARENTS<br />
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK.<br />
A CRUCIAL PART OF<br />
LEARNING IS TO LOOK,<br />
TO LOOK AND TO LOOK<br />
AGAIN.<br />
“I love who my sons are becoming since being <strong>at</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong>.<br />
Wearing a uniform and looking ready to learn, particip<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
on school <strong>at</strong>hletic teams, trying a sport they had never tried,<br />
trying out new experiences like joining a men’s barbershop<br />
group, moving forward in m<strong>at</strong>h (actually having to skip a<br />
grade in m<strong>at</strong>h in order to be <strong>at</strong> grade level <strong>at</strong> TSMV), really<br />
becoming known by their teachers, respecting and enjoying<br />
their teachers r<strong>at</strong>her than working <strong>at</strong> odds with them, none<br />
of these things would be a reality if they had stayed where<br />
they were. My boys said after their first year, ‘We learned<br />
more L<strong>at</strong>in in one year than we did Spanish taking it K-6.’<br />
There is an elegance too, of the boys, as they are in a school<br />
th<strong>at</strong> cares how they dress and has high standards of manner<br />
and comportment.<br />
As for my daughter, the community of TSMV made an<br />
immedi<strong>at</strong>e impact. She came home from middle school<br />
happy, not moody. Wearing a uniform removed the importance<br />
of trying to look the part all the time. She became<br />
a joiner—trying a new sport she’d never played, joining a<br />
multi-age choir she never would have—enjoying the process<br />
of learning and the school’s focus on cre<strong>at</strong>ivity and beauty.<br />
She is excited about doing her schoolwork as opposed to<br />
just trying to figure out wh<strong>at</strong> the teacher wants and doing<br />
the least possible to still get the grade. She is surprised by<br />
seeing her teachers being on her field day team, by a senior<br />
girl noticing her and calling her by name though she is only<br />
a 7th grader. <strong>School</strong> is a gre<strong>at</strong> place to be.” —Valerie Barth,<br />
school parent<br />
<strong>2018</strong> / <strong>2018</strong> 20<strong>19</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>School</strong>s 21 <strong>19</strong>
OUR FACULTY<br />
“The best moments in the classroom are gener<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
by the students. I love their surprise <strong>at</strong> the m<strong>at</strong>erial.<br />
This is especially frequent in the last semester<br />
of senior physics while we are studying special<br />
rel<strong>at</strong>ivity. A week into the unit, after we have seen<br />
time dil<strong>at</strong>ion and length contraction, we begin<br />
asking about the amount of work required to acceler<strong>at</strong>e<br />
a mass to any speed. As the students and I<br />
discuss how to proceed, and we work through the<br />
problem on the board, <strong>at</strong> one point I will always hear<br />
gasps when the <strong>at</strong>tentive students realize where<br />
this is leading. By the end of the period we have, as<br />
a class, derived the world’s most famous equ<strong>at</strong>ion: E<br />
= mc 2 . Th<strong>at</strong> is a day when nearly everyone leaves<br />
class with a smile.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> I love about <strong>Trinity</strong> is th<strong>at</strong> I have the freedom<br />
to spend the time to derive the equ<strong>at</strong>ion. Other<br />
places would simply want me to write the equ<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
on the board, do some examples, and then let the<br />
students memorize the procedure. Our philosophy<br />
is different. It is designed to foster delight in<br />
discovery. The <strong>Trinity</strong> approach makes for a richer<br />
classroom for the students and a more pleasant<br />
work environment for the faculty.” —Tim Maloney,<br />
faculty<br />
BEING A SMALL SCHOOL<br />
HAS BIG PERKS. ONE PERK IS<br />
THAT FACULTY MEMBERS GET<br />
TO KNOW OUR STUDENTS<br />
WELL. ANOTHER PERK IS THAT<br />
STUDENTS GET TO KNOW ONE<br />
ANOTHER WELL. IN MANY<br />
CLASSES, STUDENTS WORK<br />
TOGETHER IN GROUPS. AFTER<br />
BEING TOGETHER FOR SIX<br />
YEARS, FRIENDSHIPS ARE<br />
SOLID.<br />
20 <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>School</strong>s <strong>2018</strong> / 20<strong>19</strong>