Trinitas Blog

Last week we started a series about classical parents. The word we used to describe parents who choose classical Christian education for their children is dedicated. In the first installment, we said classical parents are dedicated in at least three distinct ways, and we explored the first way: classical parents are dedicated in the way they buck the system, or go against the grain of modern, progressive education. This week we begin to get to the heart of classical parents as we discuss how they are dedicated to participating in their children’s education.

The following is adapted from a faculty address delivered at Convocation by Mr. Varela on August 16, 2024, at Trinitas Christian School.

Our theme for this year at Trinitas is love. Of course, love is a central theme in many of the stories you have read, and it will be a continual theme in your studies because it is a constant in the world God designed. Jane Austen writes of a love that grows over time between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. In Little Women, Louis May Alcott gives the reader the heartbreak of unrequited love between Laurie Laurence and Jo March. Romeo and Juliet tells of a tragic love, courtesy of Mr. Shakespeare. These are all examples of romantic love. Since dating isn’t a part of our school culture, let’s lay that kind of love aside for now and think about love as it pertains to you, dear senior, and even you, seventh graders.

The following is adapted from an address delivered at Parent Orientation by Mr. Cowart on August 14, 2024, at Trinitas Christian School.

We gather together this evening for orientation. To be oriented. But what does that mean? Perhaps you came here this evening, expecting to hear from your child’s teachers about school supplies, textbooks, class schedules, homework procedures and the like. And, yes, we will get to all of that. But before we do, I want to take a few minutes to speak to you about a different sort of orientation. In the English language, the word “oriented” has four primary uses. It can connote interest in that someone is “oriented” toward a particular thing or activity. Or it can mean designed for, like, for instance, if an industry is “oriented” toward a particular market. Frequently “oriented” is used in terms of adjusting to one’s circumstances or surroundings as we do when we visit a foreign city or country. But tonight, I want to use “orient” in the sense of positioning oneself in relation to a fixed point. As a sailor of old would orient himself by the north star, I want to challenge all of us tonight to orient our school in the coming academic year by the fixed position of the Christian virtues of hospitality and healing.

When the time rolls around for us to talk to the teachers about how our kids have been doing at school, there are only two things we really want to hear: 1) they have been obedient, and 2) they have been cheerful about it. Don’t get me wrong—we love to hear that they are excelling academically or making great improvement in a particular subject. It is just that we care a lot more about how they are behaving at school than we do about what grades they are getting.

There are a few reasons for this. The first and most important is obviously that it honors God. A great education is a gift. But it is a gift that comes with a corresponding gift for sanctification.

Our junior and senior classes have just returned from twelve days in Greece and Italy. Some schools would call it a junior-senior trip; we call it the Classical Heritage Tour. On a Trinitas aesthetics trip the main mission is to discover beauty that we can’t discover at home. For twenty years, these trips were to New York City and Washington DC on alternating years, but now, for the first time, Trinitas students were able to travel abroad and experience the music, dance, art, architecture, and food that has been foundational to their classical education.

The most recent Trinitas Father & Son Camping Trip was one for the books. This annual event was attended by over one hundred young men and their fathers and one serious rain storm. Even while the weather forecast worsened in the days leading up to the storm, Trinitas parents were reminded by visiting speaker Keith McCurdy that difficulties and challenges are essential to the growth and development of sturdy young men.

What a joy it is to see the sunrise over the Escambia River on my way to school each morning! These first glimpses of the sun dispelling the darkness remind me of the resurrection and the new life we have in Christ. I am especially thankful to have the Trinitas community with whom to celebrate that Good News.

During the past few weeks, I have been highlighting some reasons families have left Trinitas, which seems like a dangerous undertaking. I’m not trying to scare people away, of course. My reason for doing this short series is that I want to communicate who Trinitas is to families who want the sort of education we’re offering. One way to do that is by thrusting into the spotlight some of the school’s characteristics that have been breaking points for families in the past. This is the last installment.

#1 The standards are too high!

#2 Trinitas is weak on math!

#3 All that classical stuff is useless in the real world!