Any organization that is serious about building and then guarding a particular culture is going to have a certain rubric for what kind of folks it invites to join the organization. Trinitas is that kind of organization. If Trinitas were a university, the admissions process would be labeled “highly selective” by the agencies that report on such things. Trinitas’s selectivity, though, is not based on GPA, test scores, or even IQ tests. Nor is it based on tax bracket, neighborhood, or make and model of the family’s transportation. Now, to be fair, students must be able to succeed academically, and families must be able to pay tuition in order to be enrolled at Trinitas, but those aren’t the first determiners for who is admitted and who isn’t. The first determiner is like-mindedness with the school, and this is assessed in the Trinitas Family Conference.
What is the Trinitas Family Conference?
The Family Conference is the most important step in a multi-step admissions process. In this interview, a candidate family meets with the Headmaster, and usually the Grammar School or Upper School Principal, for an extended conversation aimed at getting to know one another. While many schools will accept families without meeting them first, because Trinitas desires to build and guard a distinctly Christ-centered culture, it seeks to admit families who fit that culture, families who cultivate the same kind of culture in their own homes. The school is looking for like-minded families.
What is Like-mindedness?
Like-mindedness in this context simply means that the family already holds dear the principles that the school holds dear. For example, a family must first be able to sign the Trinitas Statement of Faith without exceptions. Inability to do this would negate even the need for a family conference. This statement makes plain what the school believes about the Triune God. This is required common ground. Upon that ground, we add the distinction of Christ-centered, which means that the board and administration, along with faculty and staff work hard to run the school in a manner that demonstrates Christ is, in fact, Lord of all. This is a good foundation to build upon and one that many Christian families affirm.
From there, the school looks for families where Dad is the spiritual leader, knows that is his responsibility, and takes it seriously. The school wants families who believe and act as if worship is central to the Christian life. Children of like-minded families will obey their parents and show them respect. When this breaks down, like-minded families are those who believe discipline is necessary and biblical to restore peace and order in the home, and that with younger children, discipline will often come in the form of spanking.
While Trinitas is known for high academic standards, that is not because it is a college-prep school but rather because it holds to the principle of, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). A like-minded family will want their children always to do their very best work. Whether that best yields an excellent grade or a just-passing grade is irrelevant as long as they have done their very best. The same applies to sports, music, art, ditch-digging, and diaper changing.
Another important distinctive of Trinitas that is always discussed in the Family Conference is our commitment to classical education. Although prospective parents aren’t required to be experts on classical education to be admitted to the school, they should be aware that a classical education at Trinitas is intentionally different from other forms of education and be supportive of the school while also being willing to grow in their understanding of classical education.
Why is Like-mindedness so Important?
The bottom line is that a group of people all working toward a common goal and all pulling in the same direction are far more likely to reach their goal than if they were all aiming at different goals or pulling in different directions.
There is just no good way to find out if a family is like-minded without sitting down face-to-face and asking good questions. This is exactly what happens in the Trinitas Family Conference. And really, it is a two-way street. Not only is the school interviewing the family, but the family is also interviewing the school. A thoughtful family knows it doesn’t want to be stuck in a community that is headed in a different direction than it is. It just makes good sense to figure that out before entering into a relationship. Every year, good Christian families and Trinitas come to a mutual decision not to admit their students simply because they and the school are not like-minded. It isn’t a fit. The two entities are aiming at different goals. It isn’t a matter of the family being bad or the school being bad. We aren’t pronouncing judgment on each other. We’re simply sizing one another up to see if we are a good match. For this, there is no better tool than the Family Conference.
