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

2 Trinity Schools 2018 / 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS
4
6
8
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
WHO WE ARE
OUR SCHOOLS
10
STUDENTS & ALUMNI WE SERVE
12
MEET OUR BOARD
14
STEWARDSHIP OF OUR MISSION
16
GRATITUDE
18
MEADOW VIEW CAMPUS
2018 / 2019 Trinity Schools 3

LETTER
FROM
THE
PRESIDENT
WITH ALUMNI FROM THREE CAMPUSES,
2,370 STUDENTS ARE IN THE WORLD AS
TRINITY SCHOOL GRADUATES.
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Dear Parents, Alumni, and Friends of Trinity School,
For nearly forty years, Trinity Schools has been
offering excellence in education with one clear
mission: to train students to be of use to God in
the wise care and governance of his creation and
in the building of his kingdom by establishing
a culture marked by the discovery of truth, the
practice of goodness, the creation of beauty, and
the development of intellectual and aesthetic
habits of mind.
With alumni from three campuses, 2,370 students
have gone into the world as Trinity School
graduates. They serve as doctors, lawyers, priests
and pastors, engineers, homemakers, educators,
missionaries, and in hundreds of other ways.
For the last several years, we have been working
to bolster our communications with the launch
of new web sites for each campus, the creation of
Veritas Journal, an online journal of education and
human awakening, and several other initiatives.
This newest tool for keeping you informed will be
regularly published with content common to all
three of our schools as well as content specific to
each of our campuses. This first issue also serves
as our annual report, featuring an overview of
our schools’ history, new initiatives that we have
undertaken, a budget report, and a word on our
national board.
I hope you find it helpful. If you have any suggestions,
please let us know.
In Christ,
Jon Balsbaugh
President

WHO
WE
ARE
In 1981 Trinity School opened its first campus,
Trinity School at Greenlawn in South Bend, IN.
Two schools followed. Trinity School at River Ridge
in Eagan, MN opened in 1987 and Trinity School
at Meadow View in Falls Church, VA held its first
classes in the fall of 1998. From the beginning, it was
clear that Trinity would provide not only a different
kind of education, but also a different understanding
of what it means to be educated.
Early on, the founders realized that it would not
be enough to simply take the existing template for
education and try to improve upon it. In order to
create a genuinely different education, they knew
they would have to start from a different foundation.
So instead of merely asking how to “do school”
better, the founders of the school began instead
with the desired outcome and asked, “What should
educated adults in our time really know? What
intellectual skills should they possess to deal with
the world in which they find themselves? What
topics and texts should they have wrestled with?”
The answers to these questions became the Trinity
School curriculum. The mathematics and sciences
that have shaped our world, the history and political
theory that have brought us to where we are now,
and great works of philosophy and literature—we
believe all students should encounter these things.
And the way we chose to educate is as important
as the curriculum. We believe that education ought
to be about awakening, awakening minds and souls
to the pursuit of truth, the creation of beauty and
the practice of goodness. In fact, we believe that
genuine learning only happens when we encounter
reality in this way.
In the years since our founding, we have become a
national leader in education. Trinity schools have
been awarded an astonishing ten blue ribbon awards
for excellence from the United States Department
of Education. We are widely recognized as early
pioneers of what would come to be known as the
classical education movement. And our curriculum
and philosophy of education have served as the
explicit model for dozens of private and charter
schools in the United States.
We are honored by this legacy and continue to
measure our own success by the kind of young
men and women our graduates become. At Trinity
School, students become articulate, educated, and
inquisitive agents of their own learning. They are
well-rounded, dynamic young men and women
who we are proud to go out into the world as Trinity
graduates.
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TO US, THE REAL MEASURE OF
EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS IS SEEN
IN OUR GRADUATES. AT TRINITY
SCHOOL, STUDENTS BECOME
ARTICULATE, EDUCATED AND
INQUISITIVE AGENTS OF THEIR
OWN LEARNING. OUR ALUMNI
ARE WELL-ROUNDED, DYNAMIC
MEN AND WOMEN. WE ARE
PROUD TO HAVE THEM GO OUT
INTO THE WORLD AS TRINITY
GRADUATES.

OUR
SCHOOLS
SHARING OUR GIFTS
The Trinity Schools curriculum has been adopted
by over thirty private and charter schools
nationwide serving nearly 20,000 students.
OUR MEMBER SCHOOLS
In 2014, Trinity Schools began a fresh initiative in
national education—the Trinity Member School
Program. In partnership with the Wilberforce School
in Princeton, NJ and Trinity Academy in Portland,
OR, Trinity Schools provides curriculum, teacher
training and ongoing development to independent,
like-minded schools.
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248 STUDENTS
TRINITY AT GREENLAWN
SOUTH BEND
275 STUDENTS
TRINITY AT RIVER RIDGE
EAGAN (suburb of Minneapolis)
152 STUDENTS
TRINITY AT MEADOW VIEW
FALLS CHURCH (just outside DC)
2018 / 2019 Trinity Schools 9

STUDENTS
AND ALUMNI
WE SERVE
TRINITY SCHOOLS TOTAL ENROLLMENT
TRINITY AT GREENLAWN
TRINITY AT RIVER RIDGE
TRINITY AT MEADOW VIEW
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ONE OF OUR HIGHEST GOALS IS TO
PRESERVE AND ENCOURAGE EACH
STUDENT’S SENSE OF WONDER. OUR
EFFORTS TO ASK HELPFUL QUESTIONS AND
THEIR GROWING ABILITY TO FORMULATE
THEIR OWN GREAT QUESTIONS LEADS
TO INSIGHTFUL CONVERSATIONS AND
DEEPER UNDERSTANDING. TRINITY SCHOOL
ALUMNI AND STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED
TO LOOK DEEPLY INTO THE WORLD
AROUND THEM.
TRINITY SCHOOLS TOTAL ALUMNI
2018 / 2019 Trinity Schools 11

MEET
OUR
BOARD
Trinity Schools are operated jointly and governed by
a national board of trustees. Our board is responsible
for overseeing the mission and vision of the schools
as well as the financial security of the schools.
Our board members come from many walks of
life. They are professionals with expertise in law,
education, business and the sciences. Many are
parents of current students or alumni. Each brings
wisdom and experience to the management of
the schools. Our board meets three times a year
to engage in board development, explore new and
ongoing strategic initiatives, and review and approve
the budget.
Craig Lent, Chair
Ph.D. Physics, University of Minnesota, B.S., Physics
University of California, Frank M. Freimann Professor
of Electrical Engineering and concurrent Professor of
Physics, University of Notre Dame
Jon Balsbaugh (ex officio)
M.A. English, University of St. Thomas, President,
Trinity Schools
Dan Brewer
J.D. Golden Gate University - School of Law, Director
of Human Resources and Financial Aid, Trinity
Schools (retired)
Beth Bulger
M.A. English, University of Minnesota, B.A. in English,
Carleton University, Freelance Editor, Bulger Editing
Johanna Clark
Ph.D. Pharmacology, Georgetown University, B.S. in
Chemistry, St. Mary’s College, Head of School,
Trinity Academy
Larry Lamanna
B.A. in Theology and Liberal Studies, University of
Notre Dame, M.A. in International Relations, Yale
University, Ph.D. in Political Science and International
Affairs, University of Georgia
Laurie Magill
B.A. in the Program of Liberal Studies, University of
Notre Dame, Former Faculty and Administrator at
Greenlawn and Meadow View campuses
Kevin Ranaghan
Ph.D. Theology, University of Notre Dame, Chairman,
Branch Relations Council, People of Praise
12 Trinity Schools 2018 / 2019
Walt Seale
M.A. Teaching Writing and Literature and M.F.A. Creative
Writing, George Mason University, Coordinator,
Indianapolis, Campus Division, People of Praise

ATHLETICS COMPLEMENT THE
CLASSROOM AND THE VIBRANCY
OF THE SCHOOL’S CHRISTIAN
CULTURE, AS WELL AS PROVIDE
A FORUM THAT ENHANCES OUR
STUDENTS’ CHARACTER AND
DEVELOPMENT.

STEWARDSHIP
OF OUR MISSION
Trinity Schools operates a single budget for the
nonprofit corporation. With input from local
heads of schools, the president presents a budget
incorporating each of the operating expenses of the
three schools and the expenses of the central office
to the Board of Trustees for approval.
The work of the central office involves curriculum
development, teacher training, branding and
messaging, and other similar functions that are held
in common by all Trinity Schools. Moreover, a wide
variety of practical financial matters such as payroll,
insurance negotiations, and reimbursements are
handled centrally to support the schools.
In order to support a project or need at a local
campus, Trinity Schools offer a wide range of ways
in which donors and generous benefactors can
partner with us financially, including restricted
donations. All scholarship donations are distributed
locally, all capital campaigns are local, and we have
a wide variety of ongoing initiatives at each campus.
The Director of Development at each local campus
works with our benefactors to find a method of
giving to the school that honors and maintains the
intentions of those benefactors.
The budget for the central office represents
approximately 6% of the overall budget of Trinity
Schools annually.
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TRINITY SCHOOLS
2018-2019 SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
OPERATING REVENUE
Tuition and Fees $ 9,818,786
Scholarship and Restricted Giving $ 871,841
Public Funds $ 300,298
Annual Giving $ 142,670
Investment Income $ 120,000
Other (misc gifts, affiliate fees, etc.) $ 79,677
TOTAL $ 11,333,272
PUBLIC FUNDS
OPERATIONAL EXPENSES
Salary and Benefits (all faculty and staff) $ 5,728,653
Unfunded Financial Aid $ 1,783,123
General Operating Expenses $ 1,439,615
Buildings and Grounds $ 1,324,103
Office of the President $ 730,000
Funded Financial Aid $ 315,000
TOTAL $ 11,320,494
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GRATITUDE
The Heads of School, faculty, and professional staff at
each campus are extremely grateful for the amazing
generosity of so many dedicated partners and
engaged members of Trinity Schools’ community of
learners.
Trinity Schools’ mission to form its students is only
possible through the generous partnership it enjoys
with current student families, alumni parents,
alumni, grandparents, benefactors, and supportive
friends in each campus community. It begins
with thousands of volunteer hours that support all
manner of activities throughout the academic year.
From the performing arts and sporting events to
student field trips and extracurricular activities to
community-building gatherings of all kinds, volunteers
enhance and strengthen each campus’ school
community.
Trinity Schools also benefits greatly from the varied
professional expertise of its parents and alumni who
contribute to both the academic and operational life
of each school campus. Many partners step forward
each year to make a variety of contributions. These
include faculty members at local universities
offering guest lectures, advisors for a mock trial
team or a robotics team, and coaches for athletic
teams as well as those who sit on committees both
formal and informal supporting strategic, financial,
and development goals at each campus.
Additionally, members of each school community
contribute generous financial gifts at all levels. This
annual support enables each campus to respond to
several important areas of need including unfunded
student financial aid, faculty recruitment and development,
and classroom enhancements. Generous
benefactors also make possible improvements to the
academic and athletic facilities. All of these efforts
continually work to enrich the experience of the
Trinity Schools mission for our students, families,
and partners.
TRINITY PROVIDES
A CAREFULLY-CRAFTED
CURRICULUM. READING
GREAT LITERATURE, STUDYING
GEOGRAPHY, CREATING MUSIC
AND ART, AND STUDYING
CALCULUS-BASED PHYSICS
ARE JUST SOME OF THE WAYS
THAT TRINITY STUDENTS
ENCOUNTER REALITY.
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2018 / 2019 Trinity Schools 17

MEADOW
VIEW
CAMPUS
OUR STUDENTS
Trinity School at Meadow View students regularly
benefit from a variety of summer internships. This
past summer, twelfth grader Peter Pappas was
selected to participate in the Witherspoon Institute:
Moral Life and the Classical Tradition, at Princeton
University. The week-long program brought
together high school juniors and seniors to discuss
ancient philosophy’s impact on the Christian moral
tradition. “I liked the true Socratic approach that
was part of this academic experience,” says Peter.
“My Trinity background, and all that I had read and
discussed in HL 11, made me very fit and ready for
this type of classroom experience.”
Peter also took part in the Vitreous State Laboratory
Research Internship at the Catholic University of
America. His work at the lab focused on the elastic
properties of DNA. “Having a background in MATLAB
was so important and helpful,” says Peter. “We had a
tremendous amount of data to analyze and we used
MATLAB for this. It was ideal that I already understood
the interface.”
18 Trinity Schools 2018 / 2019

Kerstin Fagerstrom, also a Trinity twelfth grader, took part
in the Vitreous State Laboratory Research Internship, too.
Her summer work focused on glass erosion and nuclear
waste. “The data analysis I was accustomed to in my
physics class at Trinity prepared me for my work at the
lab,” says Kerstin. “In addition, I needed to sort through a
number of scientific papers and lab manuals describing the
expected outcome of my experiments with glass. This was
not difficult for me. My time at Trinity made me at ease
with analytic reading.”
OUR PARENTS
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK.
A CRUCIAL PART OF
LEARNING IS TO LOOK,
TO LOOK AND TO LOOK
AGAIN.
“I love who my sons are becoming since being at Trinity.
Wearing a uniform and looking ready to learn, participating
on school athletic teams, trying a sport they had never tried,
trying out new experiences like joining a men’s barbershop
group, moving forward in math (actually having to skip a
grade in math in order to be at grade level at TSMV), really
becoming known by their teachers, respecting and enjoying
their teachers rather than working at odds with them, none
of these things would be a reality if they had stayed where
they were. My boys said after their first year, ‘We learned
more Latin in one year than we did Spanish taking it K-6.’
There is an elegance too, of the boys, as they are in a school
that cares how they dress and has high standards of manner
and comportment.
As for my daughter, the community of TSMV made an
immediate impact. She came home from middle school
happy, not moody. Wearing a uniform removed the importance
of trying to look the part all the time. She became
a joiner—trying a new sport she’d never played, joining a
multi-age choir she never would have—enjoying the process
of learning and the school’s focus on creativity and beauty.
She is excited about doing her schoolwork as opposed to
just trying to figure out what the teacher wants and doing
the least possible to still get the grade. She is surprised by
seeing her teachers being on her field day team, by a senior
girl noticing her and calling her by name though she is only
a 7th grader. School is a great place to be.” —Valerie Barth,
school parent
2018 / 2018 2019 / 2019 Trinity Trinity Schools Schools 21 19

OUR FACULTY
“The best moments in the classroom are generated
by the students. I love their surprise at the material.
This is especially frequent in the last semester
of senior physics while we are studying special
relativity. A week into the unit, after we have seen
time dilation and length contraction, we begin
asking about the amount of work required to accelerate
a mass to any speed. As the students and I
discuss how to proceed, and we work through the
problem on the board, at one point I will always hear
gasps when the attentive students realize where
this is leading. By the end of the period we have, as
a class, derived the world’s most famous equation: E
= mc 2 . That is a day when nearly everyone leaves
class with a smile.
What I love about Trinity is that I have the freedom
to spend the time to derive the equation. Other
places would simply want me to write the equation
on the board, do some examples, and then let the
students memorize the procedure. Our philosophy
is different. It is designed to foster delight in
discovery. The Trinity approach makes for a richer
classroom for the students and a more pleasant
work environment for the faculty.” —Tim Maloney,
faculty
BEING A SMALL SCHOOL
HAS BIG PERKS. ONE PERK IS
THAT FACULTY MEMBERS GET
TO KNOW OUR STUDENTS
WELL. ANOTHER PERK IS THAT
STUDENTS GET TO KNOW ONE
ANOTHER WELL. IN MANY
CLASSES, STUDENTS WORK
TOGETHER IN GROUPS. AFTER
BEING TOGETHER FOR SIX
YEARS, FRIENDSHIPS ARE
SOLID.
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