Start of School 2014

A group of TES 8th Graders peruse the new Trinity Charger Yearbook.

School opened smoothly on Tuesday, August 19, and by the end of the first week 228 students were enrolled….marking the third consecutive year of growth.  Enrollment has yet to reach the pre-Ike number of 242, but that’s only part of the story.  Compared to six years ago, Trinity Episcopal School has moved forward by leaps and bounds.  With the addition of the Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center and the soon-to-be-completed athletic practice field, the campus has a more significant visual impact on Galveston’s downtown.  The recent 10-year re-accreditation by the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools and the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest has reaffirmed Trinity’s mission and quality.  I can’t help but think these are significant factors in the school’s enrollment recovery.

Each year, we announce those 7th graders who are eligible for participation in the Duke University Talent Identification program.  These students earn eligibility based on their exceptional performance on nationally-normed standardized tests taken the year before. The 8 students so honored this year are Kelly Carmichael, Noah Elzner, Christof Gault, Logan Kelly, Christian Quinn, Nicholas Sutton, Courtney Whittaker, and Nick Zompa.

Please join me in welcoming our new faculty: Francie Buergler continues the family tradition of teaching at Trinity; Francie’s mother, Sissy Howell, taught here for many years.  An experienced teacher and graduate of Texas State University, Francie will be teaching Kindergarten at Trinity.  Russell Johns is our new athletic director and physical education teacher.  He is a graduate of Concordia University where he majored in Kinesiology.  He recently served as baseball coach at O’Connell College Preparatory.  Brook Miller will be teaching 5th Grade; she earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Houston, Clear Lake.  Brook will be away on maternity leave soon after the start of the school year; during that time her teaching duties will be assumed by Anna Vandiver, an experienced teacher and cum laude graduate of Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia.  Our other 5th Grade teacher will be Kelly Shaffner who graduated from Texas State University and comes to us most recently from Parker Elementary.  Kelly’s solid references included Stacy Wisner who is also joining our faculty (teaching 3rd Grade).  A graduate of University of Houston, Stacy was recognized as elementary teacher of the year for GISD in 2011-2012.  These talented folks are rounding out an already strong teaching staff at Trinity Episcopal School!  Finally, help me welcome Amy Gaido to her new role as Lower School Coordinator and Assistant Head of School.

From Left to Right: Russell Johns, Francie Buergler, Kelly Shaffner, Brook Miller, Anna Vandiver, & Stacy Wisner

Faithfully,

The Rev. David C. Dearman
Head of School

Summer Begins 2014

TES Class of 2014

The 17 students who graduated on May 29 are shown here on the Garth just before their Commencement.  These latest graduates are Libbie Lee Ansell, Hunter Thomas Blackwell, Kelli Michele Blackwell, Charles Bush Cragar, Santiago Tobias Faus, Barrett Charles Gaertner, John-Austin Gaertner, Amanda Grace Shallenberger Galan, Joseph Bentley Jaworski, Nayarith Jimenez, Frances Clair McBride, Emily Marie Metyko, Gabrielle Alyse Prets, Seth Michael Ricks, Zane Campbell Seigel, Kelley Jane Shepherd, and Sarah Faye Tillman. These kiddos will be sorely missed, but we look forward to hearing great things about them in the future!

By early summer, activity should begin on the new property at the north end of the campus.  The extraction of a gas tank and the demolition of the old drive-through banking operation will precede work to create a fenced playing field.  Using a phrase from our past, signage at the construction site will highlight the double entendre: "Trinity is a Good Place to Grow."

Thanks to solid support for the Annual Fund, various maintenance projects will take place including painting overhead ceilings and replacing the worn deck at Hollamon Hall as well as resurfacing the outdoor sports court.  

Trinity BOT Vice-President Meg Walker announced recently that the first round of engraved pavers will be placed at the entrance to the Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center as part of the Building Our Future: Paving the Way Campaign to help sustain the maintenance and programs of our new building over a multi-year period.  The deadline for orders on this first round of pavers is June 16.  Please see www.tesgalv.org for details.  This is a great way to celebrate loved-ones and to remember those who have come before us.

I am pleased to report that  longtime Trinity benefactors Dr. and Mrs. Robert Eanes have made a substantial gift to help the school acquire and implement software from Senior Systems 
including Admissions, Enrollment Management, Business Office, and Development Modules.  This upgrade to an integrated data management system will help us address a recommendation from the ISAS/SAES Visiting Committee.

The first-ever Camp Charger will be held on weekdays from July 7-18.  This program is open to students in rising grades 3-8 and is not to be confused with our Summer-long Camp for the younger ones!  Please see www.tesgalv.org for more details or contact Camp Director Anna Hyatt: ahyatt@tesgalv.org.

David C. Dearman, Head of School

The Virtue of Striving

Trinity Episcopal School seeks to foster the ability to strive.  This image, one of our 6th Grade students making it to the top of the climbing wall at Camp Allen, shows the joy that accompanies striving followed by accomplishment.  It is also an image of character development in progress!  

In order to develop the character of striving, there must also be times of failure....times when our students are tempted to give up but instead renew their best efforts. Sometimes as teachers and parents, the hardest part for us is standing by compassionately while our children learn to deal with disappointment....something they cannot learn if we keep rushing in to rescue them from their dilemmas.

Recently, I received a mailing from the Galveston Academic Excellence Booster Club, an organization to which Layne and I gratefully contribute.  In 2013, this organization recognized 12 Galveston high school seniors with academic scholarships.  It is striking to me that, of these 12, half are graduates of Trinity Episcopal School!  Trinity only goes through 8^th Grade, and is obviously not responsible for the academic material that produced outstanding GPA’s for these 6 seniors (now in college).  It cannot be a coincidence, though, that our small school has such a disproportionate share of these honorees.

Long after the curricular details of a middle school education have faded into the mind’s foundation, a student’s character remains front-and-center in contributing to success.  I believe that Trinity fosters the kind of character that helps students achieve in high school and beyond.  Not giving up easily, having a strong work ethic, being courageous, demonstrating humility, and being considerate of others….these are among the virtues that lead to success.  More importantly, they contribute to a life that is worth living.  Congratulations to these 6 members of the TES Class of 2009: Lauren Balentine, Kate Dannenmaier, Jordan Raschke, Sara Rismiller, William Wheeler, and Bryce Willey.  Go Chargers!

Start of School 2013

Trinity's Alpha Omega Pin

School opened smoothly on Tuesday, August 20, with a total enrollment of 206.  That is up for the second consecutive year…..an indication of new families moving to Galveston who are getting the good word about Trinity from current parents and families of graduates.  Very few moms and dads decide to send their children here based on paid advertising.  The decision to visit the school is almost always based on word of mouth from one parent to another.

Thanks to the Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center, this will be a year of many firsts.  At the time of this writing, we just placed on the schedule the first “home” volleyball game in the history of Trinity Episcopal School!  The Chargers are scheduled to play Holy Family Catholic School at 4 PM on Monday, September 16.  Entry to the building will be from the main entrance off Tremont Street.  The cost of admission will be $3 for adults, $1 for students, and admission for current Trinity students will be free.  We plan to have the snack bar open for the game.  Schedules are subject to change, so please check the website to confirm.  Go Chargers!

Early in September, the school will recognize a group of 7 students who entered Trinity Episcopal School in Kindergarten (or before) and have continued in school every year since and including Eighth Grade.  In other words, by the time of graduation each of these will have been enrolled here between 9 and 12 years!  We honor this group by designating them as the Alpha-Omega Society with a lapel pin created for this purpose.  The Rev. Susan Kennard and I will meet these “long-timers” for lunch on the day they are honored and encourage them to reminisce about their Trinity experience.  The students honored this year are Libbie Lee Ansell, Hunter Blackwell, Kelli Blackwell, Charlie Cragar, Lee Jaworski, Gabby Prets, and Kelley Shepherd.

Summer Update 2013

The Trinity Episcopal School Class of 2013 on Graduation Night

Trinity Episcopal School’s commencement exercises were held on May 30.  Please join me in congratulating the following 16 young men and women who are our most recent graduates: Francesca Bertini, Michael Dean, Cali Dolfi, Krista Freed, Jackson Gaido, Taylor Garcia, Lindsay Garland, Abigail Grant, Cade Harrington, Reagan Lasswell, Daniel LeGrand, Maci Marullo, Gillian Nelson, Paloma Prida, Austin Schwab, and Kyle Wheeler.

Speaking of graduates, we learned recently that 2 alums from the TES Class of 2009 earned distinction as the salutatorians of their respective high schools.  Bryce Willey earned this honor at Ball High School and Erin Laird at Santa Fe High School.  Bryce plans to attend Rice University and Erin plans to attend Texas A&M, College Station.  Go Chargers!

I’m proud that we have several alumni joining the staff; I know they will do their part helping Trinity maintain the valued traditions of Mind, Body, and Spirit!  Anna Hyatt (TES, C’ 2003) has begun work as the Program Director of the Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center, Stephanie Peña (TES, C’ 2003) joins our middle school faculty teaching Literature, and John Wheeler (TES, C’ 2001) also joins our middle school faculty teaching Math and History.  We needed to add new faculty to the middle school due to the unexpected departure of Kerry O’Malley and also to enable the middle school to grow by one section as well as to give Sue Langston more time to devote to her duties as Middle School Coordinator.

It’s the middle of summer, and preparations are underway to get things ready for the first day of classes on August 20.   Students will find that the “Soft Surface” playground really is soft because the sod planted at the end of the previous school year has taken root. Arrangements have been made with a local provider to place a bed of playground mulch under the new swings at the middle school playground, and some old water damage on the 2nd floor of the Parish House has been repaired.  Later this summer, we anticipate that the Beginning School playground will be updated with a new play structure, and the Beginning School “Annex” will be outfitted with enhancements for science education. 

Admissions activity has been robust….at 203 students thus far, we’re about 12 students ahead of this time last year.  Our Summer Camp for the little ones is in full swing, and the first-ever TES Summer Basketball Camp was held in early June!  

Please note also: the School Finance Office has moved from the Parish Office complex to its former location directly across the hall.  This location should be more convenient for parents and also makes room in the Parish Office for The Rev. Jeremiah Griffin, the new parish curate and part-time director of Willie T’s.

Whew!  That’s not everything but at least gives some idea of what is being accomplished during these so-called “quiet” summer months.

-DCD

The "Homestretch" at TES

May Fête 2013

I still hardly know what to say about all of the kindnesses I received on the occasion of my 25th ordination anniversary on Sunday, April 28.  I've gone through the humongous scrapbook, the notes, cards, photo albums, and gifts....I'm just humbled to no end! I absolutely love my new Children-of-the World stole and the gifts to my favorite organizations, TEC and TES, all in my honor…wow!  My wonderful wife, Layne, and my colleague on the "front lines of ministry," Susan Kennard, seem to be the main conspirators in the "David Project!" To them, to all the staff, students, and parents at TES, to the good folks at our parish church, to friends from times and places past who were in on this celebration....I give thanks!  May God grant us all more good years to come!

TES observed the school’s 44th annual celebration of May Fête on Friday, May 3.  Unseasonably cool weather and strong winds did not deter us from having the festivities in the traditional spot on the beautiful Garth.  We did learn that in high winds the tight basket weave our 5th graders usually produce at the top of the May Pole turns out to be more like a colorful bird’s nest!

The Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center is up and running.  May events in the building already include a school uniform fitting by Parker Uniforms, our annual sports banquet, a middle school dance, physical education classes, and an end-of-year pep rally…more to come!

Each May TES honors students who have been designated by their teachers as outstanding citizens.  It’s a tough task, but we ask teachers to identify those in their classes who have been the most polite, responsible, and kind.  The students so honored and their parents are treated to a breakfast in Eaton Hall.  Of course, we are proud of all our students’ accomplishments, but this particular group gives us the opportunity to celebrate what we believe to be solid character.  Our Citizenship honorees for 2013 are:

Brionna Gluski, Sophia DeOre, Olivia Gluski, Issy Wisner, Ella Sullivan, Brody Rogers, Anna Xia Lyons, Isabella Alvarado, Emily Cook, Isabel Resto, Sara Gabriel, Maggie Farmer, Megan Maxwell, Maggie Cragar, Julian Bauer, Landon Parsons, Rocio Prida, Kennedy Harrington, Tara Donnelly, Aidan Knupple, Zoe Faus, Marie Louise Livanec, Jonathan Henry, Carrington Traylor, John-Austin Gaertner, Kelley Shepherd, Krista Freed, Francesca Bertini and Gillian Nelsen.

Graduation Evensong will be 7PM on Thursday, May 30, in Trinity Episcopal Church.  The commencement address will be given by The Rev. Canon John Newton.

The Nurturing and Educating Paradox

The Trinity Episcopal School website, brochure, and other marketing materials are designed to introduce prospective parents, as well as potential benefactors, to the School’s stated mission that begins: “…to nurture and educate children in a God-centered environment.”  In order to state what we do at the School as succinctly as possible, we state right off the bat a kind of paradox…. We nurture by listening, modeling kindness, taking time to re-teach when a student needs patience from us most of all, while at the same time we educate by furthering students in the growth of mind, body, and spirit.  Trinity’s traditional approach to education means that we must hold in balance the ideals of an individual approach that adapts to each child and a rigorous approach that serves high standards and expectations.  Doing this all in a God-centered environment reminds us that we cannot have nurture if there are no expectations any more than we can have love without justice.  The life of faith calls on us to wrestle with seemingly incompatible ways of being, and so there it is:  we will both nurture children and, at the same time, put them through a rigorous education.  That is the ideal for which we strive. Please pass the word to others who might be interested in our parish day school.

Here are some upcoming Spring school events for our calendars:

March 28	Stations of the Cross at Chapel, 8:15AM
March 29	Good Friday (No School)
April 1	Easter Monday (No School)
April 6	Trinity Booth @Grand Kids Festival
April 10	Rachel’s Challenge School and Community Events
April 11-19	Scholastic Spring Book Fair Open
April 13	Annual TES FUN RUN
April 25	TES Art Showcase
April 27	“Burgers on the Bayou” Spring Casual

Faithfully,

The Rev. David C. Dearman