MISSION IN ACTION

Reflecting on the successful completion of Trinity’s five-year strategic plan, “Honor the Mission” (2018-2023)

“As a school, we are always in search of a brighter future for our students,” Head of School Rob Short said in a video released in the fall of 2018 announcing the launch of “Honor the Mission,” a five-year strategic plan — a roadmap for the school designed to be inclusive, data-driven and adaptable to future needs.

“Everything inside the plan aims to strengthen, support and build upon our unique and cherished mission,” stated then board chair Rob Methven. Over the past five years, the plan has guided and supported the community, allowing Trinity to excel, adapt, grow, evolve, extend, unite — through the challenges of the pandemic, through its historic 50th birthday and beyond.

Five years later, the Trinity mission is as strong and as relevant as ever, bolstered by a sustained and intentional campaign to utilize the strategic strength of the Trinity community.

“When deciding to make the grade-scale change, the goal was to improve communication with students, parents and colleges,” says Maria Bartz, head of student support and academic program. “While preparing for that change, we studied our grade data to ensure we wouldn't inflate or deflate grades once the 10-point grade scale was adopted. We found that process was helpful when planning for the next year, quarter, or even week — so we have continued to do a school-wide grade distribution analysis after each quarter. Teachers and administrators use the data to ensure instruction, assignments and assessments are balanced and fair and that they properly communicate our students' mastery of a subject.”

Strategic Strength

One of the plan’s most innovative aspects was to build “proficiencies around strategic thinking” among the entire community. In the fall of 2018, all faculty and staff had the opportunity to select a Collaboration Team to begin to build those strategic thinking muscles by tackling projects and exploring current concepts together With topics like “Data Informed Decision Making,” “Faculty & Staff Individual & Collaborative Work Spaces,” and “Student Time Management,” the goal was to involve the entire faculty and staff in meaningful work to shape the school's future, strengthen internal communication and build a common sense of purpose.

Some of the substantive advances that emerged from the groups included the development of a customized daily planner for students, the move from a 6-point to a 10-point grading scale in 2020 and a thorough evaluation of grade distribution.

Bartz appreciated the way the Collaboration Teams model gave each faculty and staff member a voice in the direction of the school. “With the grading scale change, especially, there was a strong feeling of buy-in. A group of their peers researched and presented the proposal to the faculty. They were the ones saying, ‘this will be helpful in our classrooms and for our students.’”

Many teachers enjoyed the opportunity for connections and professional growth the team structure provided. “We all got to work with people that we normally don’t work with as part of our day,” Bartz says. “Teachers are creative and inquisitive, but very rarely are teachers asked to do something ‘big picture,’ like a strategic plan. It exercised a muscle we use all the time but in a different way.”

Operational Excellence

With the study of grades came a more intentional use of data to inform other decisions across the school. “We’ve invested time, money and energy, and we’re thinking differently about how to maximize our instruction using data,” says Short.

A strong example of this is occurring among teachers in the IB Diploma Programme, who now have the ability to drill down into aggregate IB test score data to Improve alignment between Trinity grades and IB scores and identify areas for targeted growth and curricular improvement.

Kasie Kemp values the way this data has helped her become a better teacher by seeing where her students’ strengths lie on each topic and at each level. “It's using the past to inform the present,” she says. “I can look at historically how other groups performed and decide whether to focus more on short-answer or multiple-choice, for example. Where’s my weak point as a teacher?”

Marti Truman called this sharing of data a “huge leap.” Giving teachers within each department the opportunity to see each other’s test results “was a step toward being vulnerable,” she says, noting that sharing of information has spurred collaboration and increased “vertical alignment” from level to level — all to the benefit of students. Other advances toward excellence in the classroom have come through the work of Collaboration Teams and greater collaboration within academic departments.

Over the past five years, the science department has implemented a transformative instructional technique called modeling. As described in the spring 2020 issue of the Titan Trail: “Instead of presenting a list of facts to memorize and confirm with a predetermined lab, the teacher begins each unit with an event, a research question or an open-ended lab investigation. When students ask the teacher a question, they don’t get a simple answer — they get another question, one aimed at probing deeper toward a conclusion based on their own observations and reasoning.”

“It has transformed the science classrooms here,” says Bartz of the modeling approach. “The kids are really integrated in the process of learning.”

Over the same time frame, the social students department has redesigned their curriculum to feature more inquiry-based learning (IBL). “IBL is a prominent component of the IB curriculum and we've long seen the benefits it has on those students but we wanted to add the IBL aspect into our non-IB social studies classes,” says Marcus Jones, IB Global Politics teacher and head of the department. “It allows students to take ownership of their work as they make decisions on what to research and it promotes intellectual curiosity. We've found that inquiry based learning is the perfect vehicle to teach the problem solving and communication skills that are goals of the curriculum.”

All of these advances fall under the umbrella of the strategic plan’s renewal of the school’s commitment to invest in the success of those who put the mission into action — our faculty and staff. The plan laid out a commitment to professional development and core faculty values, recognition of excellence in teaching, and human resource support. In 2022, Mary Jordan accepted the new position of head of employee life, created specifically to support and guide faculty and staff.

Marti Truman, a leader and mentor for younger teachers in her roles across her three-decade tenure within the science department and as IB coordinator moved into a full-time faculty-development coaching role in 2022. “Her intentionality, team building skills, and her strong strategic thinking for Trinity has led us to the creation of a new position for which she is the natural choice,” wrote Short, announcing the transition.

First-year science teacher John Benson has appreciated Truman’s support. “She has helped me brainstorm ways to find challenges for advanced students,” says Benson. “There is always a focus on how we can make our kids come out of Trinity prepared for their next step. Does each goal help the kids get to where they need to be?”

School Culture

In the research process leading up to the adoption of “Honor the Mission,” the most common theme among respondents was a desire to bolster and maintain Trinity’s cherished community and unique school culture.

Inspired by the plan’s prompt to “build mechanisms to assist the transfer of culture/school values to the whole community,” Trinity launched the Parent Pathways program in 2022. Led by Betsy Reid, head of the English department, the initiative aims to build stronger communication, programming and relationships between parents and the school. “Trinity has always had a strong partnership with parents, and Parent Pathways is a way to highlight and put a focus on resources and opportunities for parents,” she says. Already this year, Reid has launched a multi-episode podcast (available on the Trinity website), hosted two educational/social events for parents and will be adding more programming in 2023-24.

For students, the past five years have seen the successful embrace of the TITANS Values (Trustworthy, Intentional, Tough, Altruistic, Neighborly and Sincere), six characteristics that define what it means to be a Titan. Every Friday in Morning Meeting, students and faculty share specific examples of these values in action in the community.

To go along with Junior Work Week and the Freshman Class Retreat, there are additional unique gradel-level programs for other grades as well. The 8th grade has evolved their Fox Island Chesapeake Bay trip into a three-day bonding retreat in the mountains in early fall. The 10th grade has expanded their traditional neighborhood cleanup day to include an afternoon of team-building facilitated by Challenge Discovery, a local leader in this area.

But it almost goes without saying now that there has been no greater challenge to school culture over the 50 years than the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance provided by the plan laid the groundwork for a commitment to, in the plan’s words, “strengthen processes to seamlessly maintain our culture in an environment of ongoing change.”

“[The strategic plan] allowed us to transition to the hybrid model and keep us open with some sort of social contact,” says Brian Phillips, head of campus life. “Not everyone liked it, but the reality is we didn’t close, and we didn’t go very long without having the community in person. Even in the spring of 2020, we figured out how to have graduation as a community.”

Campus Enhancement

“With COVID, we appreciated outdoor spaces more,” says Bartz. “We now have this massive influx of picnic tables that the kids use all day every day. The kids love them. That has brought people closer together on the campus.”

The pandemic also spurred the school to improve indoor air quality. With a new HVAC system, teachers have much greater control over the temperature of the classroom, and UV ionization units mean that students are less likely to get ill. “We added windows to every classroom, knowing that light and natural beauty is important to learning,” says Short. The school is also in the final stages of construction on the new 1,200-square-foot Dawson Commons, on the site of the former Dawson Garden, behind E-Hall, which will provide a much needed, all-weather common area for students to use during study hall, Discovery Period and lunch.

The Innovation Lab, housed in Morgan Hall’s Powell Library has grown to five times its size in 2018, with dedicated space for 3D printing, individual robotics projects and a classroom space for Cynthia Chinworth, hired in 2022 as a full-time innovation and technology teacher. “We want students creating, designing and building cross disciplinary discovery and partnership with other students,” says Rob Short. “Understanding technology is important, but using technology to better humanity is critical. The added space allows our students to create, discover and solve problems.”

Across campus, the Outdoor Shed has continued to expand to meet the needs of the school’s unrivaled Outdoor Program. “The Trinity Outdoor Program is still growing every year, and I contribute that to having a designated spot on campus associated with outdoor activities,” says Michael Stratton. “Everything we are doing is intended to be sustainable long-term [for] both athletics and environmental impact. This year we also created the Active Trail Building class, and we are adding more than half a mile of trail to our 100 acre forest every semester — completely designed by students.” (read more about this class on page 30 of this issue.)

Community Engagement

That system of trails between Trinity and neighboring St. Michael’s Episcopal School is just one of the many ways that Trinity students have built connections with the greater Richmond community over the past five years through the strategic plan's emphasis on community engagement.

Soon after the plan’s launch, Weiler was tapped to lead the school’s efforts in this area and soon implemented a grade-level community partnership program that is still thriving. At the start of each year, elected student leaders from each grade help their class choose a local nonprofit organization to pair with for a year’s worth of targeted service and support. Through community service projects and by learning about each nonprofit's mission, students see firsthand the value and impact of these organizations within their community. The impact is evident in the dozens of thank-you notes Weiler has received over the years from grateful nonprofit directors from groups like the Doorways, Goochland Cares, UMFS, Sportable, Shalom Gardens and REAL Life, to name a few.

Students have been measurably more involved with community service as a result. “Most importantly, though, is the greater awareness that these partnerships have built among our population about the different needs of the greater Richmond area and the various nonprofits that work to serve those needs,” says Weiler. “Students (and faculty/staff) have grown in their knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing our region and they have been inspired to help mitigate some of those challenges through their service with these groups and others.”

Weiler is proud of how these programs have yielded not just greater growth and awareness but also an appetite to do more. “We are certainly more aware of being a part of something bigger than ourselves,” she says. “By contributing our gifts to others — while also learning from people and groups that are different from ourselves — we create a much more complete context about the world around us.”

Of Trinity’s community engagement programs, Short is equally bullish. “At a time when the world was retreating into a bubble, we were reaching out like never before,” he says. Whether bagging and delivering shoe donations for SHOOD, creating festive holiday cards for UMFS —welcoming to campus organizations like the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, Mayor Levar Stoney and both of the two recent presidents of the University of Richmond — or partnering each year with Obama Elementary School on a series of science-themed outdoor activities — Trinity students continue to have opportunities to integrate life into learning and learning into life.

Looking Ahead

As the 2022-23 school year comes to close in just a few short weeks, so too will the school’s 50th anniversary celebration, “Ever Onward,” and the five-year plan, “Honor the Mission.” The success of each has been the product of Titans of all stripes coming together — to reflect on the treasures of our shared past — to push each other forward toward the highest of our aspirations — and to sustain Trinity Episcopal School as a place where each student can develop their talents, strengthen their character and discover their path.

“Now we are beautifully aligned to think about the school and its future,” says Weiler, reflecting on the plan's successful conclusion this year. “Even though laborious at times, gathered so many different perspectives and experiences from stakeholders, it positioned us well so that we can look forward to where we want to be while still honoring the mission over the last 50 years.”