Top Ten Reasons I Loved the First Day of School 2011

10. I got to watch the TK Cubs learn to line up and walk from music back to their classroom. This is like watching Warren Buffet open his first bank account—laying down the rails for a lifetime of learning.

9. A new student handed me a note that said “Thank you for my Trinity bag and T-shirt. My new teachers are very affectionate and fun to be around. Everyone made me feel so welcomed. . . “

8. I watched Bethany Schneider, a former Trinity student, wash the yellow paint off the hands of a TK student and thought about the days when someone was helping Bethany wash her hands. Bethany and her ilk are the real proof that a Trinity education is working: the passing of knowledge and wisdom from one generation to another.

7. I saw Mrs. Lemke, bedecked in one of her most colorful boas, open the front doors at 8:15 and let the teeming Lower Schoolers stream in to find their classrooms. It was like God breathed the life back into the building after a summer's break.

6. I watched Dr. Goss wander the halls and hang around the Middle School classes and was exceedingly thankful for his expert presence among us.

5. I greeted our sophomores on the front steps as I walked up to school this morning. They were ready and eager to embark on their trip to Durham, to learn about our dear city and to do some serious bonding. I thought of the other Upper School grades on other trips and was most grateful for our faculty who supervise these adventures.

4. I saw kindergartners who had become first graders, sitting up at their desks, building a tower of kindness in Mrs. Wright’s room.

3. I got a text from a new teacher who said, “What a fun job!” Amen.

2. We opened with 485 students, up 38 students from last year. I don’t take that growth for granted, growth that allows us to sustain and expand our opportunities. I felt the growth as I stood at the front door and watched hundreds enter school this morning. Almost 500 is a lot of students. Praise God!

1. I met many parents, new and returning, at the Tears and Cheers Coffee. Even the Tearful were glad for Trinity and thankful that they could learn to let go in a place where their students were known and loved.