Roundtable Q&A Discussion About Trinity College School (2022)

What I enjoyed most about the program, in general, was that you get to shape your own TCS experience the way you want it, and how it is best suited for you. I think a lot of it, for me, was just about opportunity, about getting the support that I needed to join the clubs that I wanted and I got to find that balance for myself.

After starting at McGill University, what I was pleasantly surprised about, awas that TCS is almost like a mini-university. It's the same way, where there's a lot of opportunities, and you just have to take initiative. In the early grades at TCS, they help you do that. As you go further, you have to learn to step through those doors by yourself. I guess the takeaway is that I feel prepared for university. I feel like I'm ready.

I just wouldn't trade TCS for the world, because I met the best people there. Every school, every workplace, says that they have their values, and those values are probably something like integrity, kindness, and community. A lot of people say that, but are they all doing it? Probably not. But TCS is doing it, and you really feel it. That's because, I think, the people they choose to bring on the staff are great at what they do, and they really just care about the kids. And that's just a feeling that I've just never gotten anywhere else, no other organization, no other school.

The school is a lively place, because there's always something new going on. There's always a new building going up, there's always a new club going on. There's always a new initiative that's going around. No two years are ever the same. You have that combined with having people that care a lot, people that will take you into that change, and help you be a part of it.

I think families would be surprised by how quickly you find your community. I think that comes down to two main things–class sizes and the house system. Classes aren’t bigger than 20 people. And, if you think about how the class is set up, there's probably five groups with four desk pods. Suddenly it's going to feel a lot easier to communicate, to connect, and to find a couple of friendly faces around.

The house system is also a really quick way of building community. It makes you feel at home, and in your place, in a way that my family and I had not anticipated. What I love about it is that it gives kids something to rally behind. And so, by the time you are doing house volleyball, two weeks into school, you're cheering with the same people. The house leaders are amazing and they're always looking out for kids.

As a day student, being connected to the boarding community at TCS gives you a lot of perspective. You can't even quantify the impact necessarily, because it just makes you more worldly, it makes you more culturally aware, it makes you more able to interact with people that are completely different from you, that come from completely different backgrounds, and make something great.

Two years out, the things that I did at TCS are getting me executive positions at clubs at McGill. And I also just got hired at Deloitte, and the person who hired me told me a big reason he hired me was my research experience at TCS that differentiated me. If you're doing things that you love, if you find your communities, find people that are doing what you love, it's not going to feel like work. It's just going to feel like a place that you want to be.

Our first reason for choosing TCS was about engagement. We wanted them to be in an environment where they could really engage, helping them blossom through engagement in a bunch of different areas.

To be in beautiful places, to be in inspiring places, to be in an environment surrounded by really great people, brings out the best in us. We believe, as a family, that environment matters. TCS is such a beautiful, amazing place. We just really wanted the boys to be immersed in that and to have the formative years of their childhood to be spent in that place.

What’s been surprising for us is the importance of the house system and how much that really becomes their community-within-the-community, and also how much they like to spend time there, frankly. Even in Grade 9, they'd like to stay as late as possible at school, and they're doing all this stuff in their house. We did not really expect that.

The school is very good at really recognizing the unique individual characteristics of my sons, and helping draw those things out. I have twin sons, and in a lot of ways they're very similar. But they're also unique, and they have their own interests. One of my sons needs academic support, while his twin brother thrives academically, and so needs to be challenged academically. And the teachers do that. They've really picked up on the unique characteristics of who each of the boys are, and they have given them opportunities.

The stories of who they're interacting with show the quality of the adults that are influencers in their lives, advisors to them, and teachers to them, and coaches to them. What shines through, as I listen to my sons talk about their school life, is the community, the close-knit community, as well as just the quality of the people. For the teachers, teaching is not just a job to them. There is so much to the meaning of what they're doing at the school.

I’d describe the school as energetic, vibrant, well rounded. I would say they are trying to develop the habits of heart and mind, so that our kids can live a life of purpose.

What they say is really aligned with what they do. It's really true. I mean, what the school says is actually what we see and what we experience.

One of the things we were concerned about, sending our kids to private school was that it might become this insular bubble of all private school kids, whatever that stereotype is, but I’d say it's been really the opposite. I think the boarding students, in particular, enhance that. There's kids from all over the world there. It actually went from being what I thought might be a bubble to, in fact, being super multicultural, and this global perspective and really diverse perspectives, in giving kids such an appreciation for people from other cultures, countries, and nationalities. That was actually a really positive benefit that I hadn't really thought about.

We did a lot of research and TCS came out on top. So for us, it was very intentional. TCS is creating that environment where our children can grow up to be the adults we want them to be all around. We were looking for somewhere that would develop their hearts and their minds, somewhere that would provide an environment that would challenge them to learn, but also give them the opportunities for music and sports.

TCS has met every expectation we had. Coming from a traditional British private school, which is where they used to go to, we expected pretty much the same structure, rigor, fun, games, challenge, more fun, amazing food. I didn't expect the food options to be as good as they are, I'm not going to lie. When the kids come home and they tell me their menus, I'm like, ‘I did not expect that!’

‘It takes a village,’ and TCS and the parents are that ‘village.’ What stuck out the most is the community feel. It's the bonding of the community and the family and the fact that I can text Jackie and say, ‘Could you pick up Hannah while you're grabbing Kennedy?’

A huge impact that TCS has had on the kids is the opportunities to bring themselves, their whole selves, their hopes and goals. They are taught that we're not going to be on a high all the time. And sometimes we're in a little bit of a learning pit. And those are opportunities, as well. So different things on different days.

They're happy, they have friends, they have solid relationships. It's a place where they can learn by working through misunderstandings. They have positive encounters. They have challenging encounters.

The school is like a superhero, who can morph into different things on different days. I think it is hard to encapsulate everything that TCS offers into one thing.

There is just that personal touch in how they look after the kids. It’s the fact that Belinda, who works in the kitchen, knows what sandwich my son likes to eat, in a school with hundreds of students. And the fact that I will get a note from a teacher that says, ‘Your son didn't eat so good today. Is he okay?’

We are raising children who recognize that it's a blessing to have the opportunities they have, and they remain grounded. And that for us as a family is really important because we don't want to produce adults who don’t appreciate the gifts and the blessings. We are a Christian family, and the fact that they go to Chapel as often as they do gives me great joy and the grounding and the appreciation for humanity, but also the recognition that they're not privileged.

The students are respectful, they're polite, and they're kind. These are the values that if everyone had more of, to my mind, we would not have some of the issues we now have in the world.

It's very comforting to know that TCS is partnering with parents to bring these young adults into society that I think we’ll all be proud of.

There are lots of benefits to boarding. They learn independence, they find their way to everywhere they need to be, and I think this is amazing. They have, I think, the right amount of structure, but also freedom. My daughter's got a friend who is from the Middle East. I'll be happy to have her come over for the long weekend. And I wouldn't be surprised if I wanted to go visit her in Dubai.