A Mass and open house reception on Nov. 5 will kick off a year-long centennial celebration of Trinity High School in River Forest.
As many as 1,000 people could be part of the service, which will start at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium. Presiding will be Monsignor Kenneth Velo, a former member of the school’s board of directors. The event is open to the public.
A post-Mass reception and brunch will be held in the school’s athletic facility named for its longtime president, Sister Michelle Germanson.
Trinity is an all-female school. According to its mission on its website, it “challenges young women to seek faith, knowledge and truth.”
According to the school, since its inception, Trinity has been overseen by the Sinsinawa order. In 1917, five nuns set up Rosary House on what became the campus of Rosary College – and then Dominican University. A year later 15 freshmen enrolled, according to the school. In 1926, Trinity moved to its present location and opened its doors that September; enrollment was 275.
Historic photos will be on display, and self-guided tours will be provided so alumnae can see how the campus has changed, said Christine Bollettino, the school’s vice president of institutional advancement, a 1968 alumna. The old gymnasium, which had a stage where the students put on plays, is now a full gymnasium; one of the study halls is now a history room. The home economics area on the third floor now houses technology, she said.
The purpose of the centennial events is to re-engage with alums and the immediate community, said Kristine Kokenes-Mau, a 1974 alumna of the school, a member of the centenary committee and co-chair of the school’s executive board.
“This is a celebration of the past, but we’re also kicking off our future,” she said.
Students, faculty and staff were set to take part in a soft launch of the celebration on Nov. 1, when the village was set to hang honorary street signs at the 1200 block of Lathrop Avenue, declaring that as Trinity High School Way. The unveiling was set for 11:45 a.m.
“We are thrilled to celebrate Trinity’s centennial year with an honorary street sign. The purpose of the honorary signs is to celebrate and thank those who have given back to our community. Trinity has given back to our community in so many wonderful ways,” village president Catherine Adduci said.
On the evening of Sept. 14, 2018, alumni will walk down Division Street from Dominican University to Trinity, replicating what students, faculty and staff did when they walked from the first building to the current facility.
Since the start, the school has grown in terms of its physical space. Additions were opened in 1941 and 1963. A new athletic facility opened in 2003; a new health center in 2011.
And like other parochial high schools, it has had its challenges. Other schools in the area closed their doors or went co-ed. It considered a merger with Fenwick High School of Oak Park in the 1990s, but Trinity decided to remain single-gender. Throughout its history, that piece has been huge, Kokenes-Mau said.
Girls thrive in a different fashion; they learn differently, Kokenes-Mau said.
“We want them to be empowered … so that Trinity remains a sustainable, environmentally sound, technological and academically progressive high school,” Kokenes-Mau said.
Said Bollettino: “We will keep trying to think of new and innovative ideas to educate young women and keep them interested and inquisitive. Part of our mission is to seek knowledge and truth.”
For years, the school’s enrollment has hovered around 500, school officials said.
The institution will be undergoing change in coming months and years. After the Nov. 5 Mass and during announcements, Germanson will present an outside rendering of what will become the leadership building. Money for the new facility will be part of a nearly $8 million fundraising campaign, which also will go toward student scholarships. This will be the largest such campaign in Trinity’s history, Germanson said.
Trinity’s direction will be set by the new president. Germanson, who has served as its president for 25 years, earlier this year announced she will step down as its head but stay on to work with alumnae and donors and in other capacities. She will remain in her current capacity until a replacement is found.
So far, eight candidates have been interviewed; two more rounds remain. The new president, who will be named before October 2018, will come in to the position at an important time of Trinity’s history. That person would be a critical component in the future of the high school, said Walter Healy, the chairman of Trinity’s board of directors.
“I’m confident and pleased with the candidates we’ve seen,” he said. “With the caliber and quality of candidates, Trinity will be in very good hands, whatever decision we make and whichever candidate surfaces.”
Deborah Kadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
