MORGANTOWN — Trinity Christian faces a unique situation for a high school — especially considering its location.
The private, non-denominational institution — established following a merger between Trinity High School and Alliance Christian [Elementary] School before the 2005-’06 school year — is quite small. It’s one of just 54 schools to fit in the WVSSAC Class A classification in the state, which consists of schools under 500 students. What makes the school so distinct is how small it is, the challenges that size poses, and how it works to overcome it. Trinity ranks 121st out of 127 secondary schools in the state in enrollment, with just 74 kids.
Perhaps even more abnormal is that the school enrolls so few despite being in Morgantown, the third-largest city in the state. It isn’t unusual for private schools to be located in cities — all eight of the remaining private, Christian institutions in the WVSSAC are in urban areas. However, Trinity is the smallest of those schools, as well as the smallest school, public or private, inside one of the state’s top 50 most populous cities.
The size disadvantage sometimes makes it difficult for Trinity to field competitive athletic programs, and even more, field a similar amount of athletics and other extracurriculars, as other Class A schools that are often double or triple the size.
The result has been a school-wide effort at Trinity from the students to participate across the board — often in numerous extracurricular activities in academic, athletic and artistic spectrums. That effort, according to head girls’ basketball and golf coach Mike Baldy, resulted in what may be the most adaptable and versatile student body in the state.
“I think it’s important to have well-rounded kids, and being in a small school we have a lot of well-rounded kids,” he said. “If you want to have things like school plays, and school choirs, and a marching band, you have to have kids that take to multiple things.”
A Jack of all trades
If you’ve been to a basketball game at Trinity in the last few years, you may have heard Jaclyn Smith sing the national anthem.
Whether it’s volleyball or basketball, the sophomore two-sport athlete loves to lace up her shoes and get physical on the hardwood, but according to her, music is “all day, every day” in her life.
“I’ve been singing at Trinity since like 5th grade, and it’s always been a big part of my life. I feel like it’s a part of me,” she said. “I love seeing other people’s faces when I sing — I love being able to bring joy to them while glorifying God. I get to use that gift he has given me to glorify him.”
Senior Mark Spruill, the top golfer for the Warriors and member of the basketball squad, also has a thing for music — instead of his voice, his instrument of choice is the drums. He leads the praise team during chapel services at the school.
“We have chapel services on Thursday, and a couple years ago, they said they needed someone to play the drums. Now I’ve been here the longest, and I was pushed into the leadership spot,” he said.
You can pick nearly any student-athlete from Trinity Christian and find similar stories — senior basketballer Daniel Woods, an all-state center last winter, does news briefings at the school. Reagan Sharp finds time in her schedule as a three-sport athlete to also participate in band, praise team, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and student government.
“It’s kind of like an across-the-board buy-in at Trinity. The kids really enjoy it — it’s not like a chore,” Baldy said. “We have an incredible mix of kids at Trinity, and they do an amazing job of coming together to do good things across the community — not just within their sports. I always say the biggest selling point is the kids.”
The risk of burnout among the kids is always present, but according to Spruill, it tends to be quite the opposite at Trinity — the kids have developed a strong passion for their work at the school and continue to thoroughly enjoy the culture they’re building.
“To have a love and a desire and a passion for all those things makes it easy to do. Sometimes you’re tired, but when you love doing it and there are other people involved that you don’t want to let down, you do it. I’ve learned to prioritize things,” he said.
Stepping out of the comfort zone
Trinity athletics director Cary Woods knows a thing or two about developing youth.
He’s spent 21 years in the classroom and over 30 years at the high school and collegiate levels coaching basketball. The key to turning student-athletes into successful young adults? According to Woods, it’s making them a little uncomfortable.
“Life is all about stepping outside of your comfort zone. If you’re a singer and not a basketball player first, and you go on to step out of that zone to play a sport, or vice versa, it prepares you so much for life,” he said. “There isn’t a day that goes by in real life that we don’t have to step outside our comfort zone and do things that aren’t natural to us.”
The multitude of extracurriculars the students participate in at Trinity has forced them to do just that, and then some. In doing so, they’ve learned lessons that they can apply across the disciplines they strive to achieve in, as well as in the world outside of those pursuits.
“In basketball, you have one shot at the court. In music, you have one shot at a gig. In the classroom, you have one shot at taking a test,” Smith said. “It teaches you to have the mentality to try your best at everything. Today might be your only shot to do these things. If you don’t use your full potential, it might not turn out how you want it.”
Baldy believes that versatility also helps develop critical thinking and decision making at the individual level, which transitions into sports, as well as everyday life.
“Just as far as time management, when you have the course load and you’re involved in multiple activities at one time, when they have to manage their time. they have to put their brain together and come up with something. That type of individual thinking transitions to a good thing on the court,” he said.
As the students will soon turn a major page in their lives when they advance to college and beyond, the growth they’ve shown and the benefits gained through their difficult extracurricular schedules and rigorous academic work are not overlooked.
“I’ve matured as a person a lot through golf because its a self-paced sport, and praise team and Young Life have helped me reach a new spiritual connection,” Spruill said. “I’ve learned to get things done in a quicker and more efficient manner. And in college, I think I’ll be able to use some of those strategies and that it’ll make it easier.”
“Doing a lot of stuff, the stress levels get high, but with student government, it shows you can be a leader, music acts as a stress reliever, and so on,” Sharp said. “Also, colleges look at a lot, and they want you to be more well-rounded. They want to know they can throw a lot at you and how to handle that.”
Building a culture
Of the 10 girls who play varsity basketball for Trinity, none missed the honor roll last semester at Trinity. Twelve players on the boys’ basketball roster joined them. In total, 61 students made the list — well over 75 percent of the student population.
It’s just another representation of the culture that Trinity is trying to build — it doesn’t want to be known as purely an athletic stronghold, nor one of just academic scholars or talented musicians. They want to build an institution where students can learn to become a diverse, multi-skilled individuals ready to handle what the world throws.
“When I took the job four years ago, I knew it was my job to teach the kids responsibility,” Baldy said. “We don’t pamper them at all. We have a lot of people at Trinity that are built into that mantra. Everyone has bought into really grooming these young men and women into responsible young adults.”
Now, the community at Trinity is flourishing, and it’s not uncommon for kids to want to be a part of it. You’ll see students cross state lines and transfer from districts they grew up in to join what’s going in — junior soccer and basketball player Fletcher Hartsock describes the bond between the students, staff and parents at Trinity as familial.
“It feels like everyone in the school has bought in and invested their time into making this school into a better place. For how small we are, we have one of the best student bodies around,” he said. “It creates a really good atmosphere and makes us into one loving family. That’s what makes us special.”
John Fowkes, who coaches boys’ basketball and teaches social studies at the school, expects to see the faces in his classroom at the forefront of society in the years to come.
“People don’t realize how good of a school it is.” he said. “This school really prepares kids for the next step in life. There are a lot of future leaders up there.”
At first glance, it might not seem as if there is anything particularly special about the school — a small building on 37 acres on the outskirts of the city with a limited history and small student body.
A quick glimpse inside its doors proves different. It shows what a tight-knit community dedicated to developing future generations can create, and how anybody can turn what seems to be your biggest disadvantage into one of your strongest traits.
“I think the students in my class and the class above me got tired of our size at the school being used as an excuse,” Spruill said. “Instead of using it as an excuse, now we use it as an advantage. We’ve grown into building something really cool on the hill.”
