“The teachers at Trinity have a true love for the subjects that they teach, and really want you to excel at school. It’s so refreshing to have teachers who want you to learn, not memorize or know on a surface level”
Trinity Student
Featured Faculty Member
Late one night my husband and I were out doing some last minute shopping.
We were going through the check out when I saw a call on my phone from a number I didn’t recognize.
Answering it I heard one of my student’s voices, “Hello, Mrs. Marqueling? Hi, so, you know that passage I’ve been working on the last few days?”
I knew the one. The 9th grade girls had been working on translating and writing commentaries on passages from the Latin Vulgate. This particular student had chosen the story of Samson. There was one line that kept giving her trouble, but she persisted patiently. I had given her some suggestions and she had been working it along diligently. Tonight she had another question about it and she began to read to me from the Latin Vulgate over the phone as I stood there in line surrounded by chewing gum, magazines and late-night shoppers, all with pop music playing in the background. The ancient words being spoken to me over the phone seemed to be coming from a different world. They were beautiful.
“What about…” I gave a very small suggestion and then I could hear her say, “Oh…oh, I think I’ve got it, I think I’ve got it!” in such a surprised, pleased, awe-struck sort of way. It was really a moment of clarity and pay-off for her. “Thank you!” She said excitedly after putting together a flawless translation, “See you tomorrow!” Hanging up I turned to my husband, practically with tears in my eyes “I’m so proud of her!”
One year I was preparing to write a senior honoring of a student whom I had taught for 6 years. I was reading her essay on The Brothers Karamazov. She wrote that Ivan longs to live in a world where God remembers his people. My mind went back to my first year teaching and her class of little seventh graders in Old Testament. The girls had asked me what “remnant” meant. “Consider a bowl of pasta,” I tried to explain, “where there’s just one noodle left; that would be a remnant”. A year later in 8th grade scripture I asked the same group of girls, “Does anyone remember what a remnant is?” This girl very seriously raised her hand, “The noodle?” She said. She remembered the little analogy but more importantly she remembered that God had promised that a remnant of his people would remain, that He would not forget his people.
Something struck me to the core about her sincerity, her innocence, and later as a senior her ability to look deeply into the heart of a character and see what he really desired. The desire of the human heart to be remembered by God.
Two senior boys decided to prepare biscotti for their Italian class project. Little did they know that biscotti means “cooked-twice.” Trial and error led to an extensive baking and re-baking process that went late into the night. The final product: delicious chocolate-dipped biscotti and a great story to share in class from two laughing boys. I remember thinking, “Is teaching supposed to be this fun?”
At morning prayer students laugh together, cry sometimes, chant psalms together and bow their heads in prayer. Their intent, expectant faces change the way I think about the world.
I teach at Trinity because I love my hard-working co-workers, I greatly value the rich, challenging curriculum and the single-gender classes. I think it’s great how many students go out for sports and sing in the choirs.
Most of all I teach because of the students.