Trinity Christian School (Fairfax, Virginia)

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38°50′01″N 77°19′57″W / 38.8337°N 77.3325°W / 38.8337; -77.3325

Trinity Christian School
Location
Fairfax , Virginia USA
Information
Type	Private
Motto	"Pursuing Excellence for the Mind & Heart"
Established	1987
Headmaster	Dr. Matthew Thomas
Faculty	97 faculty
Number of students	690 - 750 students (K through 12th)
Color(s)	Blue & White
Mascot	Gryphon [a lion with the head and wings of an eagle]
Website	www.tcsfairfax.org

Trinity Christian School is a private, K-12, non-denominational Christian school centrally located in Fairfax County, Virginia, serving the Northern Virginia area of metropolitan Washington, DC.

In recent years, Trinity Christian School has consistently held enrollment at 690 - 750 students in grades K through twelve. Of its roughly 97 faculty members, over 60% hold advanced degrees. The campus contains 92,000 sq/ft of buildings (totaling $30 million) on a 25-acre campus. Enrollment at the school is capped at 750 students due to county restrictions and regulations for the campus site. Ongoing demand has led to multi-year waitlists in many of the grades.

Unique to the upper school school is a house system, which was established in 2022. Made up of four houses, the house system includes a head male and a head female student. ^[1][2]

History

In 1987 the vestry of Truro Anglican Church voted unanimously to found Trinity Christian School, with Dr. J.C. Lasmanis named as its first headmaster.^{[citation needed]} Trinity opened its doors to a total of forty-one students from first through third grade, each taught by three faculty members in classrooms provided by Truro.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990 Dr. Jim Beavers took over the reins as headmaster.^{[citation needed]} During Mr. Beavers' time in office: a 4th and 5th grade was added, a middle and upper school was established, enrollment greatly increased, and the faculty grew.^{[citation needed]} Eventually the school spread to encompass four different campuses in and throughout Fairfax county.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001 Trinity named a new headmaster, Dr. Todd Williams, and graduated its first senior class.^{[citation needed]} By this time fifty faculty members served over four hundred students on Trinity's four campuses. Although there had been many advantages for the school due to its rapid growth, unity between the different campuses was becoming a problem. Shortly after taking office, Dr. Williams made it a top priority to unite all the students onto one main campus. After two years of hard fundraising Trinity proudly opened the doors to its new 25-acre campus facility, located in Fairfax off of Braddock Road next to George Mason University.^{[citation needed]} The new building included a state-of-the-art computer lab, two custom-made art rooms, a practice gymnasium, and a science lab.^{[citation needed]} All classes were moved to the new campus.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005 Dr. Williams resigned as Trinity's headmaster to accept the vice presidency of Cairn University (then Philadelphia Biblical University). After much deliberation, the Trinity Christian board of trustees appointed then-teacher Dr. David Vanderpoel as the school's fourth headmaster. Under his leadership, Dr. Vanderpoel oversaw the addition of a second building to the campus to serve the upper school. Complete with a gymnasium with bleacher seating for 900, a performing arts stage and adjoining wing, a weight room, and additional science labs made up the building. During his tenure, the athletic fields were also converted to turf fields.

In 2012, Trinity Christian School was awarded accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS-CASI), the accreditation division of AdvancED.^{[citation needed]} Expansion of the student body continued and in 2019 the school purchased a 29-acre piece of land a mile away on Shirley Gate Road.

In 2022, Dr. David Vanderpoel announced his intention to retire at the end of the academic year. In 2023, after a national search, Trinity Christian School's Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Matt Thomas, then the Executive Director of the Center for School Leadership at Baylor University, as Trinity's next Head of School.^[3]

Accolades and student achievement

In 2019, Trinity Christian School was designated a National Blue Ribbon School by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, 1 of only 362 schools to receive this throughout the nation.^[4] The school reports that since its first graduation class in 2001, the school has produced 22 National Merit Finalists and 98 National Merit Commended Scholars, and that the mean ACT score for the classes of 2017 - 2022 was 28, while the mean SAT score for the same was 660 (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) and 641 (Math).^[5] U.S. News & World Report similarly lists the school's average ACT score as 28 and its average SAT score as 1200.^[6]

Trinity Christian School has the distinction of having a graduate accepted into four of the five U.S. service academies.^[7] Notable alumni include DonorSee founder Gret Glyer among others.

The school ranked 15th on The Roanoke Times 2023 list of the best private high schools in Virginia.^[8]

Extracurricular activities

The schools offers 36 sports teams, choral music, instrumental music, theater arts, visual arts, clubs, student government, and honor societies. The school's Honors Choral Ensemble has performed at the White House.^[9]

Athletic teams

Associations

• AdvancED TCS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS-CASI), an accreditation division of AdvancED.
• ACSI - Association of Christian Schools International
• ECFA - Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
• VCAC - Virginia Christian Athletic Conference
• VCPE - Virginia Council for Private Education
• FCCC - Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce

References

External links

• School homepage