Dear Parents,
In any educational institution, you will find students focused on academic instruction and striving to advance their knowledge. While this is a notable pursuit, we recognize that even the most knowledgeable individual will fail if they have not developed character. Gandhi proposed that “knowledge without character is dangerous”, while Martin Luther King Jr. advanced that, “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
At Trinity, we firmly believe those words, but also realize that there ought to be a standard by which character is measured. That is found in none other than Jesus himself. This led us to ask the following question, “How can we encourage our students, and each other, to think about how we reflect Christ-like qualities in our actions?” The way we have chosen to do this is to select certain characteristics that Jesus reflected wherever He went. Moreover, they have been put into an acronym that will remind our students and staff who we wish to emulate.
C- Courage (Taking risks to do what is right)
H- Humility (Laying down my life in order to do things God’s way.)
R- Respect (Recognizing, honouring and protecting the God-given value of others.)
I- Integrity (Being faithful and true to God and His Word in all situations and circumstances.)
S- Seeker of God (Pursuing an ever-deepening relationship with God)
T-Teach ability (Seeking knowledge, understanding, and wisdom)
Whenever we use Jesus as the standard, we know that this is the best benchmark, but also the hardest to achieve. There will be times that we will fall short and need God’s mercy and grace to get us back on track. We need His helper, the Holy Spirit, to equip us for the task.
Rick Warren summarizes this by explaining that, “God builds character in our lives by allowing us to experience situations where we are tempted to do the exact opposite of the character quality. Character development always includes a choice. When we make the right choice, our character grows more like Christ.”
Our challenge throughout this year is that we will be paying close attention to the ways that God is building up these Christ-like characteristics in our school. We want to encourage our students who are making positive choices to live these out on a daily basis by acknowledging them at our various Recognition Assemblies. We trust that these characteristics will help all of us reflect Jesus everywhere.
Sincerely,
J-D Lussier, Principal
