From Trinity Into the World

Contributing Author: Miss Victoria Morse, Class of 2018 (Trinity SWAN Support Tutor/Upper School Teacher)

February 2022, Flourishing Special Issue

I had the unique privilege of attending Trinity from Kindergarten all the way to my senior year. I graduated in 2018, having the blessing of 13 years at this wonderful school. Being in the first small group of Trinity students to attend for so long, I can honestly not stop singing its praises to anyone I meet.

After graduating from Trinity, I attended Yavapai College to have time to save up for further college education, figure out what I wanted to pursue, and obtain my associate degree. This time was essential to my spiritual growth and choice in collegiate pursuits, but I still used the time to be involved with Trinity in my free time. Whether through helping assist Head Coach Alicia Anderson with the high school girls’ basketball team or being a camp counselor in Colorado with the Phoenix Inner City Kids group that Mr. Jimison has connected Trinity with over the summers, I wanted to stay connected during this period. I then selected Northern Arizona University (NAU) to pursue my Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science with a minor in Public Relations.

I started online with NAU in the spring of 2021, but God orchestrated my move to Flagstaff to finish up my last three semesters in person. I could not be more grateful for the way in which Trinity prepared me to be in an environment where I would be challenged on my beliefs in the classroom every single day. Why choose a secular and leftist university to study political science? Foundations of logical and critical thinking planted while at Trinity allowed me to defend my beliefs in my written works and put my skills to the test. If not defending my beliefs, I was then given the opportunity to write about and argue beliefs that differed from my own to better understand the ideas and the people who believed them.

There was no way I’d change the minds of my fellow students and professors through verbal sparring in the classroom where it was neither the time nor the place. This was not another “God’s Not Dead” film starring me. However, if I did an excellent job in my written work, doing exactly as the professors asked of me and more, I could see the wheels turning. I had professors dig further into conversations about my papers after class, especially when I was bold enough to throw in a Bible verse or two as my support. I am thankful to be graded as fairly as I was as I know that is not always the case for Christians who attend other secular universities. Changing the hostile attitudes towards Christianity from my fellow classmates came through making genuine connections with them. I was challenged to live my life to illustrate that their misconceptions of Christianity were skewed through poor representations in the media/on social media.

I was only able to accomplish this through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit via His discernment with my solid foundations in faith, discipline, and speaking the truth in love to others that began at Trinity. Attending NAU allowed me to put my knowledge to the test in real-life situations where I had to actively choose Christ and the truth daily. This period brought the clarity of seeing the humanity in those who are lost. The ideas and talking points of the various worldviews I saw at NAU were just what I had been warned about when taking “Understanding the Times” class with Mr. Maestri, but they were no longer just ideas anymore. Real people genuinely thought these things. These were people, created in God’s image, in need of a Savior, who deserved the same love and care poured into them as I had been blessed with through my family and at Trinity.

I graduated from NAU in December of 2022, Summa Cum Laude, and without any debt nor parental monetary assistance to top it all off. I’ll be moving back to the Prescott area in summer of 2023 to enjoy being closer to my family once more. As I progress forward from my time at NAU, I look to all the lessons and challenges that God brought before me and led me through to remind me of His faithfulness. Without my parents’ insistence upon my attendance at Trinity, I would have been easily swayed by the world’s arguments upon arriving at the university. My future is in God’s hands, wherever He puts me, but I now have the boldness and capabilities to simultaneously defend my faith and love those who argue against my faith.