200 Stories

Through the collective experiences of this extraordinary community, we define the spirit that makes us distinctly Trinity. Over the course of the Bicentennial year, we will collect 200 stories of our people, places, and this liberal arts education—some personal, some from existing publications. We invite you to join and share this communal storytelling project.

Raether Library, 1978.

Filter Stories

41 Results found for: Personal Memories

Trinity College post office at registration time, Mather Hall

Marvin Peterson ’60

When Trinity marked 50 years of coeducation, it sparked a realization in Marvin Peterson ’60. He may be the only remaining member of the Board of Trustees from that era.

Marvin Peterson ’60

Lily Mellitz ’26

My friends and I were eating dinner in Mather when someone shouted that it was snowing. We grabbed our coats and hats and rushed outside to see the first snowflakes of the season.

Lily Mellitz ’26

A Muddy Main Quad

Allyn Magrino ’85 recalls the impact Hurricane Gloria made on her in the fall of 1985.

Allyn Magrino ’85
Susan Thomas Schlett ’84 talks with a student.

Bringing the Society of Women Engineers to Trinity

Susan Thomas Schlett ’84 writes about her journey as an engineering major and her role in helping Trinity secure a SWE charter and ABET accreditation.

Susan Thomas Schlett ’84

[My favorite place on campus was] our junior year Jarvis suite living room, with the amazing windows onto the Long Walk.

Eileen Kern ’81

Keeping the Community Informed During the Pandemic

“Whether we meet in our offices in Jackson or virtually across the country, the Tripod will continue,” wrote Brendan W. Clark ’21, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, at the start of the pandemic.

The Tripod

Tim Lenicheck ’63

Sometimes you get lucky. I did.

Tim Lenicheck ’63

Emmett Miller, M.D., ’63  

Discovering the fundamental skeletal pattern shared by all vertebrates, and deeply understanding the oneness of us all , is among the lessons that Emmett Miller took from Trinity.

Emmett Miller, M.D., ’63  

Tony Piccirillo ’75

A Tripod editor taught me how to write by rejecting my words nearly in their entirety and assisting me in a total rewrite.

Tony Piccirillo ’75: Rewrite

David Holroyd ’63

I made Dean’s List as a freshman, struggled as a sophomore, and did fine from then on with some very special classmates and friends, mostly from Q.E.D.

David Holroyd ’63
Class of 1966 Yearbook, Trinity College

Bicentennial Essay

Robert Stepto ’66, retired in 2019 as the John M. Schiff professor emeritus of African American studies, English, and American studies at Yale University, where he taught for 45 years.

A Greyhound Kind of Mood

Deion Kelly ’23

Being yourself can allow cultural shifts for the better. Let all Trinity College students continue to be social change agents! 

Deion Kelly ’23 

Thomas Smith M’98 

On a cloistered south wall at Trinity is my granddad’s name along with his co-worker, Mr. Lumpkin. Two Black men included among a most diverse listing of those skilled in building a most sacred space. 

Thomas Smith M’98 

Carlo Marchetti IDP’05, P’25 

Trinity is like an oasis for students who want to go to school inside a city but want the comfort and safety of a secure home base. The curriculum is extremely challenging, but the professors are all in.

Carlo Marchetti IDP’05, P’25 

Bicentennial Essay

The academic community is a living, breathing collective reflection of the society at large. This I learned as a student, as a president, and as a trustee, writes Walter Harrison ’68, H’18.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bicentennial Essay

A Relationship Etched in Lime

Having met as undergraduates, the Lorings continue to feel grateful for relationships and experiences that began at Trinity.

The Lorings

One Anniversary Leads to Others

While recently marking Trinity’s 200th anniversary, a group of alumni paused to celebrate personal commitments to the future. Nearly two dozen married alumni renewed their wedding vows in the Trinity College Chapel on June 10.

Explore Gallery

Epic Tales of Trinity's Impact on a Family

“There seems to never have been a time when I didn’t know U2 because of the stories [my uncle] told about that concert,” writes Melissa Kotulski M’05.

Main Quad memories: barbecues, walking along the Long Walk with friends, sledding down the hill with trays from the dining hall when the College was closed for a blizzard, clambakes during Reunion Weekend.

Jeffrey Coleman ’01
the long walk in fall

A Conversation on the Main Quad

Brendan McGowan ’06 remembers a conversation on the Main Quad from the fall of his senior year.

Brendan McGowan
Funston Courtyard

My Favorite Place

Scott Cassie 82 on the oasis of green calm provided by the Funston Courtyard.

Scott Cassie ’82

Anti-war Dissent at Trinity, 1969-73

Steve Barkan ’73 remembers actions students took to protest the Vietnam War during his years on campus.

Steve Barkan ’73
clipping from the Trinity Tripod with the headline, UNDEFEATED! Bantams top NESCAC, Embarrass Wesleyan.

Always Play to the Whistle

Matt Glasz ’04, co-captain on the Bantam football team, recalls the undefeated season in the fall of 2003.

Matt Glasz ’04

Trinity Families

Consuelo Pedro ’15, Elena-Marie Pedro ’17, and Anneliese Pedro ’20, who hail from Trinidad and Tobago in the southern Caribbean, all majored in the sciences at Trinity.

The Pedro Family
The final exam blue books of Dutch Barhydt '81, M'04, P'08 and Hilary Chittenden Barhydt M'04, P'08.

My Favorite Place

Dutch Barhydt ’81, M’04, P’08 shares fond memories of McCook Auditorium.

Dutch Barhydt ’81

A Unique Moment in Time

“My education, I discovered, was to be found not only in Trinity’s classrooms but literally in everything that happened in the building of relationships that would describe a Trinity life, even the strangest of encounters.”

Michael Schulenberg ’63

Best memory of the Main Quad: Playing a concert as part of the Brass Quintet from the balcony of the Chapel in concert with the carillons. 

Jason Jacobson ’77
Austin Arts Center

My Favorite Place

Bob Ebinger 67 reflects on the role the Austin Arts Center played in his time at Trinity.

Bob Ebinger ’67

Hidden Words

Jim Robertson 69 recounts the story of a friendly contest among biochemistry classmates.

Jim Robertson ’69
Graduation day 1963: Those in the picture are Ted Stier, Charlie McGill, Bob Kirk, Eddie Roberts, Rick Nygard, me, and Stone Coxhead. We were all members of Delta Phi. I was president.

Memories of Trinity

The Bicentennial resurrects fond memories of Trinity for Stan Marcuss ’63 that continue to this day.

Stan Marcuss ’63

Trinity Families

Years before any of them knew they would attend Trinity, Alfred J. Koeppel’s three children had a tradition on the Main Quad.

The Koeppel Family

My Favorite Professor

Rick Zedník 93 writes about the lasting impact of Professor Joan Hedrick and Women’s Studies 101.

Rick Zedník ’93

Trying Out for the Team

Mike Vitale ’73 on the life lesson learned while trying out for the freshman baseball team in 1970.

Mike Vitale ’73

Main Quad Memories

Brendan Clark ’21 recalls time spent working with the Tripod, outdoors.

Brendan Clark ’21

[My favorite place was] Mather Dining Hall. This was where everyone would just relax, share funny stories, tease one another, and make each other laugh. We would also strategize about planning informal social activities together.

Jeffrey Coleman ’01
Trinity Tripod newspaper cover with two stories br Brendan McGowan

Reporting for the Tripod

Brendan McGowan 06 shares memories of being a news writer at-large for TheTrinity Tripod.

Brendan McGowan ’06

Four College Buddies at Trinity College: A Poem about Finding Oneself Again

Rabbi Paul Kipnes ’85 reflects on the occasion of four college roommates gathered for a guys weekend.

Rabbi Paul Kipnes ’85

My Favorite Professor

Allyn Cross Magrino ’89 remembers Professor Kenneth Lloyd-Jones.

Allyn Cross Magrino ’89

My favorite place at Trinity was the football field. I was with classmates who share my love of that game.

Ian Y. Bennett ’62

Memories of 1951

David Hoag ’55 shares his memories of the Main Quad

David Hoag ’55

My favorite place is the Crypt Chapel.

K. Sandy Leighton '04