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| Trinity's values, such as "Discover, Grow, Become," will be highlighted during the 150th anniversary celebration. (The Roar photo) |
Trinity University is taking stock of the present and looking to the future in planning for celebrating her 150th anniversary.
The steering committee for the celebration is co-chaired by Angela Breidenstein, professor of education, and Jacob Tingle, director of Experiential Learning. The committee has launched a community-oriented planning campaign to help decide what the sesquicentennial celebration is going to look like. The year-long celebration will begin in January of 2019 and go through December. The university was founded in 1869.
The committee is intentional in not taking an approach of telling people what should happen for the sesquicentennial. Instead, “we chose a more constructivist community based organic approach, which is to say what does the community think we should recognize, honor, question, and celebrate," Breidenstein said. "That’s why we have done this campaign rather than saying here are the events. We want it to be really inclusive and far reaching and get people involved.”
Student leaders, alumni, faculty, staff, and trustees made up the planning committee, which began their work in September.
One of the first things the committee did was send out announcements and a Google Form requesting community input on what the goals should be for the celebration. This is a way for everyone, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and members of the San Antonio community, to get involved. This input helped the committee form the goals, mission, and guiding principles of the 150th celebration.
“We want to celebrate our commitment to excellence and enduring community, as well as Trinity’s momentum for the future,” Breidenstein said. In developing its mission, the committee wanted to recognize that Trinity has a commitment to excellence and holds up a community that has endured 150 years of history. “The momentum for the future has been one of President Anderson’s key messages. I think it really energizes us to think that we are on a really good path for the future. So it’s both looking back, but it is also taking stock of what’s really good right now and then looking to the future,” she said.
The committee is looking for groups of people to get together and share what is important or special to them in their Trinity experience or in their Trinity story. “This may include people sending in pictures or memorabilia to be shared or getting together with an organization that was important to them when they were at Trinity and getting alumni together to talk about where the organization is now, its history, and to look to the future of the organization,” said Breidenstein. This is where Greek organizations and Greek council, for example, could be involved.
Other campus organizations are also involved. Monty McKeon, president of the Student Programing Board (SPB), serves on the planning committee. The committee is encouraging SPB and the Student Government Association (SGA) to offer advice to student groups as they begin planning events for 2019, and to provide assistance hosting the events.
Another part of the campaign is focusing on elevating existing events. “Trinity has so many things that happen every year that are already ongoing events. So we know the campus is really busy. What we want to do is elevate the events in 2019 so that it has some special unique aspect for the anniversary year,” Breidenstein said.
For example, Trinity participates in the MLK March annually. Next year, this event can be elevated to commemorate the anniversary. The committee is also planning to elevate events during alumni weekend in October, plus a special kick-off event in the early spring.
Besides elevating existing events, the community is also encouraging creation. “It doesn't have to be an event. It can be an artifact or artistic representation or some kind of a contribution that is not an event. We have tried to make this umbrella pretty large,” Breidenstein said.
The guiding principles the committee will use to evaluate celebration events reflect the core values of Trinity. “It’s about our contribution to higher education, our appreciation for our values, recognizing San Antonio and the many communities in which we learn and engage, to honor the generations that have made us resilient, accessible, and sustainable, and to embrace our momentum and the significance to move confidently into the future,” Breidenstein said.
A celebration like this sure requires a sense of festivity, and the marketing team at Trinity is on the task.
Michelle Bartonico, director of strategic communications and marketing said that the office has created a preliminary logo for the sesquicentennial and she is excited about the “momentum of everything and elevated events that will use the anniversary logo.”
Her team is also developing a communication plan that will engage the campus community as well as the broader San Antonio community. “Our biggest task is to work with the community to make a strategic communication and marketing plan that focuses on both external and internal communication,” she said. “It will bring the community together.”
In addition, the Trinity University Press is developing a book to commemorate Trinity’s 150th anniversary. This pictorial history will offer people an opportunity to learn more about Trinity and its important eras. “We want to authentically capture the history of Trinity and look to the future,” Breidenstein said.
The committee is also considering creating brochures, newsletters and banners. In short, “you are going to know when you step on Trinity’s campus that it’s the university’s 150th anniversary, even if you are not a student here,” said Breidenstein.
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