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Caroline Benedetti spent twelve days on a National Geographic Student Expedition, a special program for budding photographers.
Benedetti worked with international researchers and high-level photographers in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, along the shore of the Hudson Bay, affectionately known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World.”
Lindsay Reedy participated in the Cochrane Summer Economic Institute (CSEI), an intensive four-week community outreach program administered by Collegiate School.
Reedy collaborated with teammates from Collegiate School, Godwin High School and Appomattox Regional Governor’s School. “It was a truly collaborative group project in which we all contributed equally and felt passionately about our work,” she said. “We all got along well and meshed together.”
Alex Dickinson spent two weeks in New York City at the NYU Music Production Program in the summer of 2018. The intensive course brought together students and professionals with a shared passion for music production.
Dickinson points to the people with whom she worked as a highlight of the experience. “Being able to collaborate with so many passionate people, both other students and professionals in the industry, was incredible,” she said.

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Discover Your Talents

10/2/2018

By Laura Hamlin Weiler ’00, Head of Community Engagement

Three Trinity students follow their passions to unique places over the summer of 2018

What do polar bears, recording studios and the economy and entrepreneurship have in common? For Trinity students Caroline Benedetti ’19, Alex Dickinson ’19 and Lindsay Reedy ’19, interacting with those components was a daily part of their summer as they sought to discover their talents in a global context. These three seniors, all IB diploma candidates, had noteworthy summers as they broadened their horizons and developed their future-ready skills.

Take only Pictures, Leave only Footprints

Benedetti spent twelve days in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, along the shore of the Hudson Bay. The town is affectionately known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World,” and indeed, Benedetti saw these arctic giants on her visit. She was participating for the second consecutive summer in the National Geographic Student Expedition, a special program for budding photographers. Last summer Benedetti ventured to Tokyo, Japan (along with Colin Goodpasture ’19). This year the expedition visited the frozen tundra of Manitoba.

Benedetti says she carries fond memories with her from her expedition, including snorkeling with Beluga whales and witnessing their sociability and graceful beauty. Other highlights for Benedetti included the people with whom she interacted; her fellow students hailed from all over the US and Mexico.

She also loved the marriage of photography and conservation in her expedition. The two subjects each have a unique focus, yet on the expedition they existed together and students learned from both perspectives. Being around international researchers and high-level photographers was fascinating and inspiring for Benedetti.

Bendetti felt prepared to enter the program, despite the harsh conditions and being the only Virginian in the group because it mirrored her start at Trinity. “Everyone enters Trinity from different places, and everyone has to learn and adapt to a new place together,” she said. “I felt confident coming into a new setting because I had done it at Trinity.” She will carry that confidence next fall as she enters college, where she plans to continue building upon the photography skills she’s learned both her at Trinity and through National Geographic.

Community Collaboration

For Lindsay Reedy, the Cochrane Summer Economic Institute was appealing because of its focus on economics and entrepreneurship and because it demanded both collaborative and independent work — two skill sets she has developed during her time at Trinity. “Trinity pushes you to learn independently,” Reedy said, “and I knew I liked that challenge and felt confident I could do it.”

The Cochrane Summer Economic Institute (CSEI) is a community outreach program administered by Collegiate School and funded by the Powell Economic Education Foundation. It is an intensive four-week program open to rising seniors from the greater Richmond area. Reedy engaged in design-thinking challenges created by partner companies to address real challenges that they face. Reedy’s group partnered with Childsavers, a Richmond nonprofit that provides mental health and child-development services within the Richmond community.

Highlights for Reedy, like Benedetti, were the people with whom she worked. “It was a truly collaborative group project in which we all contributed equally and felt passionately about our work,” she said. “We all got along well and meshed together.” Her group’s members came from Collegiate School, Godwin High School and Appomattox Regional Governor’s School.

Reedy also learned the value of trust in a collaborative setting. “It brings out the best in everyone, and it keeps you from spreading yourself too thin trying to do everything. We were able to divide the work to meet our strengths and everyone could excel as a result. Everyone in the program worked at such a high level that we could trust one another to accomplish all that we needed to do.”

Reedy credits Trinity with teaching her time management and being able to work for sustained periods of time with focus and intentionality. “We also were responsible for setting our own deadlines and managing our workloads, which is similar to some programs here within IB, where you have to manage your own deadlines,” said Reedy.

Reedy also enjoyed being in a work environment. She said it was a fun challenge “because you had to learn to balance free time and work time without the built-in structure of a traditional school setting. It was also fun exploring the city on our own and seeing all that Richmond has to offer.” She knows this experience has helped prepare for her the next steps of independence and discovering her talents in college and beyond.

A Sound Experience

Alex Dickinson has plenty of experience performing; she is a regular at Cabaret and Pach’s Place and also in Trinity theatre productions. This summer, though, she learned what it takes on the technical side to produce music.

Dickinson’s interest in music production was first piqued with music teacher Brian Rollins in Trinity’s Studio Music Production class. She loved the technical elements of production, and upon Rollins’ recommendation, she began exploring summer music opportunities. She applied to the New York University Music Production Program with a portfolio from her Studio Music Production class and was accepted.

The two-week intensive course brought together students and professionals with a shared passion for music production. Dickinson points to the people with whom she worked as a highlight of the experience. “Being able to collaborate with so many passionate people, both other students and professionals in the industry, was incredible,” she said. “The value of collaboration is crucial in music and you cannot do it alone. You have to work as a team and be open and willing to let others show their expertise.”

Like Reedy, Dickinson credits Trinity with teaching her to work independently and manage her time. She said her experience in productions with theatre teacher Brian Phillips honed this skill. “Mr. Phillips will give us our script, and it is up to us to be prepared at the next rehearsal. We have to figure out how to manage our deadlines,” she said. “In the NYU program, we had two weeks to produce a song, with no intermediate deadlines. Fortunately I had experience working independently.”

Dickinson said a major lesson that she will carry forth from her summer experience is to take the leap of faith and “go for it” in whatever you are doing. Said Dickinson, “try it, put yourself out there, don’t be afraid to fail, instead be open to the possibility of success and the possibility of something amazing happening.”

For these three seniors, their summer experiences bear witness to that credo and the power of following their passions and building their futures.

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About “Connections”

Connections is a regular online column, written from the first-person perspective of Laura Hamlin Weiler ’00, Head of Community Engagement:

In this space, I have the privilege of sharing stories of Trinity students, alumni, and faculty and staff who are carrying our mission beyond the boundaries of campus. Many of these stories might not make the headlines, but they will illustrate how every member of the Trinity community has a unique path to discover, and the ability to make an impact on both the Trinity community and the world beyond.

I am fortunate to have been a part of this community since my own adolescence. I have been a student, a teacher, a coach, and an administrator, and in these roles I have witnessed the school’s growth and evolution through the years. We have grown in size as well as spirit.

Stories here will capture how seeds planted at Trinity have taken root and flourished into full-grown passions. You’ll also read stories of those in our community who bring their gifts from outside to help us learn. At Trinity, we seek to develop lifelong learners, and stories here will illustrate real-life examples of that beautiful symbiosis.