Gallery • 17 Photos

all photos by Bob Heady

Check out these vestiges of technology past at Trinity.

Thirteen people crammed into what is now Trinity teacher Mr. Matt Manning’s office. Welcome to basic programming circa early 1980s.

Trinity’s first computer appeared on campus in 1979. This computer was a DEC PDP 11, “a little box with two eight-inch floppy drives,” said IT teacher liaison Mrs. Mary Mason, who began teaching at Trinity in 1981.

Mason did more than just teach programming. She also wrote software and worked with the teachers when they had issues with technology. Sr. Kathy Cash’s room (T314) was the computer lab in 1983. This move was made because the computer needed an air-conditioned room. This was the only room in Trinity Hall with A/C.

This move also created more space for the 20 terminals the school had just purchased. In 1985, technology branched out into nine terminals and three printers, all of which were located in offices throughout the school. In 1987, the computer lab moved to its current location: the first floor of Trinity Hall. However, the lab did not have all the space it has today. It had to share space with the art room and the bookstore.

Through Trinity’s various expansions, the campus store moved to Alumni Hall and the art department moved to the Communication Arts Center.

Mason said, “In the back, we had a room of Apple computers.” But she could not get too comfortable in the new lab.

She was relocated to what is now Mr. Tom Dubay’s room (F140)because “they thought there should be a lab in the new building. I kind of liked it there because I had windows.”

As time went on, the number of computers and labs grew. The Information Technology group has grown to five with, in addition to Mason, Mr. Andre Meyers (director  of instructional technology), Mr. Jeff Noe (data administrator), Mr. Steven Todd (technology coordinator) and Mr. Kevin Wangler (network administrator).

Todd initially was hired to help with the resource lab. He said, “My job was to check students in and out and make sure students were doing what they were supposed to do.”

Trinity connected to the Internet for the first time in 1995, one of the first schools to do so. Todd said, “It was the fastest you could get at the time.” The first network at Trinity was the computer lab, with units connected by daisy-chaining them together.

By 1997, 33 classrooms were connected to the Internet. Starting in 2012, students began bringing their own devices to school, opening many new academic opportunities.

Meyers said the future is bright for Trinity technology. The next step is Bluetooth technology in printers and projectors. He said, “My vision is to find a way of developing a grant or applying for a grant that would facilitate the restructuring of our instructional technology. I would like to target for a five-year plan.”