Every year, when the Christmas season comes around and the snow starts to fall in wonderful flakes, Trinity High School and all who go here are filled with a sense of joy and an urge to give to others. Many teachers go out of their way to celebrate the holiday with both in class celebration and opportunities outside of class. One of these teachers is Alex Dotsey, the advanced freshman English teacher. Dotsey realizes that at the end of the semester, students are often stressed about midterm exams and make-up work, and need something to help them get through to Christmas Break. He will often put on classic Christmas music such as Last Christmas and Snowman by Sia when they are having a fun day and instrumental music when students are working. He says that “My intention with Christmas is to create a good uplifting, fun environment, trying to have Christmas music playing whenever the guy walk in.”
His celebrations of Christmas also leave lasting impressions on students, with Christopher Kehdy, a junior, who said his favorite Christmas moment at Trinity was having a feast in class with Dotsey. “I love celebrating Christmas at Trinity because it reminds of the brotherhood and how special it is to be a part of it.”
As well as inside the classroom, teachers such as Michael Budniak, the advanced Biology teacher, offer opportunities to show Christmas spirit outside of school as well. For more than 15 years, Budniak has gone with other students and faculty on a Tuesday after midterm exams to go to the Miracle on Broadway store to volunteer. The Miracle on Broadway store is a free store run by the Wayside Christian Mission meant to provide families struggling with financial hardship a means of getting toys for their
children. The Miracle on Broadway store gets many donated toys every year for their efforts, but they also need help with organizing the toys for the families. This is where the contributions of the Trinity group come in. They come in for about three hours to organize all the toys and make them look presentable and nice for people to get easier. Budniak says, “It’s a lot of grunt work, a lot of labor, and a lot of trying to keep in mind, here’s size of toys, approximate values, and kind of an age range that these kids would be the best for what you pull out of a box to organize. So there’s more than just turn your brain off and load and throw boxes and throw toys around.”
Both in and out of the classroom, there are many opportunities that Trinity students and teachers have taken to give back to the community. There’s a great joy in participating in the season of giving, so one should seek out those opportunities to give. Thankfully, there are many such opportunities that students have and have taken to provide service and create Christmas memories.
Have a wonderful Christmas Break, Trinity!
