Fides, Familia, Communio.  If someone were to hear those Latin words on the street, they probably wouldn’t have any idea what they mean. A Trinity student, however, would know exactly what they mean. In fact, this entire school year revolves around those three words–and that’s exactly what Senior Class President Mark Hines and the rest of the senior officers wanted.

“(The theme) brings us together,” Hines said in the speech he gave at Opening Mass, just over a month ago. “Most people don’t know what it means, so those that do feel closer because we have a secret.”

It’s certainly a unique idea, for a school’s theme to be in a language that no one speaks. Seniors asked to comment on the theme’s language thought it was a great idea.

“It’s like a secret,” senior Thomas Beyerle said. “The Latin makes it almost like a club.”

Hines and the other senior class officers — Charlie Tancula, Alex Dugan, Ray Hyde and Michael Franck — began meeting last spring.

“We were just brainstorming ideas at first,” Vice President Tancula said. “We wanted something that could capture what defines our Senior Class, and we came up with several ideas.”

The officers met during the summer and were organized and advised mostly by teachers Mr. Jeremy Jackson and Mr. David Case.

“They never set any original parameters,” Hines said. “But they would sometimes jump in and suggest that we alter this or that — or tell us that something might be taken the wrong way.”

For example, the “fellowship” (communio) part of the theme was originally going to be “fraternity,” but it was decided that fraternity has a connotation they were not intending.

Jackson, a college counselor and senior capstone class teacher, said that instead of giving the seniors ideas, he helped them organize their thoughts.

Of his first time working with the Senior Class officers, Jackson said, “It was fun for me, and they were motivated. The hardest part was not being able to push them in a direction I liked, because I wanted the theme to be their idea.”

At times in the past, the school’s theme has been used as the basis for school-organized events. Two years ago Trinity’s theme was “Together as One.” In spring of that year, the entire student body got together on the football field to form the letters “THS” for a picture, which was used as the 2011-12 yearbook cover.

Hines doesn’t have any such plans, however. “It’s not something that events are planned around,” he said. “This theme is something that happens in the halls and the classrooms. Coming together, looking past our differences, and being brotherly aren’t things that need a date and time to happen.”

Hines asks seniors to take the lead in displaying their senses of faith, family and community every day.

“I think we should follow the theme all of the time,” senior Christian Robbins said. “We should live out our faith and care for our Trinity brotherhood.”

Tancula has similar views. “Faith had to be a big thing, so we put it first,” he said. “But fellowship is a big part, too; we’re not just people that you spend four years with. We bond and share a brotherhood — we form a family.”

Seniors, for the most part, are excited about the theme.

“I think it’s pretty good,” Robbins said.

Beyerle said, “I think it’s the best one we’ve had, at least as long as I’ve been here.”

Hines said achievements are great, but we should strive to be remembered for what we can accomplish together.  “I hope that everyone can take this theme to heart,” he  said, “and we can all display it together.”