Interview with Trinity College School Alum, Zack Chauvin

The pillars of education that they talk about at Trinity College School are academics, athletics, arts, and service.

Trinity College School encourages everyone to be three-semester athletes. Trinity College School students choose three different sports in fall, winter, and spring. I did cross country in the fall and then swimming and rowing. I earned different distinctions in, and really benefited from doing all those different sports.

In the arts, I was pretty successful playing trumpet, and so I played in the wind orchestra, as well as being involved with musicals at Trinity College School.

Service was a focus for me. I spent a lot of time in service, whether volunteering to help others with their studies or helping out in the community. I got involved with that during my time at Trinity College School.

I ended up being a prefect at Trinity College School. Trinity College School elects ten prefects in every Grade 12 class, and I was one of them. I also got to be a head boy and lead that group.

I was very hesitant about computer science, because I grew up in a medical family. In Grade 9 at Trinity College School, I took a class that had a little bit of computer science. I loved it, but even then, I was still pushing it away. I was like, ‘no,’ and stayed on the straight and narrow path to more traditional science. A teacher at Trinity College School would ask me every time I passed him in the hall, ‘so when will you take AP computer science? You liked it.’ I was like, ‘I know, but there are too many other AP classes, I can't do it. Anyway, he persisted, every time he saw me, he smiled, and he said, ‘we'd really love to have you in AP computer science.’ I ended up taking both the Grade 11 and 12 computer science at Trinity College School and loved it. By the time I got to college, I was pretty sure that I wanted to do computer science. Then I took the intro to computer science at Harvard University, which locked it in. From there, I was off to the races.

I love my career in computer science. I'm still really grateful to my computer science teacher at Trinity College School, and the opportunity that I got at Harvard University to study computer science.

Something that stood out to my family and me about private school, boarding school, and Trinity College School, is the depth that it gives you across all of the pillars of education and academics, athletics, arts, and service. Coming into Trinity College School, I didn't have any particular stronghold. To be fair to myself, I was definitely academically inclined, but in terms of the other three I had very little exposure. That was a real excitement for my family and me, to be in an environment where I could fully immerse myself in athletics, three different sports, trumpet and singing, as well as being immersed in service.

A cool thing about boarding school, in particular at Trinity College School, is just how high quality the teachers are. Since many of them are living on campus and you spend so much time on campus, they really are peers and friends. I remember in particular, my housemaster was an incredible guy and somebody that I really looked up to as I was in his residential house. It's a great example of the number of role models that you can have at Trinity College School.

What I appreciated about Trinity College School was the individualized attention that you can receive.

There's somebody that specializes in U.S. admissions at Trinity College School. He noticed early on that I might be a candidate to attend school in the United States. He took an interest in me and helped coach me through that process, which was super valuable.

I benefited from being at Trinity College School in terms of individual education. They encourage everyone to take their own path through the courses. For me, that meant challenging a couple of courses, which is writing the exams without taking the course. Some teachers were able to give me the resources to do that, and it meant that I was able to progress more quickly and ultimately do more AP classes.

Some schools appear to be sports schools, and other ones are arts focused Trinity College School has a great degree of richness across all areas. That was really good for me because I didn't know what my passions would be. I had no interest in service. I was not much of an athlete or an artist, so that richness across each area differentiates Trinity College School.

Trinity College School has a beautiful campus that is rich in history, which stands out to me. In terms of the outdoor space, some of my favourite memories of Trinity College School are on the weekend spending time with other high school students out on the terraces. The outdoor space is amazing. Trinity College School has been around since 1865. There's a real sense of history there, whether it's war memorials, or our main dining hall being beautiful; it’s a tribute to all of the people who have attended Trinity College School in the past.

I would say the history of Trinity College School sets it apart.

If I had to pick three words to personify Trinity College School, I think the first one is adventurous. There's a sense of adventure to attending a boarding school. It is quite a change for a 14-year-old to leave home and attend a boarding school, but a worthwhile adventure. From there, the adventure continues. I think Trinity College School opens up many pretty wild doors.

I was fortunate to be able to travel with Trinity College School, for instance, to Jamaica for a service trip. They also offered trips to Europe and around the world. Whether in Ontario or abroad, there's a lot of adventure with Trinity College School.

Trinity College School pushes students to be ambitious in whatever it is that they end up loving. So there's enough flexibility that, for instance, if you're not into athletics, they still encourage you to be active, but that you're able to swap a little out for arts as an example. Finding what it is that you're excited about and having ambition in that area is certainly something that TCS presses on.

I think Trinity College School really cares for its students, and the community cares for each other. Whether it's the teachers recognizing the boarding students are away from home and caring for them, and paying attention to the problems, or just really trying to engender in all the students care for each other and for the world, I think that's something that Trinity College School does really well.

I like the mission of Trinity College School, which is, ‘developing habits of the heart and mind for a life of purpose and service.’ There are certainly many values of the heart and mind that come to mind when I think of Trinity College School. A real commitment to service is something that Trinity College School presses on, and that's stuck with me. Given that boarding students are there all the time, and we had so much time to give. It was common for me to be volunteering for upwards of 10 hours a week, whether it's after school in the community or with other students. Another instance of Trinity College School embodying service and the importance of service is a week called ‘Week Without Walls,’ which is an entire week dedicated to service. Trinity College School offers tons of different opportunities. Each student can pick whether they want to help out nursing homes, go to malls and volunteer there, or have some dedicated experience. For that whole week, students completely focus on service. That was a value that I saw shown through at Trinity College School, and one stuck with me.

In terms of outsiders, one interesting thing about boarding at Trinity College School is that while, of course, high school leads to deep friendships, I think living with your peers at all times leads to a depth of friendship that is amazing and has served me well. There are still friends from high school that I've kept in touch with during Covid, and we video chat each other. Now, I live in San Francisco, and whenever I return to Ontario, there are people that I'm keen to see. That experience of essentially having grown up together, and living on the same campus, really leads to some amazing friendships. That's something special about Trinity College School that might not be apparent from the outside.

The typical Trinity College School student is well-rounded, interested in many different facets of the educational experience, active during the day in terms of their academics, and at lunch, is prepared to take a break to go to their service meeting. For instance, I would attend the Trinity Environmental Action Committee at lunch. I was really into service in terms of environmental stewardship and then turned around after school to go to arts practice, like a wind Orchestra or cross country practice. The typical Trinity College School student is ready to engage across all different fronts.

Everyone at Trinity College School is very friendly. There is a feeling on campus where everyone knows each other, and students feel like you're part of a community, which is really special.

Everyone at Trinity College School has to wear a name tag for the first month This speaks to how Trinity College School is trying to build a community. There's a real emphasis that all the teachers should know all the students’ names, and all the students should know each other's names. By the time name tags come off in October, everyone knows each other.

Trinity College School shaped me in two main ways. One is definitely in terms of the opportunities that Trinity College School afforded me, which set me on a path that I'm really grateful for. While I was at Trinity College School, the U.S. admissions counselor took an interest in me and helped me prepare for applying and getting into a school in the United States. Through that opportunity, I found computer science and was able to have a really rich University experience. I was lucky to attend an entrepreneur's dinner while I was at Harvard University, where I met all sorts of really amazing alumni from Trinity College School. I got my first tech internship through one of them. I ended up working at Strava, an app based around running and cycling in San Francisco. That opportunity got me my first tech internship, and from there, I was able to get an internship with Facebook and ultimately worked there full time.

Service is certainly something that is still really important to me. While in Silicon Valley, I volunteered as a volunteer teacher in a high school teaching computer science. I would ascribe my interest in service to Trinity College School.

Taking a bunch of 14-year-olds and dropping them into boarding is certainly a bit of a social experiment, and it has its ups and downs to be away from home and to be in a group of kids that are just trying to figure things out. The first year at Trinity College School is a real experiment that works out very well for many people who attend, but with its ups and downs. A challenge for new Trinity College School students to be aware of is that there will be tough parts of your first year as you're adjusting to this new environment But it's certainly an adjustment worth making.

I would certainly recommend attending Trinity College School. I think it's an amazing place to have the opportunity to go to high school, and it affords a lot to students in terms of the richness across the four pillars of education; academics, athletics, arts, and service. Trinity College School has a deep investment in each of those categories, and that means that new students can come in a blank slate, experiment a lot, and ultimately find and pursue a deep relationship with whichever pillars that you end up being interested in.

A reason I would recommend Trinity College School would be around the strength of the community, both while you're on campus and afterwards You get to know your peers and teachers really well. Coming back to Toronto each year for the holiday season, I always look forward to is the reunion that Trinity College School hosts every year for the alumni. I love seeing all of my friends, and the yearly cadence of the reunion speaks to the strength of the Trinity College School community.

An important thing to keep in mind is that attending a school like Trinity College School is an amazing privilege. This access to so many different opportunities across all sorts of fields of interest is really special It is the case at Trinity College School that you have an amazing degree of access to opportunity. The ability to have that in your mind makes you more able to take those learnings and opportunities forward to improve your community and the world.