For the past 24 years, Trinity High School has worked hard to take its academic accomplishments in the International Baccalaureate program one step beyond what other institutions have achieved.
This year, it succeeded. The River Forest school made Newsweek magazine’s list of top accredited IB programs in the U.S. in 2016. Nearly 20 schools around the country earned that distinction, which was awarded earlier this year.
River Forest village trustees adopted a resolution honoring that achievement in October and on Dec. 12 the village board presented a plaque containing that statement to the school’s president, Sister Michelle Germanson, and its principal, Noreen Powers.
“We are honoring them now, because they are doing such a great job. This is a huge recognition … and we couldn’t be happier to have Trinity as part of our community,” Village President Catherine Adduci said.
Germanson was ecstatic – about the plaque and the recognition that the school has earned.
“We wanted to give our young girls the best,” Germanson said. “We researched, investigated and got our teachers involved in it.
“IB put us on the map.”
Trinity became an accredited IB school 24 years ago, only the second one in the state and the first single-gender school in Illinois given that distinction.
The IB program is a rigorous, globally recognized honors curriculum, usually offered during the junior and senior years. Entry is based on their motivation to experience a rigorous program of study, their overall academic performance and teachers’ recommendations. Trinity also offers a pre-IB program as an introduction to the content and methods employed in the official program, school officials said.
Students may choose the full diploma option, which entails taking courses in each of the six subject areas: language and literature; world language, history, science, mathematics and the arts. Those taking part in the diploma program must write a 4,000-word extended essay, take a philosophy-based Theory of Knowledge course and participate in the creativity, activity and service components. Students can also decide to study individual subject areas, school officials said.
IB classes are offered in topics from English language and world literature to film study, French, Italian, Spanish and Mandarin to biology and chemistry, psychology and dance.
In the past 10 years, the program’s enrollment has grown by 20 percent. Currently, 55 percent of Trinity’s student body is enrolled in one or more IB courses, said Rose Crnkovich, an English teacher and the coordinator of the IB program at Trinity.
In the last five years, she added, 56 percent of all Trinity graduates received an IB diploma, with its students testing 10 percent higher than the national average.
Overall there are more than 2,600 schools nationally with IB programs. Other IB programs in the area are Gwendolyn Brooks and Percy Julian middle schools in Oak Park.