Kathleen Pinson

Kathleen Pinson was born in Pleasant Valley, New York in 1946. She lived in a Catholic orphanage for two years before she was adopted by her parents, Tony and Mary Quintilian. Pinson is from a family of educators, and it was not long before she entered the field herself. Now, after 42 years in education, Pinson has decided to retire.

While Pinson’s father was a school principal and her mother was a legal secretary, they fell in love with a big beautiful white estate house in Long Island that doubled as a nursery, and soon after, the couple bought both the house and the nursery. Pinson recalls growing up in this house as her “own version of Disney World.”

The house rested on 13 acres of land and included a horse, ducks, three pools, a go-kart track, a softball field and a baseball field. During the Summers, her family ran a summer day camp called Shepard Day Camp. Pinson finds it ironic that the symbol of the camp was a fleur de lis, perhaps foreshadowing her future work at Trinity Prep.

For her undergraduate studies, she attended Otterbein University, a small liberal arts college right outside of Columbus, Ohio. As a freshman in college, in 1964, Pinson met her husband-to-be. Two weeks after graduation, the couple moved to New York to work at her family’s summer camp and were then married. The following August, in 1968, a school in Marion County had an opening for both a History and an English teacher, and thus the couple’s career as educators began.

A number of years later, the Pinsons moved back to Columbus, Ohio for a job opportunity for Mr. Pinson. Pinson worked at a Catholic all girls’ school as the department head of English for four years. At the time, Andrea, Pinson’s daughter and current 6th grade history teacher, was attending public school, and Pinson was looking for a better opportunity for both herself and her daughter.

In 1985, the Wellington School, an independent private school, was starting up and was looking to hire an English teacher. Pinson had never worked in independent education, but applied for the job and began teaching 9th grade English and Speech. Eventually, she became the principal of the Upper School. Here she met Social Sciences Department Chair Samuel Stewart.

“We started the high school in Ohio from scratch. I was the first department head for the History Department,” Stewart said. “I learned how to be ambitious but not bite off more than I can chew. She helped me to set goals, but adjust those goals when they were not in alignment with reality. She does a great job of letting people have the freedom to do their thing within the confines of what the needs of the organization.”

Stewart appreciates Pinson’s work at Wellington.

“It was an ambitious undertaking and the school is still in existence. She helped create a great atmosphere in which to go to school and to teach.”

At Wellington, Pinson created a “Headmaster’s Day” as a “pressure release day” in the spring before final exams; it is still referred to as “Pinson Day.”

In 1994, Pinson attended a National Association for Independent Schools’ conference in Florida. Pinson’s husband had already moved down to Florida for a new job opportunity, so she started to look for jobs around Central Florida. Trinity Prep was looking for a teacher, and Pinson interviewed with Judie Rosenstock and Headmaster Craig Maughan. She was hired as the English Department Chair and moved down that summer with her children. Since then she has taught 9th – 12th grade English. In 2009, Pinson took over as the Director of Curriculum and has had this role ever since.

As the Director of Curriculum, Pinson helped launch an intensive curriculum review by each department, a collegial and collaborative faculty evaluation system, and the Honors and Advance Placement grading scales, to name a few of her and her colleague’s accomplishments.

Pinson has loved working at Trinity for 20 years and seeing everything change and develop, especially over the last ten years.

“I love watching teachers teach and develop their curriculum and their courses,” she said. “I feel like I’m their cheerleader!”

Most people don’t know that Pinson can sometimes be pretty shy in social situations. Pinson describes herself as being “the world’s greatest wallflower” in high school. At Otterbein, Pinson was able to flourish, and her time there reminds her of the closeness of the Trinity family. Now, around campus, students and teachers alike can feel Pinson’s excitement and confidence about her work beaming throughout the day.

If you walk into Pinson’s office in the Upper School Office, you can’t help but notice the numerous copies of Playbills bordering the room. Growing up in Long Island, Pinson attended many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. She started gathering Playbills, ripping off the covers and placing them in a special drawer. Pinson has collected more than 80 Playbills from New York, Atlanta, Columbus, London and the Stratford Festival in Canada, which she attended every Summer for many years.

Aside from Pinson’s love of theater, her greatest passion in life is family, followed by her love of being involved with education.

“I love all parts of it—teaching, the students, the teachers, supervising—I will miss all of it,” she said.

As the registration forms pile up on the corner of her desk, Pinson calls attention to her appreciation for education.

“[Registration] has taught me an appreciation for students’ abilities,” she said. “You don’t have to be an A+ student to make a difference in the world.”

Pinson advises students and teachers alike to be good listeners and always look for a win-win outcome. She believes it’s always possible to be find an agreeable solution.

“Be passionate about what you do. Don’t let people tell you ‘no’ when something is out of reach. Be open to new adventures, new changes, something that can just be right around the corner,” she said.

For the past 10 years, Pinson and her husband have lived in different towns. Her husband lives in Flagler County, and Pinson heads over there every Friday to spend time with him. Pinson’s life since she entered the education field has been controlled by bells ringing, and now it’s time for her to set her own schedule.

“I want to travel and spend time with my family,” Pinson said. “I look forward to being able to practice playing golf, cooking, exercising, gardening, maybe joining the Whale Watchers Club in Flagler County—there’s just so much for me to choose from.”

Pinson’s presence in the education community will certainly be missed next year, and while she won’t physically be on campus, her work as the Director of Curriculum will never be forgotten.

“I’m going to miss everybody. I know I am. I love this school, I’m very passionate about Trinity,” Pinson said. “The Trinity family really does exist.”

George Venketsamy 

Doctor George Venketsamy was born in 1944 in South Africa right after World War II. He grew up in a society plagued by the Apartheid, and segregation was the only lifestyle Venketsamy was exposed to. Now, 70 years later, Venketsamy is fully immersed in diversity and equality, and after 20 years of teaching at one of the best schools in Central Florida, it’s time for Venketsamy to retire.

Venketsamy lived in South Africa for 31 years and attended segregated schools from first grade through college. Education was controlled by the government, and only the top 150 students from Venketsamy’s hometown of coastal Durban were selected to attend high school. Certain parts of the city were designated for different races, and Venketsamy wasn’t allowed to interact with white children.

Venketsamy recalls one time when he was playing soccer barefoot with his friends, some of different races, three cops started to chase them with nightsticks. He was the last of his friends to make it over the metal fence and ended up with a giant slash on the bottom of his foot. Venketsamy describes this as a “literally painful encounter with racism.”

Grade school and high school were separated by race and sex, and Venketsamy attended a college only for Indians. But now when Venketsamy recalls the situation, he laughs at the absurdity of racism and sexism.

“It’s ironic because about 80% or more of the administration was white in order to keep the other races ‘under control,’” he said.

When Venketsamy was a child he had problems with his knees and went blind for three months; because of his health problems he didn’t enter first grade until he was nine and graduated high school two years behind average. Dr. V. notes being blind for three months as one of his top life-changing moments. He was in a Federal hospital when it happened, and in order to save his life, his mother had him make a vow that he would go to the temple for special prayers for three years, and then for the rest of his life to give thanks for regaining his vision. During the second year he told his mother that he couldn’t finish at the temple.

“When I turned 12, I started becoming seriously intellectually ‘rebellious,’ read up and questioned all kinds of religious belief systems, got into passionate debates with grown ups and my younger friends, and started my life long ‘spiritual’ flirtation with Atheism and Agnosticism,” said Venketsamy, “while having due respect for every individual’s right to authentically make their own ‘leaps of faith’ regarding whatever or whoever they believe supplies the fuel that moves our universe and any others that may be out there!”

However, this setback didn’t keep Venketsamy from finishing in the top three in most of his grades, graduating high school and enrolling in college at 21.

As an undergraduate, he double-majored in philosophy and mathematics and minored in English. When he tried to declare his major, his adviser tried to forbid him, because according to Venketsamy, “they didn’t want students thinking independently.” However, with determination  and the support of his friends Venketsamy set up an appointment with the president of the college and told him he was going to major in philosophy. The president questioned how he was planning on making a living coming from such a poor family and majoring in theoretical math, but Dr. V. held his ground and pursued these majors. In 1968, Venketsamy graduated with a double-major in philosophy and math and was the only student at the college who had this track.

In 1969, he began teaching English and math at a segregated school for Indians in South Africa. The day was eight periods long, and he taught from six to eight classes, two of which were full of only 45 girls. Venketsamy taught there until 1976 when he met the love of his life. He was at school studying to get his graduate teaching certificate when one day, from 100 yards away, he saw a sophomore waiting for her class to start. He thought to himself, “That’s the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

After five years of courtship they married and moved to New York where his wife attended a program at the Columbia School of Education. Venketsamy got his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia, and his dissertation was on truth.

In 1985, the couple moved to San Francisco, California, and Venketsamy started teaching math at a private school, Lick-Wilmerding High School.

In 1994 Dr. V. began working at Trinity and was the Mathematics Department Chair until 2011. He taught four classes of Algebra II and one Statistics class. After 20 years, Venketsamy has decided it’s time to put his teaching to rest.

“The students have definitely been my favorite part of teaching here,” Venketsamy said. “I’ll miss interacting with them because they have kept me fresh and on my toes. Laughing is what I’ll miss most about teaching.”

In his classroom Venketsamy was willing to explore different types of learning, especially styles that involved learning in a fun way.

“With the types of students at Trinity, I wanted to shift learning from a product to a process,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to enjoy teaching and make many students enjoy learning, and I think those are some of the best times I’ve had at Trinity.”

Director of Parent Relations and Communications, Lane Epps ‘97, had Dr. V. for two years as a junior and senior.

“I admired how [as a teacher,] he treated me like an adult. He treated us like equals as long as we didn’t abuse it,” Epps said. “It’s also been really nice to come back here and get to know him more. He helps give everyone a reality check and always does something to make you laugh and just be in the moment.”

Alumn are not the only ones who have learned something from the sage Venketsamy has become.

“[Dr. V has taught me that] being kind is one of the most important things you can do no matter what the situation is,” current Mathematics Department Chair Deb Costello said.

Dr. V. may be retiring, but he’s not finished. When asked what his ultimate reason for retiring this year, he squinted then smiled.

“I taught about every math class that was offered at Trinity, this is my 45th year of teaching, and I’m feeling ready to explore new things. I’m looking forward to having some fun without any explicit codes. I want to chew on other stuff while I still have my own sharp teeth,” he giggled.

Venketsamy’s presence on this campus adds to a more cheerful atmosphere, and his fist bumps will be missed by many. Though he won’t be returning here next year, his aura about life will always be felt on campus.