The Prefect System
Leadership is understood by our Prefects as taking responsibility for the flourishing of the community. It matters as much as anything we teach and is an essential component of a Boston Trinity education.
What makes a great school?
The answer is its ethos, the spirit that represents the culture of a school, and which shapes and inspires students who pass through its classes and hallways. We’ve built a culture around three key aspects of our mission: faith, integrity, and service. These values transform our students and their experience at Boston Trinity.
These values can’t simply come from our teachers – they must be rooted from the ground up through our students themselves. This is why we work hard to cultivate, mentor, and train our student leaders, the Prefects. Leadership is understood by our Prefects as taking responsibility for the flourishing of the community. It matters as much as anything we teach and is an essential component of a Boston Trinity education.
The Prefects are accountable for a lot. For starters, they’re a conduit between students and faculty, overseeing all aspects of student life. Great prefects make a difference in the lives of their fellow students. Representing the BTA community, prefects are kind, open, present and available. They’re seen as an approachable body whom other students feel they reach out to, talk to—especially students in the Middle school. Prefects ensure students’ and faculty voices are heard. In other words, new prefects have big shoes to fill. There’s a lot to learn and specific challenges to confront and, eventually, to overcome.
Leadership Opportunities:
Prefect Board
The Prefect Board consists of seniors and juniors who hold positions of leadership in various areas of school life. The Board includes the Head Prefect, the Spiritual Life Prefects, the Trinity Institute Prefects, the Academic Prefects, the Trinity Institute and Trinity Globe Prefects, the Discipline Committee Prefects, the Arts Prefects, the Athletics Prefects, the Middle School Prefects, and the Advancement Prefects. They meet with the Dean of Students and the Headmaster to build school culture, coordinate events, and develop their leadership capacities in consultation with one another.
Student Councils
Students have the opportunity to serve on various councils at the school. Current councils include: the Arts Council, the Advancement Council, the Athletics Council, the Academic Council, the Middle School Council and the Spiritual Life Council. The student on these councils work closely with their fellow Prefects. Through participating in weekly or monthly meetings, working on specific projects, and organizing events over the course of the year, these Student Councils foster unity within the student body, and its members show leadership, responsibility, and good citizenship.
House Leaders
The House leaders aim to develop community and pride in school culture while giving students significant opportunities for civic responsibility and leadership. The House System functions to provide opportunities for students to practice other aspects of community engagement through intra-mural competition and play. Learn more about the House System here.
Headmaster, Tim Belk, states, “We have a coaching approach at our school which involves a good reflective practice, asking open-ended questions, assuming that they already have the answers to a lot of the questions they have, while we guide them through finding solutions themselves,” he explains. “These are real-world skills that they can take away from BTA and apply in other parts of their lives. Students live out our mission daily as they are learning valuable lessons about how to engage and shape the people, community, and culture in which they live.”