FORT SMITH — For its 40th anniversary, Trinity Catholic School showcased its extensively renovated campus and a new program to prepare students for high school.
A Mass was celebrated by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor, assisted by area priests and deacons, Nov. 2.
The school, which was originally a grade 7-9 junior high school, was founded by Msgr. Jack Harris in 1986, with the goal of providing a quality academic and spiritual education to children of Immaculate Conception, Christ the King and St. Boniface parishes. It was located at Immaculate Conception until 1996, when it moved to the former site of St. Scholastica Academy, which closed in 1968.
The sisters leased the west wing of the former academy to Trinity, retaining the east residential wing as a retreat center. Trinity Trust built an Activities Center on the campus in 2005 to support its athletic program and other activities.
In 2018, as the sisters prepared to move to their new monastery, they sold 8.5 acres and the 110,000-square-foot building to Trinity Junior High School for $3 million.
Having almost doubled the size of its facility, Trinity initially used the space as an events center. In 2020, when Fort Smith Public Schools adopted a K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 configuration, Trinity became a middle school and changed its name to Trinity Catholic School.
Since then, under the guidance of facilities manager Eugene Didion, the first floor of the east wing houses office space, band and choir rooms and rooms for student athletes.
Last year, a calming room was built across from the second-floor cafeteria, giving students a place where they could de-stress and hold small meetings. At the anniversary tour, families got their first glimpse of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Center, located in the south wing.
Three classrooms have been devoted to the school’s new STEM program, with additional classrooms being used for other subjects.
“Bob Watkins, recently retired from the Fort Smith schools, is teaching our STEM classes,” assistant principal Brandy Rinke said. “He has years of experience and loads of ideas. All the sixth graders have exposure to the STEM program in their careers classes. In seventh grade, we offer an elective in animation, and eighth-grade students are currently focusing on 3D printing and drone electives.”
Trinity is using the Woz Ed Pathways program, and Rinke and principal Zach Edwards attended a conference in Arizona Nov. 9-12, where Trinity was inducted as a Woz Ed Pathways school.
“We are the first school in the diocese to be inducted into Woz Ed Pathways, and only the second school in Arkansas,” Rinke said. “We were able to purchase different pathways through generous donors.”
Woz Ed was conceived by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and designed for 21st-century learners to succeed in a technology-driven future. The hands-on program makes STEM subjects more appealing and accessible.
Academic teams have been formed for robotics, Quiz Bowl and Science Bowl. Watkins set up an indoor habitat for raising monarch butterflies this year and plans to plant a butterfly garden on campus in the spring.
Student enrollment has been so robust that Didion had to remove the side panels of the school’s third-floor chapel, extending the chapel into the hall so all students could attend Mass. Trinity’s enrollment increased from 212 to 240 in the 2025-2026 school year, with 80 students per grade.
“We have a short waiting list for sixth and eighth grades,” Rinke said. “Our long-range goal is to have a student body of 300, but we don’t want to get any bigger than that. We want to be true to Father Harris’ vision of ‘providing small classes and personal attention, while emphasizing academic, spiritual and character development in an atmosphere promoting greatness.’”
