Like many independent school teachers, I love schools because great teachers positively impacted me throughout my education. In addition to great teachers, life-altering events have continued to shape how I lead.

As a student at Gilman School and eager to learn about American history, I met Dr. Jerry Thornberry. His teaching style, demeanor, and enthusiasm for his subject matter and my learning so transfixed me that in his class, I decided that, like him, when I had the chance to teach, I would be so skilled and committed to student learning that students would want to take my class. Four years later, in my sophomore year at the University of Chicago, I met Dr. Robert Fogel, a brilliant cliometrician. He blended history, economics, and ethics so that studying the past seemed like viewing the present. For me, Dr. Fogel transformed history into a subject worthy of full and passionate investigation, thorough reflection, and a meticulous commitment to writing. And on the last day of classes in 1997, on her way out the door, a former student looked at me, grinned, and said, “You know, Mr. Lawson, you are my favorite teacher. I‘ve never worked this hard in my life. Actually, I’ve never wanted to work this hard---ever!” Jerry Thornberry and Robert Fogel demonstrated the type of professional integrity I hold in the highest esteem, try to emulate, and share with my colleagues.

Developmentally, three events emerged to shape my outlook on the life-long impact of education. First, in high school, I won a scholarship to attend a language immersion program in Southern Spain. In addition to being awed by the confluence of Muslim and Catholic cultures in the region, it became clear that being "American" meant something surprisingly unique outside the United States. Second, in college, there was a consistent university-wide commitment to student innovation, to the notion that entrepreneurial, life-long learning was a social obligation that only precedes the obligation to improve the human experience. To this day, cultural immersion, entrepreneurial learning, and truly effective student-teacher relationships continue to shape my instruction, leadership, and hiring practices.

I have only attended and worked at schools that believed competing would bring out the best in everyone. And we compete at everything at Trinity Prep. The goal in every case is to instill, if needed, maintain, if present, and grow the intrinsic value of continued self-development inside a mission-focused, life-benefitting exercise.  Over the last 29 years, teaching and leading have given me the greatest ability to help students and colleagues walk alongside me on the path of ongoing self-development–this is why every day is a great day to be at school.

Sincerely,

Byron M. Lawson Jr.
Head of School

HEAD OF SCHOOL
Byron M. Lawson Jr.

Board of Trustees
Officers
Chair: Judith Burnett Manning
Vice Chair: Andrew Asher '91
Secretary: Sam Stark
Treasurer: Don Wordell

Trustees
Steve Alch
Ariff Alidina '92
Johannah Brown
Casey Cooper '84
Catherine Davey
Carina Borkon '04 (Alumni Advisory Board President)
Bridget Hawley
Mari Hirano-Kang
Ora-Monet Hughes '04
Blair Hull
Bradley James
Robert Johnson '73
Mike Kovaleski '99
Byron M. Lawson Jr. (Head of School)
Mark Martin
Steve Saxon '73
Patty Sherman
Jonathan Taylor
Eileen Tongson (Patrons of the Arts President)
Ryan vonWeller '97
Corey Whiting '03
to be named, Bishop’s rep

Ex-officio Trustees
Mary Ranson (TPO President)
Todd Demetriades (Athletic Boosters President)

Trustees Emeriti
The Rev. Canon A. Rees Hay (d)
Jack D. Holloway (d)
Frank M. Hubbard (d)
John H. Quinn (d)
Jack H. Zimmer (d)