Grace Graduate News – Trinity

Trinity Pierce graduated from Grace Lutheran School in 2000. She was involved in several extra-curricular activities at Grace including athletics and the arts. She shared that when she played basketball the community engagement surrounding sports at Grace was something special. The enthusiasm around their winning seasons was an incredible confidence boost for her.

In the arts, Trinity enjoyed the time dedicated to music, including participating in band, the colorful elaborate musicals, and, of course, the Grace Christmas Eve service. In addition, she fondly remembers reading in the library with Mr. Schwartz.

After graduating, Trinity has kept busy, working hard as a Certified Arborist. She is a stewardship manager for the Chicago Region Trees Initiative based out of the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. In this role, she provides outreach on the importance and benefits of trees in order to inspire people to value, plan, and care for them to enrich our urban forest. She shared that every tree in our urban region makes up this forest, and we can all steward or care for our trees and green spaces in a variety of ways.

Currently, Trinity is exploring different ways to help design and implement food forests in under resourced communities that have experienced disinvestment and may not have access to fresh food. Partnering with local organizations and leaders, she had a goal to plant diverse trees such as persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), pawpaw (Asimina triloba), and serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) to provide healthy fresh fruit in green spaces like parks and community gardens.

We are so grateful to Trinity for sharing her work and passions with us as well as her memories from Grace. We wish her the best in all of her future endeavors.

If you or someone you know is a Grace Graduate, please share your stories with us! We love to showcase our alumni. Email your photos and stories to agarcia@graceriverforest.org