Trinity High School in River Forest is preparing for a new leader after the school’s board hired Tina Taylor-Ritzler to be its next president.
Taylor-Ritzler is a current member of the Trinity School Board as well as executive director of the Office of Career Programs and Employer Relations at nearby Dominican University. Her term as president will begin June 1 at the private girl’s school.
She is a longtime fan of the school, having had two daughters graduate from Trinity and, in addition to being a board member, she’s also been board chairwoman.
But, according to Taylor-Ritzler, she might never have even considered the school for her daughters were it not for her oldest, who suggested checking Trinity out.
“My older daughter, Sylvia, who is a senior in college, she is the one that led us to Trinity High School,” Taylor-Ritzler said. “She insisted we visit and go to an open house.”
She said she’s not sure how her daughter had heard of it, except she was in eighth grade and had to pick a high school, like every other kid in the class, and her mother said she probably just heard it was a girls’ school. But, really, the school sold itself.
“We were in the building for 15 minutes and it was done,” Taylor-Ritzler said. “It was done. What we felt that day, that night, eight years ago, is all the more true (now).”
The route to the top for Taylor-Ritzler took the better part of a year. In the spring, the outgoing President Laura Curley announced she’d leave the school over the next summer and by April, the board of trustees had assembled a search and selection committee.
That committee looked at dozens of resumes and slowly whittled the field to five candidates to interview. Taylor-Ritzler really stood out, school officials said, and on Dec. 10, the board submitted her name to Dominican Veritas Ministries for approval.
“At the conclusion of the interviews, Dr. Taylor-Ritzler was the clear choice to lead Trinity into the future,” said Trinity High School board President Susan Stelter, in a news release.
Taylor-Ritzler already shepherded two girls through the school. Now she’s on track to do the same for a whole lot more. This year the school’s enrollment is 320 and then there are the teachers and the staff and, of course, the board to manage. It’s a big ship, and Taylor-Ritzler is feeling no fear.
“I’m feeling excited,” she said. “The beauty of this long history with Trinity means I have deep relationships at Trinity. … I have relationships with the people who can help me in all the ways a president would need to be supported.”
Though her tenure won’t begin for months, she plans to start to work with outgoing President Laura Curley on a smooth transition.
“I’m excited to launch this next chapter,” Taylor-Ritzler said.
Taylor-Ritzler said she would like to keep strengthening and growing the school’s three areas of focus — student experience, academic excellence and their international curriculum, including growing opportunities for students to travel, to serve their communities and partner with local organizations.
“There’s lots of wonderful things we can do within those three areas,” she said.
But, in the immediate future, the focus is on a smooth transition.
“Trinity has been in the community for a very, very long time, and my role as I see it is to support and continue that,” she said.
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
