Welcoming back another familiar face to our faculty this year: Mr. Henry Brink

We are thrilled to welcome back another familiar face to our faculty this year: Mr. Henry Brink, a 2016 River Ridge graduate. Mr. Brink studied at Hillsdale College, earning his B.A. in English in 2020.

Keep reading below to learn more about Mr. Brink!

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Q: Where did you grow up?
A: Parkston, South Dakota; Moscow, Russia; and St. Paul, Minnesota

Q: How did you learn about Trinity School? What most interested you in teaching with us?
A: I first learned of Trinity School in the spring of my sixth grade year, but I heard they made students wear uniforms so I figured it couldn’t be any good. But I enrolled anyway. Later in high school, one of my Trinity teachers took me into the hall one day to ask me what lingering questions I had after my first semester of junior humane letters. I probably said something lame like, “I’d like to think about writing better essays.” He laughed at me in a benevolent sort of way. “Henry, Henry. Let me tell you what you’re asking questions about. You’re wondering what decides what’s good and what’s bad. You’re wondering how morality can be defined and what it can be based upon.” He was absolutely right. After reading about things like the disintegration of society in the Peloponnesian Wars, one of the main questions I engaged in conversation over was simply, what actually holds people together and can act as a final standard for goodness and evil? I lamely didn’t think of it at the time, but my teacher paid great attention to what questions I was asking and what discussions interested me. He was able to see through my half-hearted self-scrutiny and guide me to the question I actually wanted to ask, and he was only able to do that because he considered himself a fellow learner, another partaker in a conversation far larger than our classroom. He was able to guide me to my question because he took it seriously as his question as well. That spirit of learning is awesome, and it’s what I want to adopt as a teacher.

Q: What are some of your hobbies?
A: Learning Russian, hosting dinners, running, ultimate frisbee, throwing birthday parties for Fyodor Dostoevsky, singing Greek and Russian hymns, and singing in general.

Q: What are you most looking forward to about teaching at Trinity this year?
A: I am most excited to learn alongside my fellow faculty and students. I want to learn better how to learn and how to articulate and discuss that learning with others.
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We are thrilled to have you as a part of this community, Mr. Brink!