Rising Above the Rest
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2000, Trinity Lee showed an aptitude for athletics at a very young age. She excelled on the basketball court eventually becoming a star at Bearden High School. She spoke of a time during her senior year when she and her best friend Grace were the two seniors on the team, and the year hadn’t quite started out as planned. For whatever reason, they were losing to the teams that they normally beat. The team seemed fractured and wasn’t playing well together as a cohesive unit.
The coaches had team meetings desperate to find the root cause of the slump. And it was during this time that Trinity’s leadership shone through. She and Grace took it upon themselves to figure out what was going on. They lead team meetings with just the players, no coaches. And these efforts worked. “We faced adversity and we got out of the funk and started winning big time games,” she said. They were able to turn themselves around and would end the year league champs and would go on to compete for the state championship. Trinity’s leadership and basketball talents eventually earned her a basketball scholarship to King University.
But it wasn’t just basketball where Trinity excelled. While in high school she learned that she had another talent – math. It was during her junior year while taking a Dual Enrollment Probability and Statistics class when all the students had to sit for the annual state cumulative exam. It was a test with a reputation of being exceedingly difficult. Trinity recalls, “I was prepared but so nervous on test day and just did the best I could.” The following day in class Trinity’s teacher approached her and said, “Trinity, not only did you receive the highest grade in the class, but in the history of my time teaching this class at Bearden High School.”
Trinity remembers how that moment made her feel, “I was so overwhelmed and realized that God blessed me with the skill of math and that I wanted to learn and do math for the rest of my life.” Her enthusiasm and drive has not tempered a bit since arriving at King. She is a standout player on the Tornado women’s basketball team and a star pupil in the classroom.
She one of ten students across the country to be a part of the SPIRAL program. This program, sponsored by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), was created as an REU program (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) that focuses on strengthening the foundation of young mathematics majors, so that they return to school thinking and analyzing at a higher level than before.
Trinity is now a junior and in the process of applying for a summer internship at both NASA and the NSA (National Security Agency). “I want to earn my doctorate and become an aerospace engineer,” she said with bright smile. With her mind and enthusiasm and willingness to work as hard as she does to succeed, she will rise to the top in whatever field she chooses. When asked about her time at King she says, “King has taught me that anything can be achieved or accomplished through hard work and dedication. Also, building tight, reliable relationships with others is essential to achieving success, because without my teammates, coaches, and close friends here at King, I would not be strong enough to achieve my goals academically and athletically.”