Addition of athletic field to wrap up campaign started in 2008

More than 14 years ago, the campus of Trinity Episcopal School was a rented house with 13 students and a faculty that consisted mainly of family members of the students.

Jane Hill, the founding head of the private school, and a small group of parents formed the founding board and helped the school go from 13 students in the first year to more than 100 students in year two, and now serves children from kindergarten through eighth grade.

"They really took a leap of faith when they opened this school," TES Advancement Associate Melody Harman said.

The school continued to expand, adding buildings to the permanent campus at 3901 Bee Caves Road in West Lake Hills every year from 2001–04.

The school's board of trustees decided to add a third section of kindergarten in 2008 and with it approved the Trinity Tomorrow Vision to add as many as five structures and facilities to the expanding campus.

The school has completed every project in the campaign except the athletic field, as the potential second gymnasium that is not officially part of TTV. Almost $16 million has been raised as of May 15, and about $1.6 million is required to finish the projects, according to the school.

"The last thing—the athletic field—isn't just about physical education. It's about giving the kids some space and room to run," Harman said.

The school still must acquire one more piece of property to be able to construct the field. The land is under contract but will not become part of the school's property until the adjoining businesses are hooked up to a septic system.

After the land acquisition is complete and the funds are raised, Head of Trinity Episcopal School Pat Adams said she hopes for construction to begin this summer or fall and be complete in early 2014.

"Everything seems to have just fallen into place," TES Chief Financial Officer Bryan Denney said. "Even if we wanted to accelerate [the construction of] any of the buildings, we couldn't have because we didn't own the land at the time."

Denney said he hopes the school will finalize the contract for the last bit of land for the athletic field in June and is excited to see it in action.

"It will be nice for the children to actually have a home-field advantage," he said.