Lucy Cooper-Silvis ’21 (Loyola House)

Lucy Cooper-Silvis is the valedictorian of Trinity High School’s Class of 2021! In addition to challenging herself with demanding courses, Lucy has been heavily involved in Trinity’s Writers Club. She joined as a freshman and was elected president as a sophomore, and since that time she’s focused on growing the club’s membership. Covid introduced some challenges, which the club easily surmounted when Lucy moved meetings online. She and vice president Patrick Caffrey post weekly lessons for the members. Lucy cites Writers Club as her first concentrated effort to lead others, and thus far she’s learned lessons in compromise and organization.

In her own words: “Every class I’ve taken at Trinity has impacted me in one way or another. I’ve learned valuable study skills, critical thinking and analysis, and how to write well. AP World History, which I took in my sophomore year, might be the most influential class I took at Trinity. We started at the beginning of human civilization and ended with today, a whirlwind tour of the entire world. My favorite part was learning about all the different cultures of the world and the strangely unexpected ways they connect. It was my first AP class, too!”

Lucy plans to study English and Literary Arts at Brown University, where she plans to work in editing while she pursues the dream of being a famous author.

Olivia Maddux ’21 (De La Salle House)

Olivia Maddux is the salutatorian for Trinity’s Class of 2021! An accomplished student-athlete, Olivia played golf for four years at Trinity, advancing to state-level competition. Olivia cites her experience on the golf team and as a mentor leader in Trinity’s House System as instrumental in developing leadership skills and helping her to step outside of her comfort zone. These activities also required Olivia to be organized and to develop excellent time management skills. She says that “Trinity has helped me prepare for college by presenting me with opportunities to take challenging classes that forced me to develop good study habits.”

In her words: “Going on Kairos was a great experience. Even though the retreat was modified because of COVID, the group managed to grow very close, and it is something I will take with me from Trinity. It was important to me to get to really connect with everyone else and get to know them better, even though we only had a few more months until graduation.”

Olivia will attend the University of Virginia where she plans to study chemistry with the hope of applying the principles of chemistry to improving lives by developing or improving products and ideas.

William Burns ’73–CIA Director

In the latest of a long line of professional achievements, William “Bill” Burns ’73 has been unanimously confirmed by the US Senate to head the CIA, after a notably uncontentious hearing, indicating broad bipartisan support.

At Trinity, Bill was at the top of his class and was chosen by his classmates as “most studious.” His classmates were right—he went on to earn a B.A. in History from La Salle University and a Master’s degree and Doctorate in International Relations from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar.

Following his education Bill entered the Foreign Service and served in the State Department. Notable appointments during his tenue include: Ambassador to Jordan (1998 to 2001), Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (2001 to 2005), Ambassador to Russia (2005 to 2008), Under Secretary for Political Affairs (2008 to 2011), and Deputy Secretary of State (2011 to 2014).

During his 33-year career, Bill served under five presidents and ten secretaries of state and was the recipient of many awards, including three Presidential Distinguished Service Awards, three Secretary’s Distinguished Service Awards, two Distinguished Honor Awards, the 2006 Charles E. Cobb, Jr. Ambassadorial Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development, the 2005 Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking, and the James Clement Dunn Award for exemplary performance at the mid-career level. He has also received the highest civilian honors from the Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community. In 2013, Foreign Policy named him “Diplomat of the Year”. In 1994, he was named to TIME Magazine’s list of the “50 Most Promising American Leaders Under Age 40”, and its list of “100 Young Global Leaders”.

After his retirement from the Foreign Service, Bill was named as the 9th president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the oldest international affairs think tank in the United States. As recently as 2016, Bill has visited Trinity to talk about his career with students. He has been described as one of the finest U.S. diplomats of the last half century and we congratulate him on his nomination.

Homepage photo credit: Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file

Jade Scipioni ’01

Though Jade Scipioni ’01 describes herself as “not exactly ‘most likely to succeed’ in high school,” she always believed in herself and when she left Trinity, she went to New York with the goal of becoming a journalist. Despite her “average grades and mediocre basketball skills” she was determined to become a success.

Jade began her career covering courtroom trials for Court TV, with her first major assignment as a rookie being the Anna Nicole Smith paternity case in Ft. Lauderdale, followed by the OJ Simpson robbery case in Las Vegas. After an interim period at CBS News’ “The Early Show,” covering stories like Captain Phillips, “the Miracle on the Hudson,” Drew Peterson, the 2008 financial crisis, and the presidential election, Jade was back to covering true crime at Court TV, but this time as the lead content producer. Here, she covered the Casey Anthony trial and Michael Jackson’s wrongful death trial.

Jade went on to work for Bloomberg News doing international business reporting, followed by reporting for FOX Business. Here she landed on-camera interviews with major CEOs from Tyson Foods, General Mills, Anheuser-Busch, Aramark and Epic Records. She also discovered a knack for working with athletes, and interviewed a slew of them including Joe Montana, Rob Gronkowski, Chris Paul, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Emmitt Smith, Tony Hawk, Simone Biles and Maria Sharapova.

She also had one-one-one celebrity interviews with Steve Harvey, Drew Barrymore, Christie Brinkley, Montel Williams, and Martha Stewart. Her interview with Martha Stewart stands out to her as particularly significant because it was her “first big one-on-one interview” and her grandmother had “idolized Stewart” when Jade was growing up. She had often read her magazines and watched her TV show, so to see her in real life was surreal. Looking back, Jade wishes she had asked better questions, but the interview was a “game changer” because it brought more big interviews.

As a reporter, Jade “loves reporting on health and environmental issues” and likes “asking corporate bigwigs the tough questions” without being afraid to ruffle feathers. When she looks back on her time at Trinity, her fondest memories are of playing basketball, volleyball, and going on Kairos because it allowed her to get to know her classmates more deeply. She also remembers having a lot of fun in high school, because while she was “no valedictorian or beauty queen,” she always knew “how to have a great time and be myself. Still do!”