Concordia Nebraska’s Trinity Academy Lutheran high school celebrates first graduating seniors

Trinity Academy - a Lutheran high school rooted in the classical liberal arts educational tradition – recently completed its third year of operation on the campus of Concordia University, Nebraska and graduated its first seniors.  

Trinity Academy’s inaugural graduation took place on Friday, May 15 in Weller Chapel on the Concordia Nebraska campus and was led by Rev. Nathan Scheck. The class of 2026 included Naomi Jones of Milford and Gideon Gray of Lincoln. Jones was Trinity Academy's first valedictorian and has been a student at Trinity Academy since it opened three years ago. 

All current Trinity Academy students attended the event, as well as families and friends of the two graduates. The graduates each selected a hymn for the service, Pastor Nathan Scheck led the service, and Jones presented a valedictorian address. Dr. Gabriel Haley, Director of Trinity Academy, presented character awards to all TAC students, conferred degrees to the graduating seniors and gave a closing charge to the graduates. 

“Part of the Trinity Academy tradition is to hand out character awards at the end of the year, which are descriptive adjectives selected by students and faculty for each student,” explained Haley. “We also identify a Bible verse to go with each character award. I am so proud of our seniors this year. Together and individually, they represent the kind of classical liberal arts education that Trinity Academy offers. Naomi came to us loving reading and wanting to write. Gideon had a passion for engineering. Their senior capstone projects well-represented these differing interests. Naomi wrote a research paper on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and also wrote a modernization based on the pilgrimage format of the medieval work. Gideon researched the viability of hydrogen as an energy source and made a computer model of a hydrogen blimp. Together, the seniors' interests represent the arts of human culture – humanities - and the orders of nature - maths and sciences. Yet neither of them are pigeon-holed into a single discipline. They have a larger desire to learn, and they will certainly be life-long learners.”  

Jones, who was born in the United Kingdom, has moved to England, where she will work as an au pair as she saves for college. She has already been accepted to multiple colleges, including Concordia University, Nebraska. Gray has been accepted into the engineering program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

Trinity Academy received approval as an institute of Concordia Nebraska in 2022 and started with its first cohort of four students during the 2023-24 academic year. There were 16 students attending in the 2025-26 year. The school’s vision is to enroll 10 students per grade, with a total enrollment of 40.   

As the only Christian high school in Seward and the only classical high school in the area, Trinity Academy serves students from multiple communities around Seward. In addition, the school offers fieldwork opportunities for Concordia Nebraska students. Students pursuing the Classical Lutheran Educator Certification complete their Classical Pedagogy and Practicum coursework at Trinity Academy. College students in Education have also been placed at Trinity Academy to complete observations in math, humanities and theology and have led instruction in math and physical education.   

Trinity Academy provides a low-cost option for high school students in Seward and surrounding communities to receive a holistic, faith-based classical liberal arts education that encourages them to seek truth, goodness and beauty. Its unique model benefits from dedicated Trinity Academy staff and also Concordia professors and Concordia student teachers. Mr. Andrew Bloch serves as the full-time lead teacher, while Mrs. Lindsay Bloch taughtLiterature, and the following Concordia professors taught single classes in the 2025-26 school year: Dr. Elizabeth Grimpo (music), Prof. Justin Groth (art), Dr. Brent Royuk (chemistry), Dr. Tim Schroeder (geometry) and Dr. Kurt von Kampen (choir).  

Trinity Academy provides a Christ-centered high school education that assists parents in the cultivation of knowledge, self-discipline and virtue in their children. Trinity offers a classical liberal arts education, involving the study of foundational sources within an integrated curriculum that encourages students to pursue truth, goodness and beauty. Learn more here.