In February, Trinity College welcomed 115 residential students from a wide range of locations and backgrounds, from overseas and interstate and from Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne. In July, a further 16 students joined the Residential College community with seven of the students being sons and daughters of alumni.
These students continue a long legacy of families that contribute to the rich traditions of the College. Daughters and sons of alumni this semester are Bridget Armstrong, Isabella Backwell, James Cumming, Lucy Leckey, Jess Nelson, Bella Nichols, and Archie Roberts.
Archie Roberts, is the son of Annie Grimwade and Tim Roberts (both TC 1981). Annie currently sits on the Fleur-De-Lys Committee and both parents continue to stay actively involved in life at Trinity.
Archie ‘feels extremely lucky’ to be at Trinity, a place both his parents have ‘very fond memories’ of, and where they met in their first year of College.
Initially, Archie expected living at College to be similar to school, but it has exceeded his expectations.
‘Living at College has been an incredibly eye-opening experience. There are so many people from so many different cultures and regions of Australia as well as overseas, all who offer something completely different, making it an interesting place to live,’ says Archie.
Isabella Backwell, is the daughter of Annabel Backwell (nee Griffith) and Mike Backwell (both TC 1984), who met while studying at the College and says many of the activities and traditions remain the same today.
‘They had shared with me many stories about incredible events, sporting teams, the sense of community and the amazing friends that they made, and I have been fortunate to have experienced some of this already in my short time here, and look forward to taking part in the rest over the remainder of my College life,’ says Isabella.
Trinity College prides itself on being open to people of different age, gender, nationality and religious background. Equally, the College is proud of its history of being founded in 1872 as the first residential college of the University of Melbourne. It is both its diversity and history that makes Trinity such a unique and remarkable place.
Warden of Trinity College, Professor Ken Hinchcliff, is a past resident student of Trinity (TC 1976), married a Trinity resident (Carole nee Taylor, TC 1978), and is also a past parent, of daughter Alex (TC 2012).
Ken believes children of alumni play an important role when they come to the College, upholding the traditions of the past while also embracing change.
‘These students are in a unique position in helping to uphold College traditions, but they also have the opportunity to reflect on what can be improved at the College, and make their own mark on our Trinity community,’ says Ken.
‘We encourage all our students to imagine and achieve a better world, both at Trinity and in the wider world, and the daughters and sons of our alumni are an important part of achieving this goal.’
