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Ladies and gentlemen… introducing tonight’s lineup. At 6’1”, in the postposition, number 24, Trinity Breedlove.
Her name already is playing over the loud speakers as a member of the girls’ varsity basketball team at Roanoke’s Patrick Henry High School and she is just a 14-year-old freshman.
“I try my best at everything I do,” says Breedlove. Her best is putting her in the sports spotlight as well as the academic spotlight. “I study hard. I focus on sports and school separately, so I can have a balance,” Trinity adds. “I want to always make my parents proud.” And Trinity is doing just that. She is this month’s ColorsVA Magazine Scholar of the Month.
“I think it’s wonderful. She definitely deserves to be recognized. It’s great that this is happening for her,” says her proud mother, Debra Breedlove. Breedlove says she and her husband always have pushed Trinity to do her very best and never give up. “She’s a modest person and she’s hard on herself,” Breedlove says. “We just want her to work at her own pace. We tell her, it’s OK when the outcome isn’t what she wants as long as she tries her best.”
Trinity holds a 3.75 GPA as a first-year student at the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School for Science and Technology. No challenge is too big for her. “She came in as a first-year student, so at first she struggled just a little bit, as most of our students do, but Trinity quickly figured out what she needed to do to get the skills she needed, then she became a straight ‘A’ students” says Kathy Sebolt, the school counselor at RVGS. Sebolt nominated Trinity for this prestigious award. “Her general presence leads and motivates students to do their best as she works to be her best,” says Sebolt. “Trinity faces challenges head-on and conquers them.” The director of the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School, Mark Levy, could not agree more. “Trinity excels in and out of the classroom, and she displays a positive attitude and personality with peers and adults,” Levy shares. Trinity’s compassion goes beyond the school campus. She serves the community through her work with Roanoke Youth Leadership Association. Trinity also participates in helping provide food and toys to families in need. “This work has been recognized with the 2018 Roanoke City Neighborhood Youth Volunteer Award and nomination for the Congress for Global Good Award for Excellence,” Levy adds.
Trinity is an excellent role model for peers and students at the school. “Other students would benefit from learning Trinity’s work ethic and commitment in balancing her schoolwork with a variety of valuable extracurricular activities,” says Levy. “Trinity’s desire to make a positive impact on the community is a model that other folks could learn from.” She appreciates that characteristic in herself.
In fact, it is a treasure. “I really like helping people with their problems,” she says. “When people come and ask me my advice, I try to tell them about believing in themselves.” Trinity’s life motto is achieve for the best! “It means always try to do the best that you can because you will achieve success if you do that.” Trinity lives by those words, and now she’s applying those words in her next venture. Trinity is working to help with a nationwide crisis — vaping. “I want to help my community a whole lot more, especially with all this vaping and alcohol going on now. I want people to really know how it hurts a community,” she shares. “I want everyone to see the value in doing what’s right. I want the percentage of people vaping to be a whole lot less.”
Trinity never set out to be a standout, she says it just happened. As she was writing out her accomplishments, she surprised herself. “I was just working on things that I enjoy and this happened. I appreciate it, but I wasn’t looking for any awards.” On top of all this, Trinity also plays for the Junior Regional Orchestra and aspires to go on to college to study engineering. Everyone who knows her knows Trinity will be successful in whatever she pursues.
Tags: Education