Trinity did not only accomplish her goal, but she made history as the first Black student to hold the title in her high school’s history.

“The first thing I did when I found out is I called all my family members, ‘Hey I’m valedictorian!’ My grandma told me, ‘Hey I think you might have made history, I’ve been here a long time and I’ve never heard that happen,’’ she said.

She said she immediately began researching the history of Rusk High, the only high school in the Rusk Independent School District, but could not confirm her suspicions with any faculty or local newspapers.

“They didn’t have the resources to tell me that information. So we checked with the NAACP and they couldn’t find that information as well so we did a lot of research with community members and alumni from Rush HS,” she explained.

Trinity said it actually took a bit of digging but she was able to confirm with the Board of Educators and other sources that she was in fact, the first Black valedictorian at Rush High School.

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