VINEMONT, Ala. – Vinemont’s Trinity Sartin collected her diploma in May, and in this interview, she shared some of her favorite memories from her time as an Eagle, starting with the relationships she made competing in archery.
“During archery season, we would always go to big tournaments, and sometimes, I would shoot with elementary school kids. Helping them shoot and being their motivator was always something I looked forward to,” Sartin said. “They were always there to help you when you were going through something and would always have your back. Being friends with someone and being a team is two different things, and you see that when you are in a sport. They showed me that, you can have friends all you want, but your team will have your back in the worst and best times of your life. They will be there on the brightest days when you are winning to on your worst days when you are losing bad.”
Trinity soaked up as much as she could from her archery coaches, and she will deeply miss playing sports at Vinemont.
“They shaped me into who I am today. They push you, because they know you can do it. They are hard on you to help you. It wasn’t always easy, but when it came down to game day, we saw how them pushing us not only pushed us on the court or in a tournament, but it pushed us outside of sports. I learned that just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Never go through a hard time by yourself, because when one person hurts, we all hurt,” Sartin said. “I’ll remember all the lessons we learned and even when things got hard to never give up. I’ll miss the friendships I had and getting to be there for everyone and helping the younger ones.”
Trinity made a lot of memories during her time in school and she talked about how one trip quickly changed not only her life, but many others as well.
“Archery trips were always my favorite. Some kids would bring a speaker, and we would listen to music on the way there. When we got there, we would sit in a circle and play cards. My second favorite memory was eating lunch with my sister and two other friends every day. Another one was when I went to girls’ state and met so many amazing girls. On the last night of being there, we had a worship night with 31 girls in the hallway,” Sartin said. “Every night I was there, it was a week long. We had meetings every night just to talk about the day and what the next day would look like. This night was different, though. We talked about everything during that week because it was our last night, but there were testimonies that happened over the week that were told. There were two girls that roomed together. That was a God thing. One of them was trying to start reading her Bible more and the other one was reading every morning and night, and helped motivate the other girl to read more. One girl had just lost a relative or friend that week we were gone, and we had prayed for her and over her. We had worship music going, and our two leaders we had that week was also with us. You could just feel the difference from when we got there to the last day. Our meetings were normally only 30 minutes long. This one was two and a half hours long. I’ve never been around so many girls that wanted to run after God as much as they did, and I will just say, I was in awe. If God could move in a dorm room with 31 girls that have never met each other, think of what He can do in a church that have been around each other for 10 years.”
Trinity feels blessed to have gone to Vinemont, and she will remember and miss so much about being an Eagle.
“We are a small school, but the best part is knowing everyone. You become a family, and everyone knows everyone,” she said. “I’ll miss my friends and teachers, especially the ones from CATA. Those teachers at CATA and the ones at Vinemont taught me so much. They helped me with more than just school, offered a shoulder to cry on when I needed it and were there for all the laughs as well. These teachers go above and beyond what they get paid for, and I will forever be grateful being a Vinemont Eagle and a health science student from CATA.”
Trinity participated in a few clubs at Vinemont, and she absolutely loved helping out the community in so many different ways. She earned several scholarships and decided to attend a school that she’s been dreaming of going to ever since she was little.
“I was in HOSA, SGA, and the National Honor Society. It was fun. I loved being a part of different clubs, because I could help different parts of the community. I learned that not everyone learns like you do, and not everyone understands like you do. You have to talk to people in a certain way for them to understand,” she said. “I was super excited to get scholarships from some amazing colleges, because I didn’t know what college to go to. After a lot of praying and trying to figure out my future, I got the one for the University of Alabama, and it was almost a full ride. I was so shocked, and I couldn’t believe it, because ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to go to the University of Alabama. Now, my dream was coming true, and I’ll be on my way there in August. I will be majoring in nursing. I already have my CNA and CPR licenses from CATA.”
Sartin gave some advice to those students that will be starting high school in August.
“Don’t be afraid to be yourself. So many young adults are nervous or stressed and are just trying to figure out who they are, just like you. If you don’t know what you want to be, that’s okay. Don’t stress about it. If you do know what you want to be, start moving towards that by taking the classes for your basics. Most importantly, though, put God first. You don’t know what’s in the future. Let Him guide you through life. All the struggles you’ve had or will have will be for a good reason. I know it may not feel like it, but it will push you to be stronger and to help you overcome different obstacles, and then, you can be the light for someone else and help them through a tough time. Pick your friends wisely. You will have friends that will want to party, because they think they will fit in better. If you feel uncomfortable or you don’t think you should do something, don’t hesitate to say no. You will lose friends you thought you would have forever, and you will gain friends that you never thought you needed. Don’t be shy to join clubs. It helps you branch out and learn from some new people and your teachers. Last but not least, remember who you are. High school is stressful, and you can lose sight of yourself. Just remember where you came from and whose you are.”
Trinity’s faith is very important to her and she shared two examples of how much God has changed her life.
“When it was the first couple of days into summer, when I was going into the seventh grade, my best friend passed away, and I was in disbelief the whole summer. My grade was in constant disbelief for a couple of years, and I started getting depressed. I started getting mad at God and asking so many questions that many people ask today: Why did you let them die? Why did you put me through that? Why did this have to happen to me?, and all of those questions I had at one point until I realized God didn’t do this. God didn’t let this happen. God used what happened to me to help others that are going through the same situations,” she said. “The other major thing that happened in my life here recently was I had no clue what college I was supposed to go to. I either wanted to go to Wallace, UAB, or the University of Alabama, but I didn’t have enough scholarship money for Alabama. I didn’t want to take out $30,000 to go to Alabama or to go to UAB, so my only option was to go to Wallace. I had two scholarships to UAB that were around $10,000 together and I still didn’t want to take out $20,000 to go to UAB. I was asking God, please show me which cards I’m supposed to go to, because I have no idea which direction you’re wanting me to go. Can you direct me the way that you want me to go and not the way that I want to go or my parents want me to go? I went to work on a Friday night at 5 p.m. I went to use the restroom, and I had checked my phone. I got a message from Alabama saying that I got the prestigious scholarship, and it was $56,000. It pays for my housing for one year and my tuition for four years. I texted my parents right away, and I was honestly in disbelief. I was so excited, but I texted them right away and told them that I had to tell you both something when I get home. Please be awake. Everything is okay. It’s good news. When I got home, I told my parents, and my dad was also in disbelief. I knew from then on, I was supposed to head to Alabama. God laid the path out in front of me, and He was just telling me to walk in that path, and since then, I have been doing that.”
Trinity added,
“I have also been trying to save up for a car by July, because my car will not make it to Alabama, so I had noticed that I was going to be gone to the beach for a week, and I needed to come up with a second paycheck that would make out the difference. I was praying, oh my God, I need you to send me the money. I don’t know where this money is going to come from, and I told my parents that all the money I get from graduation, I’m putting it in my savings account for my car, and they said okay. When I counted up all the money I had from graduation, I had enough money for almost two paychecks, not just one, and I was so excited,” Sartin said. “God really opened my eyes in that moment. If you just believe, and if you pray, and you seek God, He will lay out the answers right in front of your face. You have to be willing to hear it, be willing to be open to it, be willing to be patient, and wait for it, because you’re not always going to have your answers in five seconds. Sometimes you have to wait for those answers, and you have to keep praying for those answers. I wholeheartedly believe that if I didn’t keep praying for those answers and standing on what I know and what I believe, I would’ve not been blessed as much as I have been.”
She shared a few of her favorite Bible verses as well. Being a role model to younger kids in and outside of sports is one of her top priorities.
“My favorite Bible verses are Jeremiah 29:11, Psalms 46:5, Matthew 17:20, Luke 1:37, and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Those verses mean more to me that I could even explain. These verses got me through so much. 1 Corinthians is the love chapter, and that has always helped me with relationships. Jeremiah 29:11 helped me know that His path is always better than what I have. Luke 1:37 helped me to keep pushing, even when things get hard. Matthew 17:20 helps me understand to keep having faith in what God is doing. Psalms 46:5 helped me know that as long as I had God with me, anything is possible,” she said. “It’s very important, because now a days, kids don’t have good role models to look up to, so if I can help anyone that is going through something in any way, I can, and I will.”
Trinity wants people to remember her as someone that never gave up.
“No matter how hard life got with school, work, and college, I never gave up. I had people there around me that supported me and picked me up when I couldn’t pick myself up,” Sartin said. “They told me if I was doing something right or they were there to tell me I did something wrong. I had people in my life that told me when they thought I was being dumb and were honest with me.”
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