Palmer Trinity School (PTS) opened its doors and welcomed students back for the start of the new 2019-20 school year with a ceremony in the gymnasium that featured bagpipers and a celebration of its new Hester Family Gate Monument and Kipp Field House.
Twenty-six years ago, thanks to the Hester family, Palmer Trinity was able to purchase land for the school’s expansion at a fraction of what it was worth. The school gathered to unveil the Hester Family Gate monument and plaque in honor of the family’s generosity. The new monument “welcomes” visitors to the PTS campus as they pass through the gates of the South Campus entrance.
The plaque next to it reads: “This gate formerly marked the entrance to the Hester Family property. Salvaged from rubble, it has been reimagined as a monument celebrating the intersection of the past and the present. This gate now always remains open to the future of Palmer Trinity School made possible by the Hester Family.”
Additionally, Palmer Trinity also celebrated the new Kipp Field House on the South Campus that serves as a home for our student-athletes. The newly built solar-powered athletic facility was generously donated by Timo and Georgia Kipp.
The first day of school kickoff celebration was led by PTS jead of school Patrick Roberts and its board chair Hugo Mantilla. Guests included Captain and Virginia Hester’s two daughters, Jane Dougherty and Caroline Loken; Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham; Councilmember Patrick Fiore, and The Right Rev. Peter Eaton, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.
For more information about the school, visit www.palmertrinity.org.
