Page 22 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2017- Online Magazine
P. 22
“I’ve Got Big Dreams”
MARILYN GARRETT
Anna Bromley Driscoll
owling winds raked mesquite branches across the windows of
a cold, dimly lit lodge. Chairs and tables had been pushed aside
Hto make room for the twenty or so high school students that sat
huddled together on the floor listening, as a woman with a rich, raspy
voice began the recitation of Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell Tale Heart.
It was 1996. I was a Freshman at Trinity Christian High School, attending
my first ever High School Retreat, at Ceta Canyon Camp. “How very, very
dreadfully nervous I had been,” the voice continued to relay the horror of
Poe’s tale, clearly delighted with the rising tension of her enrapt audience.
This was my first encounter with Mrs. Marilyn Garrett. It was distinctly
apparent to me that day, that here was a formidable woman: one who
would not suffer excuses, nor lower her expectations for any reason.
Her career at Trinity began over 30 years ago, in 1986, when
Trinity graduated just 11 students. Since that time, Mrs. Garrett has
left an indelible mark on the character of the “Upper School”. As an
administrator she helped lead the way, molding Trinity into a top-
notch college prep environment with scripture and Biblical worldview
integrated into every subject. She accomplished all of this while
simultaneously honing her literary tutelage skills into a well-crafted art.
Joshua Jones, valedictorian of the graduating class of 1998, recalls of her
teaching style, “She employed her powers of wit, encouragement, and an
obstinate expectation of greatness from her students to coax out their very
best work – and not just from her top students. Though it was something
of a sport to lament her brutal exams, everyone loved her classes. She
exemplified passion not only for literature but also a general love for
learning, weaving threads of theological and historical insight into her
lessons. She was quite different than the [stereotypical] religious educator,
who is fearful of her students thinking the wrong things. No, Marilyn
cared deeply about students thinking well. She welcomed questions while
welcoming the questioner.”
By the time I arrived, Mrs. Garrett had established her Honors English
class as a sort of gauntlet that Seniors had to run in order to graduate.
There was not a single student who darkened her doorway, who didn’t
do so with a healthy amount of respect and trepidation. Rumors had
been whispered through the hallways, detailing the eight-page Jane
Eyre final exam, given annually, on the week after Spring Break. For
reference, this exam included a question that asked students to recall the
color of the dog that was present in the cemetery during a particularly
insignificant tableau, in the middle of the book. (It was black and white).
Her requirements were exacting and seemed, at the time, unattainable. It’s
been almost two decades since I sat and listened to her lecture and I can
still vividly remember that I laughed when she gave us our first writing
assignment, because I thought she was joking about the length and depth
of the assigned essay. Even as I sit to pen these words, I can see the ink
from her phantom red pen filling the margins.