2023 ALUMNI OF THE YEAR AWARD Imana Sherrill
“Trinity is a school of love and Mrs. Sherrill believes that in education, as in life, you must lead by love,” Curry said.
Founded in 2000 in Charlotte’s First Ward, Trinity Episcopal School is the only K-8 independent school in uptown Charlotte. Trinity students, faculty, and staff live into the school’s core values of creating scholars, embracing diversity, and nurturing spirituality. With 444 students in the 2022-23 school year, Trinity is accredited by the National Association of Episcopal Schools, the Southern Association of Independent Schools, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
For more information on Trinity Episcopal School, visit TEScharlotte.org.
Trinity Episcopal School officially installed Imana Sherrill as Head of School during a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 4. Mrs. Sherrill is Trinity’s third Head of School since its founding in 2000.
The Right Reverend Mary Gray-Reeves of The College for Bishops of the Episcopal Church presided over the ceremony, which was rescheduled due to Hurricane Ian.
Mrs. Sherrill began her tenure at Trinity on July 1, 2022. The Trinity Board of Trustees selected Mrs. Sherrill in January 2022 following a nationwide search.
“Trinity is such a beautiful place and I thank you so much for trusting me,” Sherrill said. “I look forward to how we’re going to grow together.”
The installation ceremony included songs performed by Trinity students and community members, prayers and messages from local clergy, and a video message from The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, President Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church.
When Imana Sherrill is installed as top administrator at Trinity Episcopal School, she will become the first Black woman to ever lead one of Charlotte’s private schools. (Her installation ceremony, scheduled for today, was postponed as Hurricane Ian approached the Carolinas.)
The mother of two is a 1989 graduate of West Charlotte High School and a UNC Charlotte alumna.
Education, she says, is in her blood, dating back to her great, great grandfather who, according to Sherill, learned to read as an enslaved man.
“Back then, that was dangerous to do, but he was determined to learn,” she said. “He taught his children to read, and his children taught their children, and that was his legacy to us. He wanted his entire family to be literate.”
Sherill said her family is now peppered with educators, and she herself once taught with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and held the position of diversity coordinator at Charlotte Country Day School.
Before accepting the job at Trinity, which has had two previous heads of school since opening its doors in 2000 in uptown Charlotte, Sherill was head of middle school at the Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the past two decades, Trinity Episcopal School in Uptown Charlotte has been shaping the lives of hundreds of students. Now, for the first time in the school’s history, the school has its first Black head of school.
Imana Sherrill can often be found in the school’s courtyard, watching the friendships form between students. It’s not lost on her how historic her leadership at the school is, knowing she’s standing on the shoulders of her ancestors.