HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Trinity Catholic Junior-Senior High School is preparing for the start of the 2026-27 school year while crews finish a major sewer line replacement project and administrators adjust to new state requirements governing student cellphone use.
Principal Joe Godina said the school’s aging sewer line had needed replacement for some time and became a priority this summer.
“If anybody’s driven by the high school over the last two months, you would have seen at least in our parking lot a portion of that,” Godina said. “But if you would have stepped into school two weeks ago, you wouldn’t believe your eyes when you walked in there and saw the piles of dirt, the gaping holes in the floor.”
Godina said the project has taken about two months and remains on track to be completed before students return.
“It’s been a summer for us,” he said. “Whether that was no air conditioning on days, no water on certain days, it’s been a full project. But we’re glad to get it done and be ready to roll once the school year comes around.”
Seventh-grade students are scheduled to report for a half-day Aug. 13 to become familiar with the building and school routines. All other students will begin classes Aug. 14.
The sewer work follows improvements made to the school’s front entrance during spring break to increase security for students, faculty, staff and visitors.
Godina said summer is often the best time for major building projects because fewer people are in the school.
“It’s hard to do those types of projects during the school year when you have kids going in and out of the building and you have classes going,” he said.
Enrollment remains open for students in grades seven through 12.
“If you are interested in Trinity Catholic and you have a student who’d be in grades seven through 12, absolutely contact the school,” Godina said. “We will get you set up, get you rolling in the right direction. If you would like to become a part of Trinity Catholic, we’d love to have you.”
Godina said the school’s Catholic identity remains central to its mission.
“We always like to make sure that when our name is mentioned, it’s mentioned as Trinity Catholic because that’s a big part of who we are,” he said.
Faculty members begin each morning with prayer, and classes also open with prayer.
“We get to share our faith every day with each other and with our students,” Godina said. “But we also just pride ourselves on overall providing an excellent education for our students.”
He said the school’s goal is to prepare students for college, careers and life after graduation.
The school graduated 40 seniors at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. Godina said members of the class are continuing their education at a range of institutions, entering the workforce and pursuing religious vocations.
Among the graduates are Jacob and John Lindstrom, who will compete in track and cross country at the University of Saint Mary, and Drew Dechant, who will pitch for Hutchinson Community College.
“We have one who’s going to be entering the seminary,” Godina said. “So it’s a wide range of kids who are going to do some amazing things as they leave Trinity and head out into the real world.”
Trinity Catholic is also preparing for a new state law restricting student access to cellphones and other personal electronic devices during the school day.
Godina said the change will not be drastic because the school already prohibited student cellphone use during school hours.
“In some ways, it’s not a lot of difference for us,” he said. “We’ve for a long time now been no cellphones during the school day, no electronics, personal devices, watches, earbuds, those types of things.”
Students will be encouraged to leave their phones at home or in their vehicles. Students who need to bring a device into the building will be required to place it in a signal-blocking bag during the school day.
“We understand there’s going to be some kids who don’t drive,” Godina said. “Since we have junior high kids, those kids are often going to need to call parents after school.”
The school is also reviewing how the law will affect school-related social media accounts. Godina said administrators are considering whether to consolidate sports and activity accounts under one central Trinity Catholic account.
“We’ve been keeping our eye on what changes we can make to make it work, to still put our stuff out there on social media, but also follow along with those state guidelines,” he said.
Godina also praised the Trinity Catholic cheer squad following its performance at the National Cheerleaders Association camp at the University of Oklahoma.
All 12 cheerleaders were named All-American nominees. Melanie Mayer earned NCA All-American recognition, while Breckyn Dowsy received a leadership award presented to one cheerleader at the camp.
The squad received the Spirit Stick on all four days of camp and won the NCA Herkie Team Award, which recognizes leadership, teamwork, sportsmanship, positive attitude and overall excellence.
“Out of 18 other teams there, our squad performed very, very well,” Godina said.
Fall sports practices are scheduled to begin Aug. 17.