Commencement Honoree
Sharon Brady Raimo ’69, ’94
This year’s Commencement speaker is one of Trinity’s own distinguished graduates celebrating her 50th Reunion year.
Sharon Brady Raimo ’69 ’94 has been the CEO of St. Coletta School of Greater Washington, a school for special needs children and adults. Ms. Raimo is known throughout the Washington region as a passionate advocate for the students and families of St. Coletta’s, and for the leadership she exerted across the years to build the institution. St. Coletta started in 1969 in Arlington, Virginia. When Ms. Raimo took the helm in 1993, she moved the school to a new location in Alexandria. Ten years later, she moved the school again to the District of Columbia and into a brand new building that she developed with the famous architect Michael Graves. St. Coletta also has a location for adult students in Rockville, and also operates a gift shop, Coletta Collections, that sells the crafts made by students.
In honoring Ms. Raimo we are also honoring the Class of 1969, a group of Trinity Women who have exerted extraordinary leadership in their personal and professional lives, and also on behalf of Trinity. To mark the occasion of their 50th anniversary, this class chose a truly remarkable project — to raise money to help current Trinity students to graduate on time! “’69 to the Finish Line” is the name of their fund drive, and to encourage their classmates to give, they also created a video (donated through the services of a class member who is a professional producer) to tell the story of Trinity students today — see https://vimeo.com/294166923
As of today, the Class of 1969 has raised more than $350,000 for “Finish Line” micro grants, and that number will continue to grow as we head into Reunion in the first week of June. The grants will be available starting in the 2019-2020 school year according to guidelines we will announce in the fall. I hope you will agree that this commitment of the Class of 1969 to today’s Trinity students is truly worthy of our gratitude and recognition!