Trinity Collegiate School and the Byrnes Schools will combine to form Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School, according to a news release.
The release says the integration will take place this fall and allow the new school to become the premier college preparatory school of the Pee Dee.
Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate will be located on the Trinity Campus on Hoffmeyer Road.
Eddie Huggins served as the Byrnes Athletic Director for 24 years before retiring in 1998. He says the change is hard for some, but believes the move to combine the schools will be great for students.
"It is emotional. I mean, you put your life into something and seems to be taken away from you in a sense of what it is now, but life is filled with new beginnings and what we have is a new beginning," said Eddie Huggins.
The new school is expected to have an enrollment of more than 150 students in the 6 through 12 grades for the upcoming school term, 2012-2013. Next term, the school will only accommodate students in grades 7 through 12, that's for the 2013-2014 school year.
Trinity's headmaster Ed Hoffman says the schools started discussions to combine nearly three weeks ago and it became a done deal this week.
He couldn't speak to why the schools are combining, but referred us to administrators at the Byrnes Schools.
We've called the headmaster at the Byrnes Schools for a statement.
Hoffman says in addition to a competitive education and arts program for its students, the school will have a full slate of competitive athletic teams including 11-man football.
Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School is currently accepting applications for the 2012-2013 school year, and Open Houses will be held at Trinity Collegiate's Hoffmeyer Road campus on July 9, 16 and 23, from 5-7 pm.
