Chris Roux arrived as a second semester sophomore in late 1970, Phil Smith\u2019s first year as headmaster. \u201cI came from a large high school in northern New Jersey where I was one of thousands. My mom had just died and Dad knew T-P would be a good fit for me.\u201d Matt Dann had taught Roux\u2019s father math at Trinity Manhattan. \u201cI developed relationships with faculty members who worked 24\/7. My teachers made themselves available so there was no excuse for me not to succeed.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Effort System created opportunities to become independent,\u201d Roux recalls. \u201cEveryone has the same chance to succeed. It\u2019s just a matter of how you learned to work with the System. Group One offered incentives that reward effort by reducing the number of rules a student had to comply with. Sure, the rules were still in place but we had internalized them. It was a great motivator and taught me I could be independent and control my life. That autonomy stuck with me and completely changed my perspective as a 16-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roux thrived at Trinity-Pawling where he could play three sports and experience leadership opportunities. \u201cI could be on student council, start a club, or captain third hockey.\u201d When Roux was elected head prefect by the student body, he was utterly surprised. \u201cThat gave me a confidence that carried through the rest of my life. I was thrust into a position of leadership and I learned how to handle situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be half the person I am today without T-P. I was bumping along in my previous school, one of thousands. T-P provided opportunities to grow up.\u201d Roux admits that having no girls eliminated an anxiety at that age and allowed him and his peers to grow up among brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And brothers help brothers. For the past three years, Roux and several of his classmates have funded a current Trinity-Pawling student. The student\u2019s father was a classmate of theirs who died prematurely, and the group of friends wanted to give this young man the same opportunity that they had all experienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur reunions, on and off campus, have become some of the most important events in our lives. Some of us may not have been terribly close while at T-P but we have all become best friends. Regardless of your era, all alumni share common experiences that deepen the bonds once you leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roux was invited to serve as a trustee in 2005. \u201cBeing a trustee has created something important in my life outside of work. I love and respect my fellow trustees and really enjoy having the chance to connect with students when I\u2019m on campus for meetings. I cherish the opportunity to see how far the School has evolved and I\u2019m happy to help however I can.\u201d As Secretary of the Board, Roux has the honor of signing every senior\u2019s diploma. \u201cMy hand definitely cramps up by the end!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roux is a partner with Alston & Bird, an international firm with more than 800 lawyers. He specializes in construction and government contracts law. Roux serves on the firm\u2019s ten-person management team, essentially the board of directors, and he splits his time between Los Angeles, CA and McLean, VA. He and his wife, Barbara, have a 30-year old son, Michael, who lives in Hyannis, MA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
by Maria Buteux Reade<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chris Roux arrived as a second semester sophomore in late 1970, Phil Smith\u2019s first year as headmaster. \u201cI came from a large high school in northern New Jersey where I was one of thousands. My mom had just died and Dad knew T-P would be a good fit for me.\u201d Matt Dann had taught Roux\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-february-2019"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"A LEADER THEN AND NOW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2567"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2666,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions\/2666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}