Brothers Walk Two Paths at Trinity University

Jake Cipolla ’26 had one gut reaction when he saw who his first-ever Trinity University RA was going to be: his older brother, Nicholas Cipolla ’25.

“When we got the news, I just cracked up on the stairs of our house, and Nicholas was not very happy about it,” says Jake, a music education major from Houston. “I love him, but we had also just spent 17 years together, and we were ready to live our own lives.”

Having space to shine was a big question for both brothers in coming to Trinity University, a small, 2,600-person liberal arts college that’s actually just a smidge larger than the Cipollas’ high school.

But Trinity specializes in delivering the resources and opportunities of a larger school with the personal faculty attention and supportive vibes of a smaller institution: a potent combination that gives students like the Cipollas the chance to tread paths that seem worlds apart. And there’s no better example of this than the summer both brothers just spent in their respective research labs.

Jake Cipolla '26 and music professor Kimberlyn Montford, Ph.D.

Jake, who wants to be a conductor one day, spent his summer tracing the origins and connections of a centuries-old piece of religious musical text (called a manuscript) under the supervision of music professor Kimberlyn Montford, Ph.D.

“The manuscript was from an estate given to Trinity by the Coates family, and so I’ve spent the summer trying to learn more about the document and to come up with a firm hypothesis as to how it traveled through the Caribbean in the hands of the Dominican Order,” Jake says. “I’ve also looked at transcribing the chants inside the document, and figuring out the meaning behind the mass.”

Nicholas Cipolla '25 enjoys access to cutting-edge chemistry research at Trinity.

Nicholas, a chemistry major who wants to be a professor with his own research lab one day, spent his summer working with chemistry professor Christina Cooley, Ph.D., on one of the latest iterations of her work with Fluorogenic Polymerizations (using light to monitor reactions). On Nicholas’ summer project, “Fluorogenic ATRP as a Novel Kinetic Assay,” the rising senior got to fully lean into his passion as a STEM researcher.

“I wasn't a hundred percent sure what I wanted to do with my ‘STEM-ness’ coming out of high school, but I really liked having that clear-cut definition of what everything is,” Nicholas says. “Working with Dr. Cooley has been phenomenal. I’m going on my third year with her. She's a phenomenal mentor. She's got a very clear direction in mind, and she's just really good at making sure we all stay on track and accomplish those big goals that we set.”

This type of hands-on opportunity has been a literal life-changer for Nicholas.

“Doing this research at this level also means we get the opportunity to go to conferences and present research. I have control over the experiments that I'm running. I get a say in what kind of science we do, in how to move the project forward. That really is different than at other universities, where you may be working under a graduate student or under a postdoc,” Nicholas says. “ And I do think that that is definitely going to set me apart moving forward. I’m looking to go to graduate school, so with those kinds of applications, now I can really speak to the research experiences that I've had.”

And Jake’s research, too, has led him to a similarly valuable personal discovery.

“The biggest thing from this summer was that it made me realize I did not want to pursue research,” Jake says. “I do enjoy research. I just don't enjoy doing eight hours of research for five days a week. So, this has helped me realize that in the future, especially for job prospects, I’m definitely going more the conducting route, but I'll still probably try and do a little bit of research on the side.”

That’s a good realization for Jake, who has his hands full with just about as many music-related ventures as a student can handle. He’s a member of the Trinity Chamber Singers, and he’s been taking voice lessons with music professor Jacquelyn Matava, D.M. He’s done music directing for a show put on by the theatre department and one for the theatre club, all while being in Mu Phi Epsilon, the music fraternity on campus.

That’s a major draw of a liberal arts university like Trinity, where students like Nicholas get the chance to indulge their “STEM-ness” with hands-on opportunities just as in-depth as students like Jake get to make time for music.

“I love just being involved as much as I can in the music department and the theatre department because at a lot of schools, you can only be a theater major or only be a music major,” Jake says. “But at Trinity, our lead for the past show was a math major. And the music department faculty is amazing. They're all great professors and people, which has also made it a lot more enjoyable since the music building is pretty much my second home outside of my dorm at this point with how much I'm over there.”

Nicholas (left) and Jake Cipolla (far right) after a performance.

But just as much as Nicholas and Jake both enjoy their space, paths have a way of crossing at Trinity, too. Nicholas, who also plays French Horn in the Trinity Symphonic Orchestra, is one of countless Trinity students who join music ensembles without being music majors.

“I'm also in the music building every once in a while, and I'll run into him,” Nicholas says. “I think we get to see each other just the right amount. He’s in the choir, and I'm in the orchestra, so it's cool still being able to support each other in that way as well and bring our friends and show up to our musicals or choir concerts. And we do occasionally get to perform together (on larger productions), so our parents love that they get to see us both up there. That’s what you get with the small nature of the University.”

Nicholas points out that Jake actually wrote a piece for French Horn, as Jake says “it was nice to be able to have him help me through the process of, ‘Is what I’m writing actually possible for this instrument?,’ since I didn't know it that well.”

Despite their different paths, both Cipollas have come to at least one common conclusion about their college choice.

“Due to the opportunities and amenities that Trinity has, I am happy I went here,” Jake says. “I’m seeing a difference in the education I’m getting at Trinity, both in terms of my skill set in music and for my career.”

Nicholas Cipolla gets support from chemistry professor and mentor Christina Cooley, Ph.D., both inside and outside the lab.

“I am a hundred percent, a thousand, a million, whatever-numbers-are-bigger-than-that-percent, glad that Trinity is the choice that I made,” Nicholas adds. “This place has given me so many opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten at other schools.”

And sharing a campus—that’s just big enough for both brothers—does have another draw for the Cipollas.

“This is also convenient if somebody is going home and the other one of us has forgotten something,” Nicholas says, laughing. “In situations like that, you are reminded of the other person’s existence pretty fast.”