The Class of 2020 and Senior Thesis Titles

Fittingly, members of the Class of 2020 have chosen for their Class Quotation the following passage from Fedor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, which speaks about the joys of reunion after periods of long separation:

“‘Karamazov,’ cried Kolya, ‘can it be true what’s taught us in religion, that we shall all rise again from the dead and shall live and see each other again, all, Ilusha too?’ ‘Certainly we shall all rise again, certainly we shall see each other and shall tell each other with joy and gladness all that has happened!’ Alyosha answered, half laughing, half enthusiastic.”

And for its patron, the Class of 2020 has chosen St. Joseph, Protector of the Church.

Although it will be some time until Dean Goyette calls members of the Class of 2020 to the dais, Thomas Aquinas College would like to acknowledge each one, individually, for his or her four years of hard work, faithful studies, and perseverance in the face of many trials. Below are the graduates’ names, hometowns, and senior-thesis titles.

Make-Up: To Wear or Not to Wear?
Sarah Marie Abood
South Euclid, Ohio, USA 

Magnitude Matters:
An Exploration of the Evolution of the Terms
“Magnitude” and “Unit” and Its Effects
Marcos Aurelius Aguirre
Rancho Cucamonga, California, USA

“The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms
Shall Not Be Infringed”: A Defense of the Second Amendment
Ignacio Tomás Altamiranda
Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA

“He Must Increase, but I Must Decrease”:
An Analysis of Humility and Its Role in Securing Authentic Self-love
Michaela Rae Andrues
Novato, California, USA

Intellectual Growth:
Plato and Thomas on What the Teacher Gives
Thomas Francis Arnold
Muncie, Indiana, USA

“To Hold the Mirror up to Nature”:
A Case for Hamlet’s Success
Cornelia Kathryn Asjes
Nevada, Iowa, USA

“All the Ways of the Lord Are Mercy and Truth”:
How God Brings Good from Sin
Angelica Celeste Ayala
Merced, California, USA

Can Man Make Life?
Thomas Aquinas Baker
Littleton, Colorado, USA

Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium:
On the Relationship of Church and State
Sofía Barrantes Hernandez
San José, Costa Rica

A Historical and Philosophical Defense
of Classical Natural Rights Theory
Johnathan Richard Baur
Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, USA

The Death of Beauty:
An Examination of the Danger of the Liberal Art of Music
Ingrid Evalin Beers
Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

“It Is Not Good That the Man Should Be Alone”:
An Inquiry into the Relationship of the City and Its Members
Karina Elaine Biegel
Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Aristotle and Locke on the Purpose of
Law and the State of Happiness
Claire Marie Birch
Nokesville, Virginia, USA

“Whence Even the Lover of Myth Is in a Sense a Lover of Wisdom,
For the Myth Is Composed of Wonders”:
An Examination of How Story Teaches Most Universally
Helen Therese Blain
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Every Creation Needs a Creator
John Kenneth Eleazar Blewett
Santa Paula, California, USA

The Infinite Glory of Mary
Joseph Alexander Blewett
Santa Paula, California, USA

A “Laborious, Pure, and Socially Delightful Life”:
The Role of the Peasants in Anna Karenina
Calista Amy Marie Bowman
Camarillo, California, USA

Viva El Sacerdote De Cristo:
A Catholic Defense of Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory
Isaiah Augustine Brittain
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

“For This I Was Born, and for This I Have Come
into the World, to Bear Witness to the Truth”:
An Examination of the Men in Kristin Lavransdatter
and Whether They Fulfill Their Unique Mission of Manliness
Zachariah David Brittain
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

“Interiacet Menti et Voci”:
A Defense of the Interjection as a Part of Speech
Cecilia Ann Cammarota
Fair Oaks, California, USA

“I Applied My Mind to Know Wisdom and to Know Madness and Folly, I Perceived That This Also Is but Striving after Wind”
Mateo Christopher Cammarota
Folsom, California, USA

Heart of Stone to Heart of Flesh
Grace Ann Cassady
Mariposa, California, USA

The Unraveling of Human Nature:
An Inquiry Concerning the Moral Philosophies of Hume and Aristotle
Graham George Crawley
Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

Why Can’t I Be A Barbie?
Whether the Western Ideal of Woman’s Beauty
Is Proper to Her Natural State
Emilie Lucrecia Lucy Crimmins
Post Falls, Idaho, USA

Charged with the Grandeur of God:
An Account of Poetic Knowledge
Cecilia Christina Marie Davidson
Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, USA

Whether a Political Community Has an
Obligation to Accept Refugees
Angela Marie Dobrawa
Santa Rosa, California, USA

“Go Now, Play, Live for Me”:
An Enquiry of the Necessity of Playfulness
for Christian Perfection
Theresa Kim Donahoe
Chatham, New Jersey, USA

In Search of the Origin of True Culture:
A Study of Culture from Mind versus Heart
through the Works of Flannery O’Connor
Mary Margaret Downes
Hickory Corners, Michigan, USA

 The Humblest of Senses:
On the Precision of Man’s Sense of Touch
and Its Place in the Intellectual Life
Theresa Maria Dziubek
Terryville, Connecticut, USA

Evolution: A Thomistic Refutation
David George Easton
Pilot Hill, California, USA

Thomas and Aristotle on Magnanimity and Humility
Jessica Ellefson
Ft. Wingate, New Mexico, USA

Before and After:
Aristotle on Time’s Unique Direction
Christian Michael Thayne Emrich
Leominster, Massachusetts, USA

Sympathy for the Devil:
When and How Is Despair an Appropriate
Object for Contemplation in Art?
Roland Hugh Ferrier
Santa Paula, California, USA

Mater Dolorosa:
An Exposition on the Suffering of the Mother of God
Michaela Marie Flanders
Muscatine, Iowa, USA

“Sanctify Them in the Truth; Your Word Is Truth”:
The Analogy of the Human Word to the Divine Word
Melanie Rose Geier
Eastvale, California, USA

On the Demonstrability of the Existence of Atoms
Samuel Joseph Gerrard
Laguna Hills, California, USA

Countering Cantor:
The Contradictions in Counting the Infinite
Clare Marie Teresa Gisla
Sacramento, California, USA

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei genitrix:
A Consideration of the Blessed Virgin’s Titles
“Mother of All Men” and “Mediatrix of Grace”
and Their Essential Relationship
Hannah Jeannine Gomez
La Mirada, California, USA

 The Prudential Art
Kayla Marie Grimm
Alhambra, California, USA

On the Power of a Woman’s Beauty:
A Comparison Between Judith and the Wife of Bath
Caroline Helene Guinee
North Andover, Massachusetts, USA

Descartes, the Unit, and the “One”:
An Investigation into Descartes’ Understanding of the Unit according to the Division of “One” in the Metaphysics
Peter Agustin Hernandez
Sacramento, California, USA

Is the Part Greater than the Whole?
An Exploration of the Relationship Between
the Individual and the Common Good
Abigail Berit Hidley
Santa Paula, California, USA

The Proper Ordering of Statistics among the Natural Sciences
Liam Patrick Hogan
Edmonds, Washington, USA

Suffering Is Necessary for Happiness
Jason John Huang
Santa Paula, California, USA

America and America and Locke:
“A House Divided against Itself Cannot Stand”
Zachariah Thomas Tulloch Huckins
Auburn, California, USA

On the Necessity of the Internal Search for the Eternal Being
Veronica Lynne Jost
Algonquin, Illinois, USA

“Some Are Roses, Some Are Daisies,
but All Have Their Place in the Kingdom of Heaven”:
The Parable of the Talents Teaches That
God Gives Sanctifying Grace Diversely
Cecilia Marie Kerekes
Vista, California, USA

On Christ’s Appropriation of our Sins
in the Garden of Gethsemane
David Joseph Thomas King
Brussels, Belgium

 “This Dead Butcher and His Fiendlike Queen”:
On the Unity of Lord and Lady Macbeth
in the Assassination of King Duncan
Kezia Ruth Kirchner
Littleton, Colorado, USA

Can Beauty Save the World?
An Analysis of the Role of Moral Virtue in the Enjoyment of Beauty
Monica Jeannine Konizeski
Littleton, Colorado, USA

On the Abuse of Language
Anna-Marie Thérèse Langley
Houston, Texas, USA

“The Family Is the Factory That Manufactures Mankind”:
An Investigation into Why It Is Proper
for Children to Be Raised by Their Parents
Clare Marie Martha Langley
Camarillo, California, USA

“What Therefore God Hath Joined Together,
Let No Man Put Asunder”:
Marriage, the Greatest of Friendships
Rose Marie Lemmon
Santa Paula, California, USA

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit:
Capitalism and Catholicism
Joseph James Lind
Edina, Minnesota, USA

Conscience and the Divine Compass
Matthew Gerard Loew
St. Marys, Kansas, USA

Simul Iustus et Peccator:
Man Is Justified by Faith Alone
Michael Luckmann
San Diego, California, USA

Cantate Domino!
The Power and Purpose of Music in Catholic Liturgy
Thomas Michael Benedict Mazza
Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA

Man as a Self-Shaper:
The Power and Freedom of Assent to Law
Micaela Lynne Adelaide McCall
Centerville, Ohio, USA

On the Free Foundation of America
Mary Bridget Kateri McCann
Chesterfield, Missouri, USA

“Taught according to the Order of the Subject Matter”:
Immutability’s Placement in the Order of the Attributes
Nora Kathleen McCann
Shirley, Massachusetts, USA

Human and Animal Intelligence:
The Cogitative Power of Thomas Aquinas
Gwyneth Francesca McNiff
Broad Run, Virginia, USA

That Spousal Obligations Are Prior to Obligations of Friendship
Elizabeth Faith Meany
Washougal, Washington, USA

The Union of Fine Art and Liberal Art:
An Insight into the Fundamental Principles of Music
Edward McCarthy Mohun
Fillmore, California, USA

Inertia and the Unmoved Mover:
A Solution to the Apparent Opposition
of Newton’s First Law and Aquinas’ First Way
Claire Margaret Murphy
Mission Viejo, California, USA

Who is the “Serious Man”?
Michael Andrew Murphy
Cheshire, Connecticut, USA

A Mapmaker’s Guide to the Liberal Arts
Antonina Krystiana Niznik
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The Better Best Man:
A Comparison of Aristotle’s Magnanimous Man
and Nietzsche’s Superman
Seamus Padriac O’Brien
Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, USA

Mother of All the Living:
How Mary’s Labor on Calvary
Effected the Birth of the Mystical Body
Marybeth Brigid O’Connell
New York, New York, USA 

The Role of Silence in the Repentance of Job
Maria Therese Perry
Delta, British Columbia, Canada

A Comparison of the Definitions of the Parabola As Given by Apollonius and Descartes
Alexander Joseph Pfeiffer
Waterford, Wisconsin, USA

On the Individuality of the Separated Soul
Rachel Pipes
Wildwood, Missouri, USA

Losing Sight of Our Human Nature:
An Exposition of Epicurean Errors and
Their Influence on Modern Gender Theory
Sarah Catherine Pipes
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Orthía Eidos: The Role of the Upright Side in the Conic Sections
Verity Alexandra Poon
Pleasant Hill, California, USA

The World in Words:
An Understanding of Why “In”
Truly Expresses the Relation of Signified and Sign
Marcus Porto
Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil

The Objective Truth That Music’s Moral Meaning Is Subjective
Oscar Uriel Rangel, Jr.
Elk Grove, California, USA

The Necessity of Precise Language for Understanding
Paulina Ailea Redulfin
Venice, California, USA

The Division of the Arts:
An Apology for Fine Art
Peter Henry Augustine Reilly
Inola, Oklahoma, USA

Man Is Ordered to a Community:
A Defense against Rousseau
Robert Anthony Richard
San Jose, California, USA

Does it Matter?
An Explication of the
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
as the Work of a Student of Nature according
to Aristotelian and Thomistic Principles
Emma Louise Russell
Ojai, California, USA

“Man and Woman He Created Them”:
An Exploration of the Natural Virtues of Men and Women
Mark Anthony Sabados
Wexford, Pennsylvania, USA

“Rejoice Insofar As You Share Christ's Sufferings”:
An Examination of the Christian's Suffering
Hannah Elizabeth Beatrice Schexnayder
New Iberia, Louisiana, USA

Dante, Virgil, and Odysseus in the Divine Comedy:
Love’s Guiding Action through Companionship and Speech
Emma Mairead Schmitt
Leominster, Massachusetts, USA

The Preciousness of a Saintly Death
Nicholas Donald Shaler
San Bernardino, California, USA

“Denied and Disparaged”:
On the Mode of Rights-Protection
Proper to the Ninth Amendment
Nicholas Silva
Santa Ana, California, USA

English Equivocation Encouraged:
How Christ as Hostia Makes Us Guests
Morgan Rachel Patrick Simms
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

The Quest for Divinity:
Achilles’ Struggle as a Representation
of the Fallen Human State
Maria Teresa Magdalena Sladky
Chester Gap, Virginia, USA

The New Magnanimous Man
Paul Slugocki
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Moral Virtue in the Life of a Catholic Intellectual
Katherine Sullivan
Toronto, Ohio, USA

“For What Does It Profit a Man
If He Gain the Whole World but Lose His Soul?”
An Examination of How Temporal Goods
Are Only a Means to Happiness
Clare Yvonne Tuttle
San Jose, California, USA

“You Must Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart”:
How Understanding Charity as a Kind of Friendship
Saves Us from the Kantian Error Concerning Charity
Ryan Joseph Uchison
Colfax, California, USA

Inertia Is an Aristotelian Principle of Motion
Bernhard Robert Michael Wall
Mariposa, California, USA

God vs. Atom:
A Comparison of the Principles of Natural Law
and the Nature of Man in the Summa versus the Leviathan
Rose Colleen Walsh
Banks, Oregon, USA

My Thesis ... or Is It?
Man’s Natural Right to Own His Ideas
Anna Kate Victoria Wells
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

On the Balance of Society and Solitude
in the Virtuous Life
Joseph Mark Wiebersch
Delafield, Wisconsin, USA

Your Nature Is Not As Mine:
A Defense and Contrast of
Aesa Haraldsdatter Against Vigdis Gunnarsdatter
Sylvia Irene Zepeda
Alhambra, California, USA

May God bless you on your way!