Senior Reflections: Not Just Smarter, but Better

By Greta VanDamme (CA ’22)

When I was 15, I dropped out of high school. I know that doesn’t sound very good, but it was the first of a few decisions that led me to Thomas Aquinas College, so I am very glad that I did it.

At my high school I was given massive amounts of information that wasn’t presented in a useful or an interesting way, told not to ask questions, asked to blindly memorize things that I didn’t understand, and given hours and hours of busywork, every day. My mother was just as distressed by this situation as I was, and so with her support, I quit.

I got a job, and I started going to community college just to pass the time until I could find a college where I could continue my education in a meaningful way. My older sister, my mother, and I started looking around, and we settled on a Great Books program, then narrowed it down to TAC and St. John’s College.

I didn’t love the idea of coming here: I’m not Catholic, my family isn’t Catholic, and I thought at the College I would find people who were biased, that they would warp texts to fit their own opinions, and who wouldn’t have a real respect for the authors. On top of all that, my sister chose TAC. I had to assert my independence, so I chose St. John’s.

Luckily, a few days before I sent in my commitment letter, my sister and some of her friends came home for a visit, and they spent all weekend trying to convince me to come to TAC. I spent all weekend trying to convince myself that I didn’t want to, but a few days after they left I was sitting with my grandma, and before I really knew what I was saying, I said, “I’m going to TAC.” I felt like such a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

I am now at the end of my time here, and I can say with complete certainty that it has been the kind of education that I wanted it to be.

“I have read so many of the most influential thinkers of all time and, even more important, I have seen in the world around me the truth that they saw first.”

I have read so many of the most influential thinkers of all time and, even more important, I have seen in the world around me the truth that they saw first. I was wrong to worry that people here would try to warp the Great Books to support their preconceived opinions. Instead, I found the kind of intellectual humility and reverence for the authors that I had sought. I have also cultivated good study habits; I use very little technology; my attention span is much longer than it was when I first got here. I can think in a more profound, a more thorough, and a more precise way.

Beyond this intellectual formation, however, TAC has also formed me morally, which I never asked it to do.

One of the essays you have to write when you apply to the College is about the rules here, the Rules of Residence, which are pretty strict: We have a dress code and a curfew and rules against TV and technology. I think my essay sounded something like this: “I don’t understand the rules, I don’t like them, but I’ll follow them — I guess — if you make me.”

I am now the women’s head prefect; I enforce those rules every day. I won’t say I love all of them, but I do love most of them. And I have seen how instrumental they were in making me the kind of person who could pursue the things that we want to pursue here. I got used to putting the good things first; to reading instead of watching TV, to getting a good night’s sleep so that I could be sharp for class the next morning.

Before I came here, I didn’t really see the connection between knowledge and goodness and happiness. I wanted to be educated, but I don’t think I could have told you why. I knew it was important, but now I really know why I wanted that. The things I have read here, and the kind of life I have lived here, haven’t just made me smarter, they have made me happy.

I came to TAC hoping to be made well-read. I am well-read now, but I am also wise and good, and I got so much more than I asked for in that.

Ms. VanDamme is from San Juan Capistrano, California.