Slideshow: Senior Thesis Draft-Burning 2014

Each year, starting in the fall and continuing well into the spring, the seniors of Thomas Aquinas College labor to create what will be the culmination of their four years of academic efforts — the senior thesis. Based on a subject of each student’s own choosing, and drawing from the College’s classical curriculum, the thesis represents its author’s effort to apply his education to a matter of scholarly and personal importance.

When the process is at last complete — the research, the writing, the countless revisions and, of course, the defense before a panel of three tutors — the seniors celebrate by burning drafts of their papers at a public, informal ceremony. Traditionally each soon-to-be graduate accompanies this act by reciting a favorite quotation or text that in some way captures the theme of his efforts or general view of the world. Watching along are members of the faculty who, immediately after the draft-burning, square off against the students in the annual Senior-Tutor Softball Game.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, April 30, the Class of 2014 took its turn in this yearly ritual, consigning much of the last year’s hard work — although certainly not its fruits! — into the flames.