2023 High School Summer Program: Meet the Prefects!

Having introduced you to the prefects for the New England High School Summer Program, we would now like to introduce the crew for the California program, which runs July 16-29. Joining head prefects Dillon Raum (’21) and Anna van Wijk (’24), we have a great team of current students and recent graduates:

A native of Pleasanton, Texas, the fabled “Birthplace of the Cowboy,” and an avid rock-climber, Eli Hunt (’25) is no stranger to adventure — especially the often-overlooked adventure of pursuing truth. “I came to TAC for the classical education and the College’s renown for earnestly seeking truth,” he says. “I am happy to say that the College lives up to its reputation. This education breeds a love of God and a desire for virtue!” In his case, Eli can speak from a deeper reservoir of experience than many students his age. He was received into the Church at the Easter Vigil in 2022, completing a path of conversion which began in high school and intensified during his freshman year. “I’m very excited to work the Summer Program and to share this college, which has changed my life.”

The eight older siblings of Maria Brittain (’24) all attended Thomas Aquinas College — which is no mean feat! “My siblings are very different from one another,” she says. “That TAC appealed to all of them shows that this school can be for everyone, as long as they have an open mind!” Having since fallen deeper in love with the College in the intervening years, Maria is ready and excited to return as a prefect for the 2023 Summer Program. “I’m looking forward to showing people who might not think TAC is the right place for them that there truly is no place like this,” she says. Alongside zeal for the curriculum, she adds, “I’m a big sports fanatic, and coming here and playing, not to win, but to grow closer to those around me, has always stood out to me as one of the best things the College has to offer.”

Anthony Santine (’25) is a veteran of last year’s Summer Program and thrilled to reprise his role as a prefect. A Michiganian by extraction, Anthony attended his own Summer Program in 2020, which, though beset by pandemic restrictions, was no less invigorating on that account. “Some of my favorite memories are the conversations I had with the prefects,” he recalls. “I look forward to being on the other side of those interactions once again!” Although game for any discussion, Anthony is especially interested in music of all kinds, having directed the student choral group Chrysostomos this past semester. “It’s a joy to have the opportunity to work with so many talented singers and to grow closer to them through music,” he says. Anthony is also an avid ping-pong player — what better way to discuss the relative merits of Mozart and Beethoven than over the table, paddles in hand?

First-time prefect Elena Walz (’26) discovered the College by sheer happenstance. “My mom heard about TAC in passing while listening to a podcast,” Elena recalls. Living in Irvine, California, little more than two hours away from the College, Elena’s mother found the prospect too good to pass. “She encouraged me to apply for the Summer Program in 2021,” says Elena. While open to the idea, there was a snag: “I was also accepted to an economics program at Notre Dame during those same two weeks.” Again, however, happenstance intervened: At the last minute, Notre Dame moved its program to Zoom to accommodate pandemic restrictions. For obvious reasons, Elena opted for TAC instead — and is enormously grateful she did! “After two weeks of attending daily Mass and exciting classes in a completely different style than I was used to, while making some of the best friends of my life, I was hooked!” 

Jack Gardner (’24) hails from a farm on the outskirts of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Although his parents are graduates of the College, he was never taken with the idea of the intellectual life. “It all just sounded to abstract and dull for me!” he laughs. But that changed when he came to campus to visit his older brother and saw what a life devoted to study actually looked like, reflecting, “It’s an opportunity to fully examine your life and how it should be lived.” Indeed, so changed is Jack’s outlook that not only did he wind up coming to the College, he even joined the Admissions Department this past school year as a student worker, helping to communicate the value of the College’s mission of Catholic liberal education to skeptics like his former self!

Growing up in nearby Santa Paula, Monica Weinkopf (’25) always knew about and loved the College — which posed a problem. “I didn’t want familiarity to be the reason that I went to TAC,” she says. Attending the 2020 Summer Program, however, furnished Monica with a new vision of the College and its mission. “Although you’re tucked away into the mountains and into small seminar discussions, you discover in a new way that life is so much bigger than yourself,” she says. Now a rising junior at the College, and already a veteran of last year’s Summer Program, she looks forward to helping attendees better understand the College’s mission — as well as traveling to Lisbon, Spain, later this summer to better understand the Church’s mission at World Youth Day 2023!

Isaac Osborne (’24) wanted to go into engineering when he finished high school, not study philosophy. At the recommendation of his teachers, however, he gave the Summer Program a try — and as for so many, that made all the difference. “I was able to see what the College was all about,” Isaac recalls. “I fell in love with the curriculum and felt it change me. People don’t realize it, but the modern mind is riddled with errors; it’s worthwhile to investigate alternative philosophical perspectives.” He returned to the College to investigate those perspectives, and insists that “I don’t regret my decision in the slightest!” Isaac’s time at the College has also nurtured his discernment of a religious vocation, which he plans to pursue with the Norbertine Fathers in August of 2024. If Summer Program attendees are looking for a quiet conversation about the nature of the universe, or a quiet walk in nature itself, Isaac will be happy to oblige!