Faith and Fun

California

June 27, 2024

Wednesday’s classes may have come to an end, but the good times carried on well into the night for the students of the California one-week High School Summer Program. Before the afternoon recreation period, the high schoolers came together for a talk in the Fritz B. Burns Auditorium, where Admissions Director Jon Daly shared a bit about the history of Thomas Aquinas College and its mission. He also explained the College’s application process and answered questions about admissions, financial aid, and life at TAC.

The students were then free to fill the time before dinner however they wished. Many chose to spend the afternoon playing pick-up sports, swimming, rock climbing, and more in and around the Pope St. John Paul II Athletic Center. Others, excited to learn more after Tuesday’s swing-dancing lesson, stuck around the Auditorium, where Admissions Counselor and Summer Program dance instructor Joseph Guinee (’21) taught them some new moves. In the art room, students pulled out the watercolors and got creative.

Photos: Recreation Period

Later, the group came together for a dinner of pork and scalloped potatoes, followed by the usual study period in St. Bernardine of Siena Library. During Study Hall, the students opened their Bibles to read the beginning of the Book of Genesis, from Creation up until the time of Abraham, in preparation for the next day’s class. “I’m really excited for tomorrow’s Genesis discussion,” said Addison P. “We read it this past year at my school, and it was so cool getting to see all the typology from the Old Testament to the New Testament. So I’m really curious to see what we can pull out of Genesis in class.”

Photos: Study Hall

Instead of going to Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel for the nightly Rosary after Study Hall, students followed Chaplain Rev. John Paul Erickson (’02) in a candle-lit procession to pray at the Stations of the Cross that line the pathway on the lower campus. At every Station, Fr. Erickson read a Scripture passage and led the students in a meditation on Our Lord’s Passion and Death.

Photos: Stations

Though TAC is a community that likes to put faith first, fun is sure to follow. The group next made its way to the St. Patrick Coffee Shop to enjoy berry smoothies or play ping pong and pool …

… meanwhile, many of the high schoolers took their smoothies down to the outdoor basketball court to watch their peers face off against the prefects in a friendly but fiercely competitive game of men’s basketball.

Photos: Basketball

Although the high schoolers passionately cheered on their team from the sidelines, the prefect men won the day by a final score of 48 to 32. Curfew then called the students back to their residence halls, where chatter and laughter filled their common rooms until it was time for bed.

At today’s classes, the high schoolers will discuss Scripture and straight lines in their theology and geometry classes. And, of course, you will be able to find a full recap this afternoon here on the Summer Blog!