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Students say goodbye

Managing to squeeze in a few hours of sleep after a great night of laughter and tears, students on the California High School Summer Program started rising before dawn this morning to make their way home. In the brightening morning, they boarded buses in waves according to their flight times. There were many hugs, some more tears, and also joyful greetings and introductions when parents of local students arrived on campus with carloads of siblings.

Parting is often said to be the greatest sorrow, but how good it is that it is a sorrow rather than a joy to leave behind new friends and a beautiful community? The departure may not have been easy, but that itself is proof that these last two weeks were grace-filled and well worth remembering.

Goodbyes
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye
  • Students say goodbye

 The prefects — many of whom have worked several past Summer Programs — agree that this year’s group was an exceptionally loving, joyful, and intelligent class of programmers who lit up the campus with their presence. Thank you, parents, for raising such excellent men and women and giving us the opportunity to get to know them. We look forward to seeing many of them as members of Thomas Aquinas College’s Classes of 2026 and 2027!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog! We are deeply grateful for the tireless efforts of the two students pictured below, writer/reporter Peter King (’24) and photographer Regina Terreri (’23), who have worked around the clock for the last two weeks to produce such tremendous coverage!

Peter and Regina

And, while we are at it, let’s take a moment to thank the team of California Summer Program prefects (shown below at one of their daily meetings), who make the magic of this program happen. Whether it’s rising early to lead hikes or staying up late to clean the Coffee Shop, this crew does it all. May God bless them for their loving dedication!

The Sumer Program prefects