Great Books and Great Brisket

California

June 27, 2024

Leaving geometry and Genesis behind, students on the High School Summer Program headed for the hills for an after-class hike Thursday afternoon. Bright sunshine and summer heat didn’t hold the group back from exploring the trails just above the campus, although the prefects made sure to bring plenty of water along with them. Others hung back to play soccer and volleyball or to get creative in the art room, and, afterward, all cooled off on a giant slip ‘n slide! The students lined up, hosed off, and slathered themselves in soap to get some extra speed as they launched themselves down the slide.

Photos: Recreation

For dinner, the high schoolers sat on picnic blankets on the lawn outside St. Joseph’s Commons for an outdoor barbeque prepared by Summer Program prefect Luke Connelly (’27). They filled their plates with brisket, which Luke had smoked for 25 hours in preparation for the festivities. “It was some of the best homemade barbeque I’ve ever had!” one student said.

Photos: Barbeque

The high schoolers then attended their last Study Hall, where, in addition to studying their Euclid demonstrations, they read J. Henry Fabre’s The Bees, a work of natural science, and an excerpt from St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae.

Photos: Study Hall

When they departed the library at the end of the session, they found Shirley Temples waiting for them in the Coffee Shop. The students enjoyed the sparkling drinks while chatting at tables and playing games in the rec room. They also played a game of pick-up soccer on the athletic field and threw together an impromptu dance practice to brush up their swing dancing moves.

Photos: Coffee Shop and Dance Practice

The men and women then split up to go back to their residence halls. The ladies settled into their courtyard for “Prefect Girls on Tap,” where their prefects answered questions about college, relationships, and community.

It wasn’t long, however, before the event was interrupted by the men, who came back to surprise them with a TAC tradition — a dorm wooing!

The men gathered outside the gates of St. Monica Hall, the women’s residence, dressed up in ties and suit jackets and holding flowers. They serenaded the women with “Loch Lomond,” “La Vie En Rose,” and Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect,” while prefect Xavier Grimm (’27) and student Johnny F. strummed their guitars. Every woman received a rose and chocolate from their would-be suitors. When the night ended and the men left for their own hall, the women waved goodbye and shouted their thanks. “It was so sweet!” was their universal verdict on the night’s event.

Today, students will present their last Euclidean proofs and get a sense of the integrated nature of TAC’s curriculum in their afternoon class, which combines readings from Freshman Natural Science and Junior Theology. It’s their last day of classes, and you can read all about it this afternoon on the Summer Program Blog!