Meet the Summer Program Prefects: Agnes Umana (’25)

We now take another break from the Summer Blog‘s reporting about the ongoing California program to look ahead to the New England Summer Program — which begins on July 24! Continuing our series of prefect introductions, we present Agnes Umana (’25).

A rising sophomore on the New England campus, Agnes is a veteran of many kinds of education, but she only recently added classical education to that list. “I attended Regina Luminis Academy, a Catholic classical school, during my senior year of high school,” she says. For Agnes, studying the Trivium and mathematics was a bittersweet intellectual homecoming: She realized this was how she was meant to learn, but she realized it too late.

Or so she thought. “While I was at Regina Luminis, I heard about Thomas Aquinas College,” Agnes recalls. The College offered four years of exactly the kind of studies she wanted, only six hours from her home in Pennsylvania. “Visiting the New England campus, I felt at home,” she says. “I knew I wanted to spend my next four years there.”

Since Agnes discovered the College as a high school senior, she never had the chance to attend the High School Summer Program. “I’ve heard a ton of stories from friends about the program: After just two weeks they grew close with everyone there, and even now they keep in touch with their roommates from the program!” Agnes is understandably eager for the 2022 Summer Program to begin: “I’m excited to share my energy with the attendees, and to get them hyped about TAC!”

Although she is always ready to discuss the beautiful ideas that drew her to the College, Agnes is proficient in more than merely verbal sparring. “I did martial arts for a little over 10 years,” she says. Attendees should look for her if they want a good discussion — or a duel!