Meet the Summer Program Prefects: Maria Brittain (’24)

Next in our series profiling the prefects for the 2022 High School Summer Program in California is rising junior Maria Brittain.

Maria’s Arizona childhood was steeped in Thomas Aquinas College. “My father came to TAC and graduated in the class of 1996, and ever since then all eight of my older siblings have come and graduated from the school,” she explains. She noticed that her siblings all enjoyed their time at the College, and that impressed her. “My siblings are very different from one another,” she says. “The fact that TAC appealed to all of them shows that this school can be for everyone, as long as they have an open mind.”

So by the time it came for her to look at colleges, “all I wanted to do was come to TAC,” Maria says. “I didn’t need the Summer Program to convince me.” Having just completed her sophomore year, Maria is more confident than ever in that decision. “I made TAC my own by allowing the school to go on around me,” she says. “I’ve lived each day as if it was my only day at TAC, and every day has been better than the one before.”

Having steadily fallen more and more in love with the College, Maria is ready and excited to give back as a prefect for the 2022 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 with a smile. She looks forward to discussing the Great Books with program attendees — and to meeting them on the athletic field: “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.”