Meet the Summer Program Prefects: Patrick Mazza (’23)

We continue to meet the prefects for the this summer’s High School Great Books Program in California! Next up is Pat Mazza, a TAC junior.

Pat is near the caboose in the train of his many siblings. “I’m the seventh out of eight, so not quite the youngest — but with all the benefits,” he adds with a wink. Pat and his family are proud Wisconsinites, which would mean little if it did not mean devotion to the Packers and the Bucks. Several of his older siblings have preceded him in making the trek from the land of cheese and cornfields to the mountains of Southern California to study at Thomas Aquinas College, California. This steady westward procession of his siblings allowed Pat’s appreciation of the school a long gestation period; watching his siblings integrate their studies into firm habits of thought impressed him especially.

“From what I could see,” says Pat, “every student at TAC was able to read an incredibly mind-blowing author in a few days, and then discuss that author’s views with astounding precision. I came to realize that whatever I did after college, having that ability to think on any subject was a trait I needed!”

Since Pat’s interest in TAC developed organically over many years, it was a no-brainer that he would attend the Summer Program when the opportunity arose in 2018. “I had a blast when I went,” Pat tells us. “I loved the dorm life and the studies, especially Euclid, as well as all the sports.”

The classes on geometry seemed distinctly to promote the intellectual precision he had admired in his siblings. Moreover, the camaraderie on the athletic field reinforced the camaraderie of the classroom. The more he got to know his fellow attendees, the better he and they were at reaching common ground in discussion, meaning they could arrive at further and more complex conclusions in class with confidence. All in all, the Summer Program confirmed what Pat had intuited from afar: He was meant to go to TAC.

Since returning as a student in the fall of 2019, Pat has served as a prefect on the Summer Program once, an experience he is eager to repeat. “I’m really looking forward to working with my fellow prefects,” he tells us, “but I’m most excited to get to know the attendees! Just talking and hanging out with these bright people is always a pleasure. There’s always something to learn in everyone you meet.”

As Pat prepares for his senior year, life after TAC has begun to loom larger. But he has not been idle. “I intend to go back to Wisconsin and take an engineering co-op program, and eventually work as an engineer for a living.” At the same time, Pat has nurtured a childhood passion for writing. “I mainly write fantasy fiction,” he says, “but overall I always appreciate a good character story, no matter what genre.”

A man of many interests, Pat is looking forward to sharing those interests with the attendees this summer!