California
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July 23, 2024
Attendees at the California High School Summer Program closed their books after a Monday morning spent wondering about straight lines and human happiness to turn their attention to rest and recreation. Prefect Patrick Daly (‘26) organized the men for a game of baseball on the athletic field, while in the Pope St. John Paul II Athletic Center, programmers went swimming, scaled the climbing walls, or played basketball in preparation for that night’s prefects vs. students game. In the art room, students worked on pieces to display in Thursday’s art show. And many high schoolers attended a dance practice, pairing up to learn some more swing moves, such as “the pretzel” and “floor sweep,” before the farewell dance on Friday.
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Since students are headed to Los Angeles today to take in the beauty on display at the Getty Center and a Mozart concert at the Hollywood Bowl, they prepared for the experience by attending an afternoon talk: “Art and Beauty,” by Tutor Dr. John Nieto.
Dr. Nieto spoke about what beauty is and its power over the soul. “Everywhere else you experience activity, but when you’re experiencing the beautiful, you just want to see it,” Dr. Nieto observed. “We experience beautiful things and just want them to be what they are.” He told the students that they should look for integrity, clarity, and proportion, the three properties of the beautiful, in truly masterful works of art. He accompanied his talk with a slideshow, using some of his favorite artwork as examples, including some pieces that the high schoolers will be able to see for themselves at the Getty Center.
The programmers left the talk for a dinner of beef burritos, then attended Study Hall in St. Bernardine of Siena Library to continue reading The Consolation of Philosophy or their Euclid propositions. After an hour, they then broke into small groups led by prefects and moved to the classrooms, where they used the chalkboards and scratch paper to practice demonstrating the first three propositions in Euclid’s Elements. They will be called upon to present the proofs for these propositions in this morning’s math class, so the students practiced explaining the steps of Euclid’s arguments in their own words and drawing the accompanying diagrams.
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Following Study Hall and the nightly Rosary, it was time for the students to face off against their prefects on the basketball court. Each match opened in prayer, and then it was game time!
Photos: Students v. Prefects Basketball
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The women’s teams played first, competing fiercely while onlookers cheered and shouted encouragement. In spite of the students’ enthusiasm, the prefect women won the game. Afterward, in an energetic and hard-fought battle, the prefect men’s team, coached by Program Chaplain Rev. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem. (‘94), also emerged victorious. Despite their losses, the students’ spirits remained as high as ever as they returned to their residence halls, talking over the games. There they snacked on chips and seven-layer dip before turning in for the night.
Today, the students only have only their morning Euclid class before their trip to L.A.. Come back to the Summer Program Blog later today to read about the students’ first Euclid demonstrations!
