California
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June 24, 2024
After Sunday afternoon’s arrivals, the 2024 one-week California Great Books Summer Program officially opened with a welcome and introductions from Admissions Director Jon Daly. The faculty director of the Summer Program, tutor Brian Dragoo, also spoke to parents and students about the curriculum and method of teaching at the College, giving them a small preview of what their classes at TAC will be like.
Admissions counselors then led students and parents on a tour of the campus, including the Chapel, classrooms, library, and athletic center. The tour ended on the lawn outside of St. Bernardine of Siena Library with a barbeque dinner of tri-tip and hot dogs. The high schoolers piled their plates with food and filled picnic table benches, where they met new classmates and friends. Others, who arrived by bus as the barbeque was ending due to delayed flights, received dinner a little later than the rest on plates that had been set aside for them.
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After the barbeque, those who had spent the day in cars and planes gathered in the Chapel for a traveler’s Mass offered by the Summer Program chaplain Rev. John Paul Erickson (’02).
The high school students then headed to St. Cecilia Hall’s Fritz B. Burns Auditorium for an orientation meeting. Mr. Daly introduced students to the Admissions staff and to Fr. Erickson, who encouraged them to make the most of their time at the College. “Keep your eyes and ears open to what the Lord wants to do for you,” he advised. The Summer Program prefects also introduced themselves and shared some fun facts about each other.
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With introductions complete, the students and prefects returned to the residence halls for ice-cream sundaes. While they gathered, the prefects spoke about the community life of the College and about how excited they are to be sharing that life with the students over the next week. “This is really the best part of our summers,” said head women’s prefect Monica Weinkopf (’25).
Finally, the first day of the Summer Program came to a close, and the students headed to their rooms to get some sleep before jumping into classes the next day. In today’s classes, they will discuss Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone and the definitions and postulates in Euclid’s Elements. Come back to the Summer Program Blog for more details this afternoon!
