A Swing and a Kierkegaard

Now halfway through their first week, students on the New England High School Summer Program were in high spirits this morning! 

With snatches of last night’s medieval melodies still in their ears, attendees grabbed their texts and trekked across campus to their classrooms. A challenging class on Soren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling lay ahead. Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian in the mid-19^th century and wrote a number of profound works on Christianity and morality. Building from the Genesis readings that the students completed yesterday, Fear and Trembling focuses on the story of the Binding of Isaac in Genesis 22. In four different narratives of the story, Kierkegaard explores the choice Abraham had to make: His only son, or God’s will? 

It is not a light work, nor an easy one to understand, but the students were up for the task! They tackled the text head-on with their tutors’ guidance, grappling with questions such as “Was Abraham’s faith reasonable?” and “How does the story show Abraham’s greatness?”

From there followed the midday Mass in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel …

… then TAC’s famed burger bar at lunch! A student favorite both during the Summer Program and during the academic year, the meal included cheeseburgers, caramelized onions, mushrooms, and bacon for programmers to mix and match for a perfect bite. “I liked all the meals so far, but this has definitely been my favorite!” said Xylie B. 

During the meal, the prefects announced that today’s schedule would a bit different from others: Instead of going to a second class, programmers would begin learning to swing dance! The group then ventured down to Olivia Music Hall, where prefects Stephen Brown (’25) and Teresa Bingham (’26) demonstrated the basics of East Coast swing. Students learned the foundational four steps, then progressed to inside and outside turns. Laughter and the sound of 1950s dance music filled the hall as attendees mixed and mingled with different dance partners. “I can’t wait for our next practice!” exclaimed Mara O.