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THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE E-LETTER
AUGUST 2019
 
 
 
 
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NEW ENGLAND SUMMER PROGRAM
MULTIMEDIA
 
   
Summer Program recap video Video Recap:
New England Summer Program
 
     
Flagpole run Slideshow:
Chariots of Fire
Flagpole Run
 
     
Students pray at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy Slideshow:
Shrine of the Divine Mercy
 
     
Students at Tanglewood Slideshow:
Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert
 
     
Three women at the banquet Slideshow:
Last Night
Banquet
 
     
Students play basketball Slideshow:
Student v. Prefect Basketball
 
 
     
Students in Boston Slideshow:
Trip to Boston
 
 
     
Student at open-mic night Slideshow:
Open-Mic Nigh
t
 
     
Students dance Slideshow:
Dance Class
 
     
Students perform on stage Slideshow:
Arts Night
 
     
Students on the bank of the Connecticut River Slideshow:
On the Banks of
the Connecticut
 
     
Students play ultimate Frisbee Slideshow:
Ultimate Frisbee
 
     
Two students Slideshow:
Slip-n-Slide
 
     
President's Day Novena ad  
   
  UPCOMING EVENTS  
   
Retreat for California Faculty & Staff
August 19
 
   
Retreat for California Faculty/Staff Spouses
August 20
 
   
California Residence Halls Open for Freshmen
August 21
 
   
New England Residence Halls Open
August 22
 
   
Convocation Day 2019 — New England
August 24
 
   
California Residence Halls Open for Returning Students
August 24
 
   
Convocation Day 2019 — California
August 26
 
   
New England Opening Lecture
Dr. Thomas Kaiser
Associate Dean
Thomas Aquinas College

August 30
 
   
California Opening Lecture
Dr. Joseph P. Hattrup
Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College
August 30
 
   
Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta 
September 5
 
   
New England Fall Concert
The Madison String Quartet

September 6
 
   
California Fall Concert
Paul Galbraith, classical guitarist
September 13
 
   
New England Lecture:
Dr. David M. Whalen

Provost and Professor of English
Hillsdale College
September 20
 
   
Fall All-College Seminar
October 4
 
   
Alumni & Parent Day 
October 12
 
   
Columbus Day 
No classes / office holiday
October 14
 
   
Anniversary of the Death of Founding President Ronald P. McArthur
October 17
 
   
California Lecture:
Dr. Bruce Marshall

October 18
 
   
Don Rags: New England 
October 22-23
 
   
Don Rags: California 
October 22-24
 
   
New England Lecture: 
Rev. David Vincent Meconi, S.J.

Associate Professor of Patristics, Theological Studies
Director, Catholic Studies
Saint Louis University
October 25
 
   
California Lecture: Dr. Michael Mack
November 8
 
   
New England Lecture: 
Rev. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem. (’94)

November 8
 
   
California Thanksgiving Concert
November 22
 
   
 IMEMORIAM  
   
John “Terry” Spillane
June 27, 2014
Legacy Society member

Rosemarie Spillane
July 10, 2015
Legacy Society member

Anthony Greco
February 8, 2017
Legacy Society member

Josephine Greco
February 12, 2017
Legacy Society member

Lucille Leitao
January 18, 2019
Legacy Society member


John Gregory Gardner 
July 18, 2019
Brother of tutor Dr. Patrick Gardner, tutor Dr. Katherine Gardner (’06),  Margaret (’14), and Peter (’17)

 
   
Legacy Society ad  
 
INAUGURAL NEW ENGLAND SUMMER PROGRAM! 
High School Students Help Launch Second Campus

Although the first academic year of Thomas Aquinas College, New England, will not begin until August 24, the new campus has already housed its first students, conducted its first classes, and offered the Northeast a first glimpse of the College’s program of Catholic liberal education.

From July 28 to August 10, the College hosted the inaugural Great Books Summer Program for High School Students on its Northfield, Massachusetts, campus. “We had students from across the country join us,” says Admissions Director Jon Daly. “It was the perfect prelude for TAC, New England.”

Over the course of the program, rising high school seniors joined members of the teaching faculty for spirited conversation about works from the masters of the Western intellectual tradition, such as Plato, Euclid, Kierkegaard, and, of course, St. Thomas Aquinas. They also delighted in the beauty of the century-old campus, played games on its sprawling athletic fields, and enjoyed excursions to Boston, the Connecticut River, and the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

“It was a blessing to see the prayers and labors of many begin to bear good fruit on our New England campus,” says President Michael F. McLean. “It is a harbinger of success going forward.” 

Summer Program recap video 
Program diary 
 
 
 

#1 BEST VALUE IN THE U.S.A.
Kiplinger’s Gives TAC Nation's Top Spot,
plus Other College Guide Reviews


In its newly released 400 Best College Values for 2019, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranks Thomas Aquinas College as No. 1 among some 1,200 American colleges and universities.
This is the first year the College has claimed the top spot on both Kiplinger’s “best value” list for liberal arts colleges and its combined list for all private and public colleges and universities. Thomas Aquinas College is also the only Catholic college in the U.S. to be included among the guide’s top 20.

“Thomas Aquinas College … racks up points on the financial side of the equation with a sticker price that’s about half that of many schools on our best-values list,” writes Kiplinger’s Personal Finance associate editor Kaitlin Pitsker. Yet affordability is only one side of the “College Values” equation and, Kiplinger’s editors note, “academic quality carries more weight than cost” in determining the guide’s rankings. 

Kiplinger’s praise comes amid similar accolades from other publications: The Princeton Review recently gave the College a perfect financial-aid rating, while also placing it among the top 15 percent of American four-year colleges. The Cardinal Newman Society has, once again, recommended it as one of 15 residential Catholic colleges nationwide with a strong Catholic identity. College Consensus has ranked Thomas Aquinas No. 7 on its list of the “Best Catholic Colleges.” And, for the third year in a row, CNBC has named Thomas Aquinas to its list of the “Top 10 Colleges for Financial Aid.”

More college guides

 


The Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski

Rev. Joseph Illo

Rev. Joseph Illo

CNBC logo

CNBC logo
 

“SACRED TREASURES OF ENGLAND
London Schola Offers Musical Oratory in California Chapel

On July 24, members of the Thomas Aquinas College community — including some 120 students on the California campus for the High School Summer Program — were treated to a musical oratory in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, courtesy of the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School.

A musical oratory is a service of prayer and song developed at the first Oratory Church in Rome. Bl. John Henry Newman brought the Oratory to England, establishing a community in Birmingham from which the London Oratory was founded. The London Oratory School’s Schola has recorded numerous soundtracks, including for the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter films, as well as CDs and programs for television and radio. In 2013 the Schola sang at High Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and was the first-ever visiting choir to sing at Vespers there.

The Schola’s visit to Thomas Aquinas College was part of its summer tour of the Western United States. The oratory consisted of meditations from the College’s head chaplain, Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P., about Our Lady, the Blessed Sacrament, and penitence and redemption. After each meditation, the Schola sang an appropriate hymn from its Sacred Treasures of England album. It then concluded with a sung Compline, the final service from the daily Divine Office. “The music was so beautiful, it gave me goosebumps,” one student declared, echoing a sentiment shared by all present.

Full story 

 

The London Oratory Schola

The London Oratory Schola

The London Oratory Schola
 

FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog

• The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the Bronx, N.Y., have announced that on August 6 two alumni brethren — Br. Sean Paul Wood (’13) and Br. Faustino (Sebastian ’14) Lemmon — made their first vows at Most Blessed Sacrament Friary in Newark, New Jersey. “Br. Faustino Lemmon and Br. Sean Paul Wood are our first Thomas Aquinas College grads to make vows with us,” observed the Friars in an Instagram post. “Thanks, Thomas Aquinas College, for preparing them well!”
 
• Five years ago Katrina Trinko (’09) was named the managing editor of a new online publication of The Heritage Foundation. Five years later, The Daily Signal now attracts 26.8 million site visits per year and boasts 400,000 subscribers to its “Morning Bell” daily email blast — and Miss Trinko has been named its editor-in-chief. “One of our first decisions was to hire Kate,” says Rob Bluey, Heritage’s vice president for communications. “It’s because of her leadership and commitment to outstanding journalism that The Daily Signal is a must-read source of news and commentary.”
 
• For the seventh consecutive year, Chambers USA has included Edward Froelich (’88) in its annual guide to the nation’s top lawyers, which it defines as those who “demonstrate sustained excellence.” The guide reports that Mr. Froelich “represents clients in a host of administrative tax controversy matters,” and that his peers say, “he is smart and works harder than anybody else.” A husband, the father of two, and an attorney at the Washington, D.C., office of Morrison & Foerster LLP, Mr. Froelich specializes in federal tax litigation and administrative dispute resolution.
 
 

Newly professed Franciscan Friars of the RenewalNewly professed
Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

Katrina Trinko (’09)
Katrina Trinko (’09)

Edward Froelich (’88)
Edward Froelich (’88)
 

IMPROVED ACCESS
College Restores Historic Entrance Trail to
Los Padres National Forest


Working with the Ventura County Planning Division and the United States Forest Service, Thomas Aquinas College has restored the historic access trail to the Los Padres National Forest alongside its Santa Paula, California, campus. Located just north of the entrance to the College on Highway 150, the restored trail is a shorter and more flat, shady, and scenic route to the Forest than the steep, black-top road on the College’s perimeter that hikers have used for the last 30 years. 

Under the terms of its conditional use permit (CUP), Thomas Aquinas College is required to provide access to the National Forest, and has done so via its perimeter road since its move to the former Ferndale Ranch in 1978. The CUP, however, permits the College to change the location of the access point should circumstances arise allowing for a better alternate route. When the College acquired 700 acres of land surrounding the California, campus last year — thereby reconstituting the original Ferndale Ranch — the possibility opened up of restoring the original access trail.

“The new trail realignment is a win for both the hiking community as well as the College,” says Ventura County Resource Management Agency Director Kim Prillhart, who oversees the county’s planning division. “Trail users are now able to begin their hiking experience on a wonderfully shaded and scenic trail that fits in with the natural setting of the beautiful Santa Paula Canyon.”

Full story 
Story from Ventura County Star 
 

 

Hikers along the new trail access
     
 
 
 
 
  Thomas Aquinas College