Indiana athlete tries college life
-- Football player spends summer improving his mind
By JAN GARRISON
South Bend Tribune Staff Writer
(August 29, 2002)
CULVER, IN -- Ask Joe Lee what is on his nightstand and you
might be surprised: A copy of C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity."
 "I'm
tearing that up right now," he said.
Perhaps that's not the answer you would expect from the fullback
on the Culver Academy football team. But then Lee didn't have
your normal summer of lifting weights and running to stay
in shape.
The book was his farewell gift from the Great Books Program
at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., a school
that doesn't field any athletic teams. For two weeks, Lee
and 70 to 80 other high school students discussed the works
of Sophocles, Plato, Kierkegaard, Fabre, Pascal, Shakespeare,
Euclid and the Bible.
"It was awesome," the Culver native said of the
experience, adding that Thomas Aquinas made a big impression.
"I didn't think I wanted to go. I just wasn't interested
at all -- a liberal arts college in the middle of California.
But after the seminar, it's definitely moved in to my top
three (college) choices."
Lee happened upon the Great Books Program almost by accident.
His father, David Lee, saw an advertisement in a Catholic
magazine. Joe Lee, who is a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, wasn't sure going to a liberal
arts Catholic program was how he wanted to spend the final
two weeks of his summer before football practice started.
But his father investigated the program more, mainly via
the Internet. The son became interested, applied and was accepted.
Joe Lee said the seminar uses the Socratic method of discussion,
with two tutors and 15 students sitting around a circular
table. The tutors pose a starting question and students would
discuss each work for the next 90 minutes to two hours. But
discussions continued informally at lunch, dinner and during
free time.
Lee "Sometimes we would talk for four or five hours,"
he said.
Joe said he was surprised by the number of students who were
home-schooled at the program. He added that as expected the
majority of the students were Catholic and there was only
one other LDS person at the seminar.
"We got tested," he added. "You begin to question
your religion, but that's a good thing."
He enjoyed the philosophical and religious readings and discussions,
but Lee said the best discussions for him came when the group
was covering Euclid's geometry. "It's something we all
know, but we don't know about," he said.
"We had to prove his theories but we didn't have any
protractors, compasses, or rulers. I always knew that a triangle
was 180 degrees, but now I know why."
Earlier in the summer, Lee, who lives in Culver with his
mother, Teri Lee, had another special experience. He went
with Culver Academy football coaches Andy Dorrell and Tom
Mascari to meet with new University of Notre Dame football
coach Tyrone Willingham. The meeting was arranged by a Culver
Academy alumnus who knows Willingham from his days at Stanford
University.
"That was cool," he said. "We were sitting
on his couch, listening to him talk about what he looks for
in a recruit. He speaks so well. He uses such powerful words.
He holds your attention and gets his point across."
And what does Willingham look for in a recruit? "Toughness,"
Lee said, "not just on the football field, but life in
general."
Toughness -- as in being willing to tackle Kierkegaard's
"Fear and Trembling" instead of Sports Illustrated
for your summer reading.
This article originally appeared in the South Bend Tribune
on August 29, 2002. Reprinted with permission.
|
