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Aquinas students on a quest for truth

By Carolyn Quinn
Ventura County Star

(May 14, 2006)

Juan Carlo / Star staff Patrick Seo kisses the hand of Celestino Migliore, who is the Apostolic Nuncio Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations at the Thomas Aquinas College graduation. This year's graduating class was the school's largest ever.

Being a student at Thomas Aquinas College is different from attending most institutions of higher education. It requires a more than purely academic interest in philosophy, and a desire to discuss some of life's more profound dilemmas.

On occasion, it also requires some ninja prowess — as Patrick Seo learned playing the title character "SuperSeo" in the final installment in a series of satirical films he and his friends started making as sophomores.

"We thought, this is senior year, let's go out with a bang," Seo, 22, said. "We made campus Korea. It was taken over by black ninjas."

"SuperSeo" follows numerous shorter films that poke fun at college life, from how to escape the flooding the campus experienced during the rainstorms of 2005 to how to be a superstar student at Thomas Aquinas.

Students at the college have an unusual undergraduate experience. There are no majors or minors at the small Catholic school. Nor are there textbooks.

Juan Carlo / Star staff Antonia Ann Yaklin prays after receiving communion at the Thomas Aquinas College Baccalaureate Mass of The Holy Spirit, and after that the graduation ceremony began.

All students follow the same curriculum from year to year, interpreting the writings of Euclid, Plato and Aristotle in their classes. Instead of listening to lectures, students debate the meaning of happiness and attempt to discern what is truth.

"The great benefit, I think, of this school is, it teaches you how to think," Seo said, crossing his arms over his blue plaid tie and looking at the construction site that will become the campus' new chapel.

Seo and the class of 78 students finished the journey Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Santa Paula campus. This was the college's 32nd class and its largest ever.

Anne Forsyth, director of college relations, said that though students "are, by and large, quite serious about the intellectual life," they are not carbon copies of one another.

"People might tend to think that there's one profile of student here," she said. "There are so many different personalities, and so many different strengths that these kids bring."

Seo has had some exposure to this spectrum in his position as one of the college's two activities directors. He organizes parties, freshman orientation and the annual Trivial Quadrivial Pursuit, a schoolwide game based on the curriculum.

The style of education Seo has grown to appreciate is far different from what he could have had. As a high school senior, Seo also applied to a public university in his home state of New Jersey.

"I was going to go into medicine because my entire family had gone into medicine," he said. "When I first came here, I didn't want to be here ... (but) it was like God was leading me down this path."

His junior year at the school, Seo transformed his thinking when he read Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. The book uses logic to determine first that happiness is the goal of human life, and then finds that the method to attain happiness is through virtuous living.

"I had a rule to go by. I had a way to see what is right and what is wrong," Seo said, pausing between sentences to think through his statements. "I've been having that as my final goal: to attain perfect happiness."

Seo's ultimate goal is "Eternal happiness, but that's not in the immediate future," he said, laughing.

For now, Seo is heading back where he thought he was going to begin. He is preparing to attend a postgraduate pre-medical program at Northwestern University next year. Eventually, he wants to become a doctor, following in the footsteps of his parents and two sisters.

At the same time, he would like to keep the focus he developed as a student at Thomas Aquinas.

"People think that this life is about pleasure, but it's not really ... it's all about being a good person. You don't want to be a wretch," Seo said. "We see truth. We need to order our lives to what we know to be true."

Many graduates of Thomas Aquinas' system share that view, Forsyth said.

"It's a guide to the pursuit of truth in the classroom, but also a guide for life," she said.

Looking out over a still quad on campus, Seo expressed confidence that God will guide his future.

"He'll lead me," Seo said, "because he led me here."

This article originally appeared in the Ventura County Star on May 14, 2006. Reprinted from venturacountystar.com with express permission.