California
|
Share:

One Friday evening each semester, groups of about 20 Thomas Aquinas College students from all classes — seniors and freshmen, sophomores and juniors — gather in classrooms across their campus for the All-College Seminar. Although separate, these groups engage in a single, common activity, namely, reading, analyzing, and discussing the same text, one that is not part of the College’s ordinary curriculum. Two members of the teaching faculty lead each of the discussions.

A semi-annual event that unites the entire community, the All-College Seminar has become a well-loved TAC tradition. At this semester’s seminar on Friday night, California students and faculty discussed Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis.

The work depicts a challenging moment in the history leading up to the Trojan War, namely, when Agamemnon is compelled to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, for good winds. Students considered the relationship of the Greek gods and man, that dynamic compared to Christianity, the duties of parent and child, and self-sacrifice. Sections were divided in many instances, carefully working through passages to come to a mutual understanding of the play’s events.

Following the seminar, St. Joseph Commons filled with laughter and conversation over pizza and refreshments. Students gathered at tables, with tutors joining in, as conversations that began in the classroom continued well into the night.