Bisecting Angles, Dissecting Boethius

For students on the 2021 New England High School Summer Program, Wednesday began with Mass and breakfast, and then it was off to the classrooms for a second day of presenting Euclidean propositions. Students were grateful for all the practice they got at last night’s study hall!

Today’s class focused on Euclid’s method of bisecting an angle and one of his equivalence proofs for triangles. One fascinating question that arose concerned the ordering of the steps in a given proof — and what effect rearranging the parts of a geometrical demonstration could have on the argument given. “We found that the general order had to remain the same, but you could have done slight variations,” says student Michael P. from Rochester, New York. Michael appreciates bouncing his own ideas off of his peers as well as hearing and responding to their thoughts. “You get a lot of insight into questions you never would have thought of,” he remarks.

After lunch, students returned to the classroom to continue their discussion of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy. In today’s reading, Lady Philosophy takes Boethius through wealth, honor, beauty and other worldly goods, showing him why he cannot find true happiness in any of them. Rather, happiness is to be found in God alone and in the acquisition of virtue.

This evening features a “Chaplains on Tap” session, where students will have the chance to pose anonymous questions about faith and morality to the priests serving on the program. Details, photos, and more will be available tomorrow on the SummerBlog.