California

By Greta VanDamme (CA ’22)

When I was 15, I dropped out of high school. I know that doesn’t sound very good, but it was the first of a few decisions that led me to Thomas Aquinas College, so I am very glad that I did it.

By Dominic Gardner (CA ’22)

My parents are both Thomas Aquinas College alumni, so from an early age coming to school here was, for me, a possible or even likely outcome.

Twice yearly during the freshman, sophomore, and junior years, each student sits with his tutors and hears their observations on his work. The primary aim of the Don Rag is not, like a report card, to state the degree of a student’s mastery of the material. It is, rather, an occasion for offering him specific advice on how to improve his class preparation and participation and to help him advance in the intellectual life. Tutors thus work with the student to enable him to pursue more successfully the wisdom offered by great books.

For seven years, the Most Rev. Robert E. Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, has shepherded the Archdiocese’ Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, which includes Thomas Aquinas College’s California campus. On Thursday, however, His Holiness Pope Francis reassigned His Excellency to the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota, and so the College must now say goodbye — and thank you — to a spiritual father and faithful friend.