Current Students

The following remarks are adapted from Dean John J. Goyette’s report to the Board of Governors at its February 20 2019, meeting. They are part of an ongoing series of talks about why the College includes certain texts in its curriculum.

By Dean John J. Goyette

It’s finals week at Thomas Aquinas College, and students are supplementing their academic preparation with various forms of spiritual preparation — including seeking the intercession of the College’s beloved patron, St. Thomas Aquinas:

On Saturday, December 7, the students of Thomas Aquinas College, California, transformed St. Joseph Commons into a formal ballroom for the annual Christmas dance:

As is custom at the College, a large portion of the evening was dedicated to student-produced entertainment, with songs, skits, and caroling. There was also a dramatic reading of “The Night Before Christmas” for children of faculty members, followed by a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

On Friday, December 6, New England Chaplain Rev. Greg Markey and the Thomas Aquinas College Choir, directed by Stephen Grimm (’75), led a service of “Advent Lessons & Carols” in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel. Students, faculty, faculty families, and friends from throughout the region came to the Northfield, Massachusetts, campus for the first of what promises to be an annual event.

On Friday night students at Thomas Aquinas College, California, gathered in the St. Cecilia Hall coffee shop for a campus-wide contest based on the TV gameshow Jeopardy! In “TAC Jeopardy!” teams representing each of the campus’ six residence halls took turns providing questions to answers about such topics as their favorite tutors, school rules, and campus legends.

Over the years, Thomas Aquinas College has used various slogans to highlight particular facets of its unique program and mission.

On November 22 the Thomas Aquinas College, California, Choir and Orchestra hosted a Thanksgiving Concert as part of the St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series. The performance took place on the Feast of St. Cecilia and was held, fittingly, in St. Cecilia Hall, just days before students departed for Thanksgiving Break.

Directed by Dan Grimm (’76), the concert consisted of Bach’s “Magnificat in D” and Mozart’s Flute Quartet No. 1 in D Major, as well as several traditional carols.

For three decades, the students of Thomas Aquinas College have come together on a weekend in November for the Turkey Bowl, an annual flag-football game. This year, for the first time, there were two Turkey Bowls — one on each coast.

Customarily, the Turkey bowl is played between the upperclassmen and underclassmen, as it was Saturday on the California campus. The upperclassmen took the win — as they have for 21 of the last 30 years — besting their younger peers by a score of 26-7.

Just as the Pilgrims celebrated their safe arrival in New England with a Thanksgiving feast in 1619, so, too, did the students, faculty, staff, and families of Thomas Aquinas College’s new campus in Northfield, Massachusetts, this past Saturday evening. Opting to forego the annual Christmas dance that students in California enjoy each December, the New England community chose to bolster their Thanksgiving Dinner with a dance, making it the major event of the fall semester.

Audio
TAC Podcast

By Dr. Thomas J. Kaiser
Associate Dean, Thomas Aquinas College
Remarks at the New England Thanksgiving Dinner
November 23, 2019

Thank you, Mr. Gardner, for reading George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation. I am struck by a few details: