Current Students

Students met on the lower portion of the campus on Saturday for what was billed as Thomas Aquinas College’s “Second-Ever Spearshake Festival.” That is not a typo. The festival was not dedicated to the Bard of Avon, but to the art of hurling spears … into a haystack.

College tutor Dr. Christopher Oleson, a trained martial artist, organized the event, which promised, “Real spears. Real Prizes. Real Glory.”

On Sunday, October 22, Thomas Aquinas College students performed in the first of this year’s two informal concerts — “Schubertiades” — in St. Bernardine of Siena Library. In the video above, Elizabeth and Theresa Gallagher (both ’18) perform the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata in D Major.

Below is the program from the concert:

This past Saturday the lower campus green was the site of the Class Volleyball Tournament. After an opening prayer, the competition began, with Juniors defeating the Sophomores, and Seniors besting the freshmen in the preliminary round.

Then came the championship game, in which Juniors triumphed over the Seniors. Hooray for the Class of 2019!

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 the 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, which are followed by a party in St. Joseph’s Commons.

Last Friday evening, to honor the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s sixth and final apparition at Fatima, a group of students met up with chaplains Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P., and Rev. David Gonzalez, O.Praem., for a candlelight procession around the campus.

The group began at the Angelus bell outside St. Joseph Commons, processed down to the Lourdes Grotto on the lower campus, and concluded in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Marking the culmination of a four-year legal effort that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. government on Friday agreed to a settlement that will permanently exempt Thomas Aquinas College from the so-called HHS Contraceptive Mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

Alumni, parents of current students, and their families from throughout Southern California converged on campus Saturday for Alumni and Parent Day. The event began with Mass in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, followed by brunch in St. Joseph Commons. In the afternoon, the College hosted three separate seminars, led by members of the teaching faculty, about St. Thomas Aquinas' writing on charity from the Summa Theologiae.

Meanwhile, children had fun at the student-organized Junior Olympics ...

A group of Thomas Aquinas College students explored the natural beauty surrounding campus earlier this month with a backpacking trip to Topatopa Bluff (alt. 6,367 ft.). The College’s head chaplain, Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P., and Tutor Emeritus Dr. Carol Day  led the effort, photos of which are available below:

One Sunday evening this spring, the rafters of St. Joseph Commons were festooned with flags from around the world. On the wall beside the community bulletin board were dozens of handwritten copies of the Lord’s Prayer, each translated into a different language — Nepali, French, Hindi, and Portuguese, among others. And, at the front of the room, students played music from Brazil and Germany, performed dances from Ireland, and recited poems from Russia, England, and Argentina.