Current Students

Sunday afternoon marked a time of football and fellowship, as a team from John Paul the Great Catholic University in San Diego traveled to Thomas Aquinas College’s Santa Paula campus for an exhibition game.

The players and spectators for both sides enjoyed the friendly interaction with their fellow young Catholics. After a hard-fought match, Thomas Aquinas College emerged on top, besting the Pelicans, 52-14. 

On Sunday afternoon, the junior and senior women of Thomas Aquinas College enjoyed a respite from their studies with a barbeque in Ojai’s Dennison Park. “We had originally planned to go on a camping trip, but with the rain on Saturday, we scaled things back,” says Resident Assistant Sarah Dufresne (’14).

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.

The latest speaker in the Office of Career Advisement’s series of career talks was a former banker and the current editor of Regina Magazine, Beverly Stevens, who on Sunday offered students an overview of the financial industry and advice about how they can best break into it.

Last Sunday afternoon the men of Ss. Peter and Paul Residence Hall met up with the women of St. Monica’s for a “tea party” — albeit one that included swing dancing! — in St. Gladys Plaza. Photos from the semi-formal affair are available in the slideshow below:

After the conclusion of underclassman seminars on Tuesday night, students gathered in St. Joseph Commons, where Dean Brian T. Kelly announced Thomas Aquinas College’s plans to establish a branch campus in New England. The news, which had been circulating all day, both online and around the California campus, did not come as a surprise, but students were nonetheless excited to learn more details.

Dr. Kelly briefly discussed why the new campus was so appealing to College officials:

On Tuesday, February 7, the National Christian Foundation and Thomas Aquinas College announced that they had entered into a preliminary agreement, under which the NCF will give the College the former campus of a secondary school in Northfield, Massachusetts, on May 2, 2017. (Sign up for email updates.)

Last Friday night actor Leonardo Defilippis of St. Luke Productions performed his one-man production of Vianney, based on the life of St. John Vianney,as part of the College’s St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series. Although the nature of the performance precluded photography, Mr. Defilippis met informally with members of the audience afterward, as well as with members of the College’s theatrical group, the St. Genesius Players, the next morning.

Three members of the Sisters of Life visited the campus of Thomas Aquinas College this week, offering a three-day mini-retreat for the College’s women between their classes and other commitments. There were talks in the morning and afternoon, times for prayer and private meetings, as well as a hike and a holy hour on Wednesday evening.