This past weekend some 25 Thomas Aquinas College seniors and tutors enjoyed an educational tour of one of Los Angeles’s finest art museums led by an expert docent — College Governor Maria O. Grant.

Streaming and downloadable audio:

On Saturday Director of Student Services Mark Kretschmer presented a Career Strategies workshop about job discernment, networking, résumé- and cover-letter writing, and interview preparation. “One of the many blessings of a liberal education is that our graduates are prepared to pursue any line of work or studies,” says Mr. Kretschmer. “The key is that they take time to discern what they are being called to do, and that includes networking with professionals, including our alumni, to research various fields and explore their options.”

In keeping with His Holiness Pope Francis’s call for a Year of Consecrated Life, Thomas Aquinas College has selected as its 2015 Commencement Speaker one of the preeminent women religious in the United States, Sr. Regina Marie Gorman, O.C.D.

The students of Thomas Aquinas College celebrated Mardi Gras a few days early this year with a Venice-themed dance in St. Joseph Commons on Saturday. The event included student-produced entertainment, costumes, feasting, and plenty of swing dancing:

A Tutor Talk by Dr. Christopher A. Decaen

Note: Periodically members of the Thomas Aquinas College teaching faculty or chaplaincy present informal lectures, followed by question-and-answer sessions, on campus. These late-afternoon gatherings afford an opportunity for speakers to discuss topics of great interest to them and to share their thoughts with other members of the community. Dr. Christopher A. Decaen delivered the following talk on February 11, 2015:

The rules of Thomas Aquinas College’s Cookie Cook-Off are simple: Teams get one evening to bake their confections, working entirely from scratch. Recipes and ingredients are left to students’ own devices and imaginations. The next day, a select panel of tutors and administrators evaluate the cookies on the basis of several criteria, including taste and presentation.

This year’s winners:

1st place — “Needle in a Haystack”
2nd place — “Double Stuffed Delights”
3rd place — “The Exposition of Volcanic Qualities”

“As you think about how to discuss your education with others in the marketplace, don’t be bashful,” attorney Justin Alvarez (’97) advised a group of Thomas Aquinas College students at this Sunday’s Career Panel in St. Bernardine of Siena Library. “I think we are rightfully trained to be humble people, and that makes it difficult for us to sell what God has given us as our gifts. But humility is acknowledging the reality of the gifts we have been given, then conveying that reality to others.

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.

Fritz B. Burns Foundation Awards Grant for
New Lecture & Concert Hall

 designs & renderings

The Fritz B. Burns Foundation of Los Angeles has graciously awarded Thomas Aquinas College one of the largest grants in the College’s 44-year-history — $8.5 million for the construction of a new lecture and concert building, St. Cecilia Hall.