Parents

The decision announced today in the Hobby Lobby case, while providing immediate relief to Hobby Lobby and the other plaintiffs, contains language which leaves the implications of this decision for Thomas Aquinas College unclear.

Photographs of the Class of 2014 and this year’s Commencement exercises are now available, for viewing and for purchase, at the Thomas Aquinas College Gallery Page of Timothy Teague, an Ojai-based photographer who has been capturing key College events for some 20 years. The images include portraits of this year’s graduates, both individually and as a group, as well as images from the May 17 Commencement exercises.

Note: At Commencement 2014 President Michael F. McLean continued a longstanding Thomas Aquinas College tradition by concluding the ceremony with the following “Charge to the Graduates.” Founding President Ronald P. McArthur wrote the Charge for use at the College’s first Commencement in 1975, and he and his successors have repeated it, the original text unaltered, at every Commencement since.

In a recent editorial bemoaning the high level of indebtedness that plagues so many of today’s college graduates, the New York Post notes that “higher education doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive.” The newspaper cites a few select schools — Thomas Aquinas College among them — that are “addressing the rising student-debt issue with an innovative use of an old-fashioned concept: work.”

On the eve of Commencement 2014, the Thomas Aquinas College Parents’ and Alumni Associations jointly hosted a celebratory dinner for graduates and their families. Some 485 soon-to-be graduates and their loved ones assembled outside St. Joseph Commons, where Tlaquepaque, a popular local Mexican restaurant, served fresh tacos with all the fixings.

On the eve of Commencement 2014, Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean hosted a reception for members of the Senior Class and their parents at the Doheny Hacienda. Photos from the event are available via the slideshow below.

In a longstanding College tradition, the Seniors and members of the faculty followed up Wednesday’s President’s Dinner with a late-night bowling party:

Note: Due to technical difficulties, the very beginning of Cardinal O’Brien’s address is missing from the audio file below. Please pardon the inconvenience.

Note: Each year the graduating class elects one of its members to present the Senior Address at Commencement. Upon graduation, this year’s speaker, Felicity Seeley of Santa Paula, California, intends to pursue a career in writing.

Audio: