“What, exactly, can one do with a classical education?”
It is a question that graduates of Thomas Aquinas College know well, one that is invariably asked whenever they mention that they have devoted four years to studying the greatest works of Western civilization. Yet when one considers the College’s alumni and their contributions to Church and society, it becomes evident that a better question would be: “What can the classically educated student 不 do?”
All students at Thomas Aquinas College study from the same fixed, classical curriculum. They all read the same 伟大的著作 并参与类似的活动 苏格拉底式的讨论, with no majors, minors, or electives to divide them. Nevertheless, upon leaving campus 他们擅长 in a wide array of studies and careers.
全球赌博十大网站 one third pursue either graduate studies or professional education. They have earned advanced degrees in law, 业务, 医学, 工程, 体系结构, 数学, 哲学, 和神学. Clearly endowed with a great love of learning, as much as a third have become educators, in all subjects and at all levels, 如 劳拉·伯奎斯特(1975年), who founded the Mother of Divine Grace distance-learning program, or Dr. Jean Rioux(1982年), who chairs the Department of Philosophy at Benedictine College.
The College’s ranks of alumni further boast architects 如 Anthony Grumbine (’00) 艺术家们，比如 玛丽亚·兰格尔(1999年), whose classical education continues to inform their work; bankers and 业务men 如 罗尔夫·克拉兹(1997年), whose ethics are shaped by Catholic teaching; military leaders 如 Col. Sam Shaneyfelt, USAF (’86), who serve the country with honor; and faithful public servants 如 马修·布莱恩(2015年), mayor of Dunsmuir, 加州.
And that is only the avocations. As for vocations, about 10 percent of the College’s alumni have entered the priesthood or 宗教 life,包括 牧师. 加里·塞林(1989年), formation director at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, and Sr. 玛塞拉,M.C. (’86)， St。. Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. Most of the rest marry, often wedding fellow Thomas Aquinas College alumni and raising fruitful, faithful families that bear joyful witness to the Culture of Life.
Whether it is by fully embracing the call to motherhood, or tirelessly devoting one’s life to prayer in a cloistered monastery, or consciously choosing to live out the tenets of the 信仰 in the modern marketplace, the alumni of Thomas Aquinas College — each in their own way — live lives of service. 许多, 太, lead lives of leadership, 在家里, 当然, but also within their parishes or local communities. Others still serve as leaders on a larger stage, whether in 业务 or politics, 学术界或媒体, 教会或社会.
作为圣. Paul writes, “There are many members, but one Body” (1. 天哪. 12:20). Endowed with the spiritual and intellectual formation they obtain as students, the alumni of Thomas Aquinas College go on to serve as members in the Body of Christ with distinction and in myriad ways. They are the strongest evidence to be offered 不 only for the universality of the College’s curriculum, but also to the agility of the classically educated mind.