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Last Friday evening, students from all four classes gathered in classrooms across Thomas Aquinas ������ý, New England, for the semesterly All-������ý Seminar.

The seminar is designed to allow all students to participate in a single, common activity, namely, reading, analyzing, and discussing a text that is not part of the ������ý’s ordinary curriculum. This fall’s All-������ý Seminar considered William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” a Southern short story following the internal struggle of a young boy as he wavers between his loyalty to his family and potential happiness in freedom from it. In sections led by two members of the teaching faculty, students discussed the text, discerning the deeper reasons behind the father’s unrelenting control over his family — and affinity for arson.

After the seminar, and in keeping with longstanding ������ý tradition, students and faculty met up for a pizza party in Bl. Frassati Student Center, continuing their classroom discussions and comparing points of conversation with members of other sections.