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By Greta VanDamme (CA ’22)

When I was 15, I dropped out of high school. I know that doesn’t sound very good, but it was the first of a few decisions that led me to Thomas Aquinas ������ý, so I am very glad that I did it.

At my high school I was given massive amounts of information that wasn’t presented in a useful or an interesting way, told not to ask questions, asked to blindly memorize things that I didn’t understand, and given hours and hours of busywork, every day. My mother was just as distressed by this situation as I was, and so with her support, I quit.

I got a job, and I started going to community college just to pass the time until I could find a college where I could continue my education in a meaningful way. My older sister, my mother, and I started looking around, and we settled on a Great Books program, then narrowed it down to TAC and St. John’s ������ý.

I didn’t love the idea of coming here: I’m not Catholic, my family isn’t Catholic, and I thought at the ������ý I would find people who were biased, that they would warp texts to fit their own opinions, and who wouldn’t have a real respect for the authors. On top of all that, my sister chose TAC. I had to assert my independence, so I chose St. John’s.

Luckily, a few days before I sent in my commitment letter, my sister and some of her friends came home for a visit, and they spent all weekend trying to convince me to come to TAC. I spent all weekend trying to convince myself that I didn’t want to, but a few days after they left I was sitting with my grandma, and before I really knew what I was saying, I said, “I’m going to TAC.” I felt like such a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

I am now at the end of my time here, and I can say with complete certainty that it has been the kind of education that I wanted it to be.

“I have read so many of the most influential thinkers of all time and, even more important, I have seen in the world around me the truth that they saw first.”

I have read so many of the most influential thinkers of all time and, even more important, I have seen in the world around me the truth that they saw first. I was wrong to worry that people here would try to warp the Great Books to support their preconceived opinions. Instead, I found the kind of intellectual humility and reverence for the authors that I had sought. I have also cultivated good study habits; I use very little technology; my attention span is much longer than it was when I first got here. I can think in a more profound, a more thorough, and a more precise way.

Beyond this intellectual formation, however, TAC has also formed me morally, which I never asked it to do.

One of the essays you have to write when you apply to the ������ý is about the rules here, the Rules of Residence, which are pretty strict: We have a dress code and a curfew and rules against TV and technology. I think my essay sounded something like this: “I don’t understand the rules, I don’t like them, but I’ll follow them — I guess — if you make me.”

I am now the women’s head prefect; I enforce those rules every day. I won’t say I love all of them, but I do love most of them. And I have seen how instrumental they were in making me the kind of person who could pursue the things that we want to pursue here. I got used to putting the good things first; to reading instead of watching TV, to getting a good night’s sleep so that I could be sharp for class the next morning.

Before I came here, I didn’t really see the connection between knowledge and goodness and happiness. I wanted to be educated, but I don’t think I could have told you why. I knew it was important, but now I really know why I wanted that. The things I have read here, and the kind of life I have lived here, haven’t just made me smarter, they have made me happy.

I came to TAC hoping to be made well-read. I am well-read now, but I am also wise and good, and I got so much more than I asked for in that.

Ms. VanDamme is from San Juan Capistrano, California.