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Monday dawned with anticipation as students on the California High School Great Books Program encountered their first day of classes. The day’s lineup included the morning’s discussion of  Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Plato’s dialogue Euthyphro in the afternoon.

First, however, students made their way to breakfast in St. Joseph Commons and enjoyed the option of either scrambled eggs or a breakfast burrito, paired with fruit, yogurt, potatoes, and bacon. Following breakfast, the programmers met again in St. Cecelia Hall to hear from tutor Dr. John Finley, director of the program. Dr. Finley advised programmers on how to thrive in the College’s Socratic seminars. “This is a small taste of the remarkable education here at TAC,” he said. “We become contributors in the discussion that begins with Scripture and Socrates. We strive to see the whole of reality, and this is an ambitious project.”

Dr. Finley then introduced the tutors who will be teaching the other sections alongside him on the program. Students will be divided into groups of approximately 15 per section and assigned to a member of the teaching faculty whose primary role is to guide them through the Great Books that they will delve into over the next two weeks. 

Following these introductions, the students, prefects, and tutors made their way to Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel for the program’s opening Mass. Program Chaplain Rev. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem. (’94), gave a stirring homily on St. Maria Goretti and the power of forgiveness, concluding by blessing all present with her relic.

After the close of Mass, students received their section assignments and made their way to St. Gladys Hall, where their classes will be held for the duration of the program. The first class of the day was dedicated to Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’ famous tragedy. Oedipus is a young who receives a horrifying prophecy foretelling his fate to marry his mother and murder his father. Programmers grappled with numerous hard-hitting questions, such as: Are all of Oedipus’s choices inevitable? Is he bound to a fate written before he was born? Is free will at play at all?

“My favorite part of the class was seeing everyone else’s points of view,” said Cathy H. “It was crazy seeing all the different perspectives that I hadn’t thought about.” 

Then it was off to a lunch of steak burritos, rice, chips and salsa, and an abundance of guacamole. St. Joseph’s Commons was buzzing with conversation! Students and tutors alike chatted about their first class … before heading off to the next class, a discussion of Plato’s Euthyphro:

The famous philosopher Socrates and his new acquaintance, Euthyphro meet outside a courthouse. Socrates is being accused of impiety to the gods, and Euthyphro is in the process of prosecuting his own father. These circumstances prompt the pair to enter into an exchange on the nature of piety, where Euthyphro is unable to come up with a convincing definition of virtue.

Following the class, programmers were left wrestling with some questions that Plato leaves unresolved: What does it really mean to call something pious? Is something pious because it is pleasing to the gods, or is something pleasing to the gods because it is pious? 

Left to ponder these important themes, the students were immediately ushered on to the day’s next activity — section games! All of the sections will compete against each other in a variety of games meant to put their teamwork and collaboration to the test. Be sure to check back here with the Summer Program Blog Tuesday morning for a full report on the games as well as all of tonight’s excitement!

More photos from the High School Summer Program

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