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The California campus opened its gates to its alumni and parents of current students on Saturday for a day full of fun, friendly competition, and camaraderie.

The morning commenced with a quick welcome orientation, followed by a tour of the campus. A group hike embarked to the popular lookout spot known as the “Painter’s Shack,” and returned just in time for the one o’clock seminar. Members of the faculty led alumni, parents, and students in group discussions of St. Thomas Aquinas’s writings on the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. Alumni fondly relived days past and exercised their analytical conversational skills, while parents experienced the classroom’s Discussion Method alongside their children, and all emerged with a greater wonder and appreciation for the text and their faith.

At the conclusion of the seminar, the games began! Students, families, and children of alumni gathered down-below at the first pond to try their workmanship at a cardboard boat building-and-racing competition. Meanwhile, in the Pope St. John Paul II Athletic Center, students and alumni went head-to-head in a thrilling basketball match. The gymnasium overflowed with spectators as students and alumni alike arrived to cheer for their respective teams. In the end, the student squad emerged victorious. “As always, it was an electric game. It ended up a good win for the students, but got real close there at the end!” commented Lucas Wozniak (CA’26).

Not long after, all gathered on St. Gladys patio for drinks and casual conversation, where President Paul J. O’Reilly thanked visitors for their presence and informed them about up-and-coming plans to improve and rebuild parts of both the California and New England campuses.

The day’s activities day culminated in a campus-wide barbeque, followed by ice-cream sandwiches. Over a dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs, students and attendees mingled with family and friends, reliving the day’s events and enjoying the company. “It’s always great to see old faces and meet new ones,” said Orion LaCour (CA‘22). After dinner, several games of spikeball and volleyball kicked off on the lawn.

As the sun faded behind the mountains, all made their way to St. Cecelia Hall for the final attraction of the day: a student production of Jane Austen’s Emma. The night ended with a standing ovation, marking the end of another successful Alumni and Parent Day.

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