SANTA PAULA : College Has Record International Draw
Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula has drawn a record number of students from all over the world this year, bringing total enrollment to 203, college officials said.
Students in the freshman class come from 21 states, Canada, Bulgaria, England, Ghana and Lithuania.
Last year, two students from Bulgaria and Poland came to the private Catholic college, and two more students from Bulgaria and three students from Lithuania arrived this year, said spokesman John A. Holecek.
“I think that, after having lived for 50 years under Communism, (people from) Lithuania and Bulgaria have a great desire to know real truth . . . “ Holecek said of the Eastern Europeans.
Thomas Aquinas College offers a unique curriculum that claims to teach “genuine truth and make students wise” through the works of scientists, philosophers and theologians of Western civilization, Holecek said.
All incoming students are placed in the freshmen class.
This year, 28 of the 68 freshmen have had previous college experience, five of whom have earned degrees.
One has a degree in philosophy from the University of Leningrad in the former Soviet Union.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
