Richard Quinn / Special to The Star Michael Noel Crump of Fillmore moves his tassel from the right side of his mortarboard to the left after receiving his diploma from Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula.

Richard Quinn / Special to The Star Graduates walk in procession to receive their diplomas from Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula.

Tucked deep in the Topa Topa mountains near Santa Paula on 170 manicured acres, Thomas Aquinas College graduated 80 seniors on Saturday.

The pastoral setting matched the reverential mood at the Catholic college best known for its Great Books approach to a liberal arts education through reading the classics.

The audience of parents and siblings, grandparents, cousins, friends and babies — about 1,200 in all — listened to the commencement speaker who traveled from Australia to Santa Paula to present the diplomas to each student. Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, focused on the importance of faith and education.

"Wise people can evaluate public opinion, identify what is central, discard what is irrelevant and downgrade what is secondary," Pell told the audience.

A luncheon honoring the Class of 2008 — represented by students from 22 states and five countries — followed the commencement.

Among the graduating students was Stephanie Erramouspe from Riverton, Wyo. Her major was philosophy with a minor in theology and math.

She was attracted to the school's Socratic style of learning in small group discussions rather than lecture classes.

"It was something I had never done because I had gone to public schools," Erramouspe said. "I wanted to branch out and do something different. I am going back to Wyoming and will probably go into a nursing program there."

Erramouspe's mother, Susan Erramouspe, said her daughter is the third of her children to graduate from Thomas Aquinas College. Her husband first learned about the school from a Catholic newspaper in the late 1990s.

"We have 11 children and wished we had known about the school before the last three," she said. "Stephanie is the baby."

John Kucharski, from Downers Grove, Ill., said he went to Thomas Aquinas for the Great Books program. He will head to Washington, D.C., for graduate school. "It's called the Institute of World Politics, and they offer a master's program in intelligence."

Nicholas Ruedig is also from the Chicago area, and chose Thomas Aquinas after attending a summer program for high schoolers. He said it was like a miniature version of the real college experience.

"After that, I didn't want to go anywhere else," Ruedig said. "Now I'm going to apply to graduate schools for a business and law joint degree."