Last weekend I had a chance to be a part of something absolutely beautiful!
I was blessed to take photos at “What Really Happened At…?” – A Winter Conference for High School Students organized by The Lumen Christi Institute and hosted at The University of St. Mary of the Lake.
Attended by over 250 high school students, featuring speakers from Loyola University Chicago, Hillsdale College, University of Notre Dame, and more (you can find a full list of speakers at the bottom of the article.
We can’t forget that The University of St. Mary of the Lake is located in Mundelein in a very scenic landscape with many beautiful buildings including the chapel and library (holding over 300,000 books!).
I was inspired by Br. Kevin’s (from Cancons Regular, St. John Cantius) opening speech, and I think a lot of attendees were too, classes filled out quickly for 30-minute talks on specific subjects.
Students could decide which of them they wanted to attend, take notes, and ask questions, extra motivation was that The Lumen Christi Institute encouraged students to take photos of their notes and send them in to enter a raffle of 2 50-dollar gift cards! Such a small thing and such a great idea.
I was jumping from class to class to capture the essence of the event, after the lunch break it was time for “Office Hours”. All speakers were available for an hour for all students to answer their questions and engage in conversations about subjects they talked about in the morning.
Heather Foucault-Camm
I was blown away, seeing so many young people using every second of this time to take as much as they could from Professors, Theologians, and Artists.
In the end, we gathered in the main Chapel to pray in front of our Lord, adoration was led by Fr. John Kartje Rector, and President of the University of St. Mary of the Lake.
It was a great experience with amazing people in a very unique place Mundeline Seminary. I can’t wait to be back!
Full list of speakers and title of their presentations:
Michael Burns and Joe Vukov, Loyola University Chicago
What really happens if we genetically engineer humans to thrive on Mars?
Sarah Crow, St. Gregory’s Hall
What really happens when you see the face of God?
Timothy Dolch, Hillsdale College
What would really happen if we found extraterrestrial life?
Heather Foucault-Camm, University of Notre Dame
What really happened at Bletchley Park that changed the world?
Halley Haruta, University of Chicago
What really happened to St. Thérèse?
Fr. John Kartje, University of St. Mary of the Lake
What really happened when Eve ate that apple?
Christie Klimas, DePaul University
What really happened to deforest the Amazon rainforest?
Russell Johnson, University of Chicago
What really happened on Dante’s trip to hell?
Mary Bridget Kustusch, DePaul University
What really happened to Schrödinger’s Cat?
Robert Porwoll, Gustavus Adolphus College
What really happened at the Medieval Inquisition?
Chris Stoughton, Fermilab
What really happened at the Big Bang?
Chris Stoughton
