Chelsea News

The senior thesis is to be the crowning achievement of the Chelsea Academy education. Each year, Chelsea seniors embark on a year-long major research paper that explores a question built upon the close reading of a Great Book. The thesis should engage some aspect of the Great Conversation as it develops a question in history, literature, theology, philosophy, science, mathematics, or another approved subject area. 

The Class of 2025 has been hard at work with their respective thesis advisors all year, and are ready to present their theses to the community! Support our seniors as they publicly present the capstone academic exercise of their Chelsea careers. Seniors will be delivering their thesis presentations from Tuesday, May 6 to Thursday, May 8, 2025 from 6:30-8:00pm at Chelsea Academy.  We encourage all who can make it to attend.  

The presenters and topics are listed below:

Tuesday, May 6
 

Edmund Brugger, “A Vindication of Aquinas’s Arguments for the Existence of God Against the New Atheists”

Belle Schuttloffel, “'I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy!' Embracing Authentic Femininity in Little Women”

Noah Van Schaick, “The Reality of the Sin of Pride and the Violent Revelation Needed to Cause a Change”

Keira Thomas, “'The Nobler the Woman, the Nobler the Love': A Discussion Lady Macbeth and the Role of Femininity Plays in the Culture”

Wednesday, May 7
 

Jimmy Stanford, “'O Highest Peak of Virtue': Virgil and the Cardinal Virtues in Dante's Inferno”

Patrick Anderson, “Bound in Darkness: The Greed, Dehumanization, and Moral Corruption of Imperialism in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness”

Cici Wingate, "'To love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within': The Meaning and Effect of True Selfless Love as Seen in Till We Have Faces"

Ivy Akers, “'I am, but there I have another name': Seeing God through Narnia”

Therese MacDougall, “How the Sanctity of Marriage Preserves the Sanctity of Human Life: An Insight into Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to Understand the Sanctity of Human Life and How It Relates to Marriage”

Thursday, May 8

Nate Snyder, “'My Thoughts be Bloody or be Nothing Worth': A Moral Analysis of Revenge Using Shakespeare's Hamlet”

Ken Furlong, “'You Should Not Forsake the Ship in a Storm Because You Cannot Control the Winds': An Analysis of Thomas More's Utopia Concerning the Need for Reform in More's England”

Sarah Barklage, “The Role of Faith and the Virtues in Relationships in Anna Karenina”

Landon Barnett, “Liberty Through Conformity: The Totalitarian implications of Rousseau's General Will”

Calvin Rhodes, “A Despotic Precursor: How John Calvin's Theology and Consistory Inspired Totalitarianism” 

Max Egazarian, “Karl Marx: The Attack on Christianity”