The purpose of the seminary was to turn students into well educated priests. To achieve that goal the seminarians were required to take their classes along with those of the Preparatory students. All the normal courses such as , English, math, history, languages (Latin and French or German), and science were offered.
My favorite class was physics. Because St. Vincent was a liberal arts school, he physics laboratory was not well equipped with modern instruments. However, the physics teacher, Father Ulric, was quite innovative. He knew how to teach a bunch of senior boys using everyday things. The one example I remember most was a lesson in phase change and thermodynamics. The goal of the experiment was to verify the number of calories ice transfers going from solid to liquid.
The experiment went like this. Each student was given a bottle of Rolling Rock beer. A beaker was filled with the contents of a bottle of the Rolling Rock beer. The weight and temperature of the beer was measured. The beer was transferred to another beaker byway of a large funnel filled with ice. The weight and temperature of the beer and ice were measured. Father Ulric then asked us to calculate the results and turn them in to him. When we were finished we were to empty the beakers and rinse them out. Father Ulric then left the room while we calculated. When he returned, the calculations were done and the empty beakers were on the lab counter.
Obviously a win-win situation for 8 or 9 sixteen and seventeen year-olds
We had one telephone in the house. The phone number was FAirfax 9580 until it was changed to FAirfax 1 9580 in 1947 because the introduction of area codes necessitated a 10 digit number. For years after the the use of area codes were implemented, calls to the same area code did not require prepending the area code (412). Until November 1951 long distance calls were placed through an operator.