Photo by Bryce Owen ’17 | Anthony Cardellini ’17 has worked on The Roundup staff for three years and completes his second consecutive year as Editor in Chief.
By Anthony Cardellini ’17
THE ROUNDUP
I still remember discussing scheduling with my parents as a freshman and not knowing which elective I would choose for sophomore year.
I had narrowed it down to Journalism or Art and Architecture.
Growing up, I had always been fascinated with tall buildings and being an architect always had captivated me.
However, my parents and my freshman English teacher, Mr. Scott Middlemist ’87, suggested I try a different path and take Journalism.
I listened to their advice, and that decision has absolutely changed my life.
I have now been editor in chief for The Roundup for two years. In those years, I’ve written thousands of words, interviewed people I never thought I’d talk to and learned skills I never knew I’d need.
More than anything else, The Roundup has taught me that good journalism is crucial to both our community at Brophy and our society as a whole.
Writing for The Roundup forced me to take a new look at my school. It showed me what really makes Brophy what it is: the stories of the people who are here.
Brophy students themselves have gone through experiences I’ll never understand. Teachers have wisdom and talents that I’ll never acquire on my own. Athletes, artists and musicians have skills and lofty goals I’ve never realized and practice harder than I could’ve imagined.
Writing for the paper has opened my eyes to the wonderful diversity of interests, talents and cultures of the people in my community. I hope reading the paper has done the same for you.
Writing for the paper has taught me how to form my opinions into words and how to respond to what others think. It has taught me how to view a sports game with a different lens than that of a fan.
Writing for the paper has educated me about this incredible community, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.
As readers, you all get to see the final product of our investigations into what makes our community so powerful. Enjoy this luxury and read The Roundup as often as possible: It’ll teach you things about your peers you might not have guessed.
Our staff works incredibly hard to create this final product, but it’s only worth it if people read it.
It should be noted that journalism has implications far beyond this community in central Phoenix.
Journalism is the only way we know what’s happening in Washington, D.C. It’s the only way we can track events in Syria. It’s how we learned about the Paris attacks and the winner of the U.S. presidential election.
It is the best and often only source of information we have.
Thus, good democracy is impossible without good journalism.
Good democracy is impossible if the voters don’t understand the issues, or the candidates or the implications of their votes. Journalism is how we access this information.
I hope that Brophy students seek the best journalism out there so they can be well informed on the issues that face our world.
This can be difficult. Reading journalism that we agree with is comfortable, while reading journalism we disagree with is jarring.
Moreover, in the world of “fake news,” the reader is often tasked with discerning what is true and what is false.
Still, there are ways to overcome these problems.
Find sites that track the objectivity and bias in journalism.
Read publications that have won journalism awards rather than those on the fringes.
If you are truly invested in the success of your democracy, you will find resources to help you understand that democracy.
Journalism can teach us all so much about the world around us.
Seek the stories that make this school great. Seek the stories that make this country great.
Through journalism, you will find them.
