Photo by Jackson Stack ’25

By Renzo Moran ’24

The Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC) awarded Brophy as the most sustainable high school in the country on July 27. The award was accepted by Sergio Arvizu Rivera ’23, a member of the Student Climate Coalition (SCC).

The award, a statue of Saint Francis to be displayed on campus, was presented to a school, based on a series of criteria including: faith-focused work toward sustainability, level of difficulty and scope, the level of commitment required by the work and its influence on local, religion and national efforts, according to the CCC website. 

“We have a really good name in the community amongst Catholic schools, our ecological justice plan has been kind of been circulating throughout the Catholic school network …they probably looked at what we’ve done, looked through our accomplishments, and said these guys crushed it this year,” said Mr. Cooper Davis ’10. 

According to Mr. Davis, it wasn’t just what the SCC has done that impressed them, but more how they got there and how fast they are achieving it. 

“What they liked about the way Brophy did it the most is that students were the ones who led the effort,” Mr. Davis said. “The students are the ones doing the work, I just operate like I normally do, as a teacher.”

In recent years, Brophy has added solar panels, new trash receptacles, a new compost initiative and worked to save Oak Flat, all through the work of students. 

“I like to think we are great, but still, we have a lot of things to deal with on this campus as far as awareness and student buy-in,” said Mr. Davis. “We’re being honored for having big goals and working towards them.”