On March 31, 2025, Brophy’s Senior Class of 2025 drove to different locations across Arizona and served at dozens of sites from 9 to 11 a.m. in honor of Cesar Chavez Day.
This event, the first ever Senior Service Project at Brophy, was entirely student-led, among them being Andrew Flynn ’25 and Julian Borquez Meza ’25, who took advantage of Cesar Chavez Day, which most schools take off, by giving back to the community and uplifting others. This team saw an absence of a senior service requirement and a lack of celebration of icon Cesar Chavez as opportunities for change.
“Seniors are some of the most capable members, and the fact that they’re not actively going out, or we’re not incentivized them to go out to our community, isn’t fair, and we believe we should change that,” Meza said.
According to Mr. Drew Rau ’02, Director of the Office of Faith and Justice, about 300 seniors provided approximately 600 hours of service in two hours and provided an economic value of an estimated $16,000, using MobileServe’s calculation of $27.20/hour.
Some service sites even reconnected the seniors with sites they attended for their Freshman Retreat. “You came in a boy, and you’re coming out a man, you now get to choose where you’re doing your service,” Meza said. “I think that’s so much more important than just being able to say, ‘Hey, we get the day off.’ Sure, we still get the day off, but we also get to serve our community, and it’s really important.”
Flynn sees this as a way to close the chapter of their final year by going full circle, “We connected it back to senior year to try to make that connection at the end. A big part of it was trying to build connections and build a community aspect around Brophy, because that’s one of the most important things that Brophy students do,” said Flynn.
A post-service hangout at Indian School Park was also planned to allow students to reflect and reconnect. However, turnout was low due to a long gap between the end of the service, 11:00 a.m., and the hangout, 2:30 p.m., which some organizers hope to improve in the years to come.
“Hopefully, when I come back for my 10-year, 20-year, 30-year reunion, I will see this tradition continuing. That would feel amazing,” Meza said.
