By Hayden Welty ’19 & Jack Davis ’19
THE ROUNDUP
As a Brophy student, do you feel that you have put forth a maximum amount of effort to your service projects?
Phoenix is the sixth most populous city in the U.S. and the most populous state capital; as such, it boasts a rich ethnic blend of bountiful culture and life, which is easily accessible by the entire student body.
However, students oftentimes find themselves disengaged and removed from this vibrant community, which thrives only a couple feet away from the pristine grounds we nonchalantly roam around every day.
Our school encourages interaction with the city through service projects like the Freshman breakaway, the Freshman retreat, the Loyola Project, the Community Mentoring Project and the Ignatian Encounter.
Instead of intensively immersing ourselves in these endeavors, many students devote only required effort to participate in the school’s attempts to force us to engage with the rest of the city, parts of which which can seem like a foreign country to some who have not experienced them.
We, as a student body, need to work to truly ground ourselves in local life and strive to further enrich the character of our incredible neighborhood.
We have to match the efforts of the Office of Faith and Justice and faculty members like Mr. Will Rutt, Mrs. Megan Agliano and Mr. Paul Fisko by continuing to leave an impressionable dent in the fabric of Phoenix’s character.
Without a collective drive committed to service, abroad and at home, Brophy’s student populace fails on its mission to be committed to doing justice, to be loving and to be “Men for Others.”
We have to assume the mantle of leadership and take the initiative to go out and capitalize on the amazing resources to which we have access: Whether it’s 350 days of sunshine a year, an up-and-coming arts district, an expanding cuisine scene, or a variety of athletic options or a state-of-the-art downtown area, there is so much available to Brophy students.
It’s our job—and privilege—to take advantage of this.
