Zayd Ahmed ’10

By Michael Mandeville ’11
THE ROUNDUP

Running into senior Zayd Ahmed ’10 in the Information Commons for an interview, his kind and open heart was instantly apparent.

He has a certain humble nature that is very unique, and it is no wonder faculty and students nominated him for The Roundup’s Man of the Year award. The Roundup selected Ahmed as a runner-up for this year’s honor.

Ahmed is involved in a variety of activities around Brophy including the Key Club, National Honors Society, the swim team and Student Council this past year. Aside from those things, he has also been on the Guatemala Nuestros Pequeño Hermanos immersion trip twice.

He said his favorite class has been Ms. Deborah Kauffman’s AP English IV because of her kind nature and the enjoyment he experiences discussing literature.

“Brophy is a brotherhood,” Ahmed said, “and the Graduate at Graduation ideas are something I aspire to be.”

He is currently deciding between University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Emory University in Atlanta.

“Get in the swing of things and get involved as much as possible so you can become immersed in the experience quicker,” Ahmed said as his advice for underclassmen.

Sal Guardiola ’10

By Liam Martin ’10
THE ROUNUDP

As Sal Guardiola ’10 walks through Brophy it’s not unusual for him to say “Hi” or give a friendly nod to many of the people he sees, from his friends to casual acquaintances to people he barely knows.

He has a quick wit and is almost always ready to share a laugh, but he’s also capable of being entirely serious.

The Roundup named Guardiola a 2010 Man of the Year runner-up.

“Brophy has given me purpose,” Guardiola said in a sincere, earnest tone of voice.

Guardiola credited Brophy with not only helping to change the way he sees his future, but also the way he sees himself.

Although he is on the executive board of the National Honors Society, was a member of the diplomatic corps and was on Student Council for three years, Guardiola said that for him the best part of Brophy has been the retreats, one of which, Kairos 105, he recently led.

The retreats, he said, along with Mr. Stephan Johnson’s Christian Ethics class, his favorite class, have helped him to become a more spiritual person, more open to being “an instrument for God” and a man for others.

When he came to Brophy Guardiola said he planned to go to Harvard and become a doctor, because it is a “good job with money.”

But Mr. Johnson’s class, he said, challenged him to look at his life and improve it.

“Now I see myself as someone who’s serving the needs of Latinos in the community or in the state or wherever I am in the future,” he said.

Next year he will be attending the University of New Mexico, where he will study Communications and Spanish, and afterwards pursue a law degree.

He advised freshmen to be open to growth.

“If you really open your heart to what your teachers are saying, especially to the spiritual side … I think that by your senior year you’ll have gone through a lot of growth, (and) you’ll be a lot happier with your life as well,” he said.