By Adam Triplett ’10 & Michael Mandeville ’11
The Roundup

Brophy promises to make students men for others by the time graduation comes around, but what else does Brophy change in it’s students?

Current seniors can think back to freshman year and remember the political controversy surrounding the Summit on immigration. Did Brophy help to shape the political and spiritual views of those students?

“They just didn’t make sense,” said Patrick Ryan ’10 reflecting on his political views from freshmen year.
Several seniors, including Collin Churchill ’10, expressed how their views on politics have been shaped by several experiences at Brophy, namely the yearly Summits and religious education classes.

“The government doesn’t help the kind of people that St. Ignatius would help,” Churchill said when asked about how he feels about the government.

Churchill also said the Summits have opened his eyes to how the government is flawed; doing everything for themselves, not for the people of the United States.

Both Ryan and Churchill have their own political views, different from freshman year.  Both said their political views were shaped by their Republican parents.

This is still reflected in freshman, like Andrew Curtis ’13 and Joseph Cano ’13, who said either their parents or grandparents shape their political views.

Luis Barcelo ’13, when asked if he thought Brophy could change his political views said, “No, but it might help to interpret the other side.”

The Summit each year focuses on not only presenting a pressing issue in the world today, but also opening student’s eyes to the other side that is not necessarily on the nightly news.

“I have it perfect, what about the people that don’t have it perfect?” Churchill said while talking about his positive learning experience during both the Summit on immigration and the Summit on war.

Younger students are still learning to look through a different lens and make choices independent of what they were told prior to coming to Brophy.

“I wouldn’t say it is what they look for, but what they look against,” said C.J. Slater ’13 when asked about what influences the freshmen’s view on politics.

According to T.J. Decker ’13, “freshmen are too young to have strong political opinions.”

So what does Brophy do to broaden the political horizons of its students?

Seniors Ryan and Churchill both said they have been convinced the yearly Summit on Human Dignity makes the real difference.