Brophy Roundup

Campus drug policy serves students well

Roundup • February 3, 2010

Substance abuse has always been a concern for Brophy College Preparatory, as it is for just about any other school today. This month The Roundup reported that 47 percent of high school students said they have used illicit drugs in their lifetime.

News cycle leaves room for fact and funny

Roundup • February 3, 2010

Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, died this summer, leaving an immense void in responsible journalism. So who will take his place? Brian Williams? Katie Couric? Anderson Cooper? According to a Time poll, the “most trusted man in America” is now Jon Stewart, a comedian known for his work on “The Daily Show.” Most people these days are put off by network news and many newspaper readers are turning to satire for their current events as a result.

Physical contact test of alpha male dominance

Roundup • December 3, 2009

Over the course of several weeks recently, I undertook a new kind of journalistic safari: I took the liberty of recording every wrestling match in the Info Commons, every grappling match at the choke point between the gym and Keating Hall and every boxing match in classrooms. A bit of a disclaimer: I am most certainly not a stalker. It bears mentioning, however, that the purpose of this archiving spree was not to record the many different ways in which Brophy students care to physically interact with each other. To be honest, I didn’t begin my strange high school safari with the sentiment that I’d be hard-pressed to find subject material (although I ended up being correct).

Group projects are useless, foster wrong message

Blair Cook • December 3, 2009

After 12 years of formal education, I have come to dread the moment a teacher utters the phrase “group project.” Group work is not effective for multiple reasons.

The Roundup covers school news, sports with status updates and tweets

Roundup • December 3, 2009

With most newspapers now online and even more newspapers closing their doors, it is a time of change within the journalism community. In light of these changes, here at The Roundup we have made some changes of our own. This year we have put a greater focus on technology and have made several significant advancements in our online distribution.

Big box retailers market ‘Christmas Spirit’ two months too soon

Roundup • December 3, 2009

Shopping for Christmas is fun and picking out new decorations can be an adventure, but holiday shopping before Halloween seems to be a little too early. In almost every single major business such as Target, Wal-Mart and even Home Depot, Christmas items can be found, and not in small displays here and there, but whole aisles. It seems as though Halloween and Thanksgiving are becoming less and less important in the eyes of big businesses and, it looks as if it’s getting worse.

X-mas spirit, message should be ‘eXchange-mas’

Roundup • December 3, 2009

The Christmas season brings with it many things: lights, trees, food, smells, traditions, highly decorated malls and stores with Christmas sales. It also brings controversy about many of these things. The commercialization of Christmas has become rampant, and it is a good thing. The hullabaloo that emerges is rather absurd. People begin asking us to remember “the reason for the season,” as there are others who wish for it to be referred to as “X-mas” when not in reference to Christ’s birth. However, the most important effect that commercialization has is it takes the focus off of Christianity, and places it elsewhere.

Affiliations without proper representation

Blair Cook • December 3, 2009

The motif for political parties in the United States is to up the other, or so it seems, and it’s been that way since the foundation of our country. Based primarily on a two party system, American politics has been a competition between the Democrats and the Republicans, though every so often we hear something about a third party. Recently I have noticed a rise in a new party: the Libertarians.

Separated nation must move past politics as usual

Blair Cook • December 3, 2009

In the near future, I can imagine tuning in for the evening news and hearing, “It has been 297 days since Obama’s socialist regime tore the presidency from the deserving hands of “The Maverick.” With replacing our former ‘All Hat No Cattle’ president, the current “Redistributor-in-Chief,” has taken the White House by storm.” Um –welcome to America? The land where “united we stand, divided we fall?” Not really sounding like it, huh?

Americans need the healthcare system fixed immediately

Roundup • December 3, 2009

In the last two months, three trips to the doctor’s office cost me $45. Fortunately, I only paid a $15 dollar co-pay per visit because I have health insurance through my parents’ work. But, one-in-five Americans nationwide and one-in-four Arizonans do not have the same benefits, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report.

Parking change leaves students asking ‘where can I park?’

Roundup • December 3, 2009

The biggest question that I ask myself every morning is “where am I going to park?” Brophy recently changed sides of the north lot with St. Francis Xavier and Brophy’s number of spots has been drastically reduced. This was a change that has been long in the making, according to Brophy Dean Mr. James Bopp, who said that the current arrangement makes more sense for both schools.

Letter to the Editor

Roundup • December 3, 2009

The unexpected happened Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 to 1984 Brophy graduate Thomas L. Vajda. He met with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar. Suu Kyi, the opposition National League for Democracy leader who has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, was allowed to meet with U.S., British and Australian diplomats by Myanmar’s military junta to discuss the lifting of sanctions on Myanmar. The diplomats who met with her at her request were U.S. Embassy’s Acting Charge d’Affaires Tom Vajda, British Ambassador Andrew Heyn and Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission Simon Star.