Brophy Roundup

Include this article on my résumé, college applications

Roundup • March 9, 2010

Everybody knows that one student who does everything: NHS, several sports, band, photography club, speech and debate and concert piano. He has participated on three immersion trips (just this year), is an altar server and is taking five AP classes. I think it is impossible, and certainly at least impractical, to participate in all of those activities/classes at once, but many students are overloading themselves with activities in order to get that extra edge in the college admissions process.

As the earth stops shaking, relief efforts begin

Roundup • March 9, 2010

For the last several weeks eight people stood abreast with the The Crown of Thorns statue in the Brophy Mall. Eight faces, some half-hidden by bandages, stared from glossy pictures with tired and tearful eyes and hungry mouths. Since Jan. 28, many students, parents and faculty members volunteered in one hour shifts to stand in solidarity with these and all the people of Haiti after the earthquake on Jan. 12.

Eating or studying? Let us do both

Roundup • February 3, 2010

Brophy is a campus of many acres and of almost a dozen buildings; though, in none of these buildings can a student eat while they study in quiet, peaceful, temperate quarters. Students are always allowed to eat in the Great Hall, the climate controlled cafeteria, but among the flying food, the trash and the shouting, the Great Hall does not make for a great place to concentrate and get work done.

SAP should be utilized, promoted

Roundup • February 3, 2010

The little wooden box that sits quietly in the back of the football office never really seems to get much attention, unless someone is using it to rest a drink on. But these boxes are in place for a reason. They are a referral system that students can use if they or someone they know are having issues with things such as drugs and alcohol.

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.

Brophy serves as shelter from below-average state funding

Roundup • February 3, 2010

There are more benefits from going to a private school than one might think: going to Brophy protects students from the terrible state funding per student. Arizona ranks 47th in the nation in per student funding, according to the U.S. Census of 2006-2007. This report shows that Arizona spends $7,196 on each student per year. That is nearly $2,500 below the national average of $9,666.

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).

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.