President Barack Obama has faced many problems in his fledgling administration: the economy, two wars and potential nuclear development in North Korea and Iran.
One has to ask what the president is doing running around collecting Nobel Prizes and trying to secure an Olympic bid for Chicago?
It should be apparent that in these troubled times we have bigger problems than tourism and public image.
Usually, when a Brophy student has a question, they don’t go to the class encyclopedia, nor do they ask a teacher who works in that field.
Instead, they simply type their question into the computer in front of them and instantly get the answer.
Are we becoming too dependent, though, on search engines?
According to a recent story in The Week, there were two girls in South Australia that found themselves stuck in a storm drain.
However, realizing they had their cell phones, the girls used their quick thinking and good judgment and decided on the best course of action: updating their Facebook statuses.
Last year’s Summit on Human Dignity, Renewing our Commitment to Sustainability and Stewardship, was supposed to engage Brophy students in dialogue, possibly encouraging us to adopt new, “green” ways of living.
Many teachers incorporated the ideas presented in the Summit into their classes, offering extra credit if students participated in after school events and made “environmentally friendly” changes in their daily routines.
Eight months have passed since February and for many students the ideas of the last Summit on Human Dignity are now but a faint memory of Eustace Conway, the man who lived out in the forest by himself, and Sustainable Dave, the California man who saved all of his trash in his basement for a whole year.
Lately around campus it seems there has been more and more things to do.
No, I’m not talking about homework or college applications (while those may be piling up as well) but instead actual activities to do.
Pick any school day and usually you will find an e-mail inbox full of announcements, classrooms full with club meetings and the gym packed with students ready to compete.
Upon entering campus on Sept. 24th, I could see hundreds of students wearing board shorts, carrying colorful towels, sporting flip flops and varied sunglasses.
I thought these beach goers had taken a wrong turn on their way to California.
Instead, they were celebrating Beach Day. Beach Day when Brophy students are allowed to forego their formal dress clothes and instead wear beach attire.
Three years ago, I was one of a few hundred green Brophy freshmen standing in line to collect their computers as part of the new Tablet program.
We have since had the unique experience of watching the program evolve from being a class-exclusive experience to being a school-wide phenomenon.
It’s more than 100 degrees outside as I wait in the seemingly endless Brophy lunch line, for a soda.
I can’t help but think that this took less time and money the previous year.
This year regular soda was removed from the campus vending machines in favor of more healthy options.
Five Brophy students scramble off a departing German tram and walk past the sign for the Jesuit retreat center Henrich Pesch Haus.
These students are not Brophy’s European Jesuit counterparts, but in fact Brophy students about to join an international conference on climate change.
On June 1 this last summer seven anxious Brophy students met at Sky Harbor Airport and said farewell to their families and their country as they prepared to embark on the trip of a lifetime.
This trip was a 25-day Brophy sponsored immersion trip to Peru, where the main objective was to help build two houses for families.
To accompany the seven Brophy students were teachers Mr. JP Jarczyk ’99, Deacon Joe Stickney and Mr. Lloyd Daggett.