By Jackson Santy ’13
THE ROUNDUP

Voted by a combination of Brophy faculty and peers, Manny Rodriguez ’12 has been selected as a runner-up for The Roundup’s Man of the Year award.

“I was surprised to be nominate

d,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t think I was really well known around campus by teachers and other students.”

Rodriguez describes himself as reserved and quiet, but his impact at Brophy has been far from it.

“I’m fairly reserved and quiet, being nominated is probably one of my biggest accomplishments at Brophy, because it makes me realize that I have been noticed,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has been noticed in large part because of his under-the-radar activities.

“I believe that small impacts can really make an difference at Brophy,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez’s road to Brophy was slightly more abrupt than most applicants.

“I learned about Brophy about two weeks before the application. I was more interested in Bioscience High School,” Rodriguez said.

Nevertheless, Rodriguez’s parents were adamant about him attending Brophy and upon his acceptance, enrolled him post haste.

Over the past four years, Rodriguez has been involved in Calc Club as well as an out of school Scholar Program where he is involved in multiple community service projects every month.

However, Rodriguez was first impacted  after the Freshman Breakaway at Saint Vincent DePaul through his Understand Catholic Christianity class.

“What I saw that day influenced me and made me want to help those in need. It made me better,” Rodriguez said.

Along with that, Rodriguez described his other highlights at Brophy as his Sophomore Service Project, but what “cut the deepest” was Kairos.

“After my first Kairos, I became the happiest person ever,” Rodriguez said.

One teacher who had the opportunity to share his Karios experience with him was Mrs. Sue Hornbeck, who was his small group leader.

“Manny Rodriguez is my hero,” Mrs. Hornbeck said, “He is such a man of character and I was blessed to have him in my Kairos group.”

“His heart is so big and any time he comes into a room his smile is so warm and welcoming,” Mrs. Hornbeck said. “He can melt the hardest of hearts.”