By Jack Cahill ’17
THE ROUNDUP

Brophy is home to many alumni who now teach at the school, all of whom have a different experience of school spirit.

Today, school spirit is found in various rallies, sports games, the Fine Arts Extravaganza and events organized by Student Council.

Mr. Steve Smith ’96 said that the spirit the school has today is better than ever.

“I think we’re at a high point right now in terms of school spirit,” Mr. Smith said. “I feel like the Student Council and the student body does a great job in promoting school spirit, as does the administration. I don’t remember it negatively when I was a student, but I feel that there was maybe one rally per year.”

Mr. Smith pointed out that there are more rallies today than in the 1990s.

“I’m so proud of Brophy today because we’ll have a football rally, a swimming rally, a speech and debate rally, a rally for the play and arts all in one semester,” Mr. Smith said.

Other teachers said they believe that school spirit was better decades ago than it is today.

“In some ways, I think there was more school spirit here back when I was a student here in the 70s,” said Mr. Tom Danforth ’78. “I went here in the mid 70s, and we had a lot of activities that were scheduled like rallies. I don’t know that we have any rallies now.”

Mr. Danforth said that there were many unscheduled activities when he was a student.

“We also had a lot of unscheduled activities. For example, we’d come to school one day where we’d find out the afternoon class was cancelled and the whole school would go out to the front lawn and they would have a circus come out and perform,” Mr. Danforth said.

Mr. Smith said that school spirit at other schools “doesn’t compare” to the school spirit at Brophy. Mr. Smith previously taught at a different school for a few years.

“At the school I used to teach at, school spirit didn’t compare to Brophy’s, because they had no school spirit,” Mr. Smith said. “So, there was no comparison whatsoever. I think the only thing we ever did was wear our school t-shirt every couple months.”

Mr. Chris Stevens ’85 shared sentiments similar to those of Mr. Smith.

Mr. Stevens taught at a public school in Colorado for five years and said school spirit there was “average.”

“I taught for five years in Colorado at a public school. School spirit there was very generic,” Mr. Stevens said. “It was football and sports oriented, with rallies and stuff like that.”

“Brophy school spirit when I went here was any sporting event, whether it was basketball, football, or baseball, it was very well attended,” Mr. Stevens said.

Mr. Stevens said that school spirit has improved since he was a student, with an exception.

“Since I’ve been back, I’ve been very impressed with the school spirit at Friday night football games. I’m a little disappointed at the spirit at basketball games, whether it be at home or away. That’s where I’ve noticed a little bit of a drop off,” Mr. Stevens said.