Bob Ryan
Brophy Prep announces leadership transitions
With the close of the fiscal year on June 30, Bob Ryan succeeded Adria Renke as Brophy College Preparatory’s president, becoming the 12th individual to step into that role and the second layperson. Ryan had served as principal since 2006, a position that Jim Bopp will now fill.
Ryan came to Brophy in 2000, working as a faculty member in the math and religious studies departments. He quickly took on other roles including assistant principal and, in 2006, then-president Fr. Edward Reese, SJ, named him principal. Working first with President Reese and then with President Renke, Ryan has led the school through many changes and substantial growth. He is credited with strengthening Brophy’s academic profile, increasing student body diversity and developing a talented faculty and staff. During the pandemic, his leadership was instrumental in keeping students in the classrooms for all but the last quarter of the 2019-20 school year.
Always a student-centered leader, he continued to spend time in the classroom when he could and promoted the Jesuit concept of cura personalis — care of the whole person — throughout his tenure as principal.
The Board of Trustees first announced the succession plan in November 2021, and in January 2022, Ryan announced that Jim Bopp, a former Brophy teacher and assistant principal, would succeed him. Bopp left Brophy after the 2015-16 school year to become principal at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska. In summer 2022, he returned to Brophy to work with Ryan as vice principal during the 2022-23 school year, making the handoff of roles a seamless process.
Ryan is a graduate of Notre Dame University and holds a master’s in education from Arizona State University, as well as a master’s in Catholic School Leadership from the University of San Francisco.
Arizona Interscholastic Association executive director David Hines joined Sister Lynn Winsor on stage to help honor her July 1 in Seattle (photo by Seth Polansky/azreps365).
Athletic director inducted into Hall of Fame
Sister Lynn Winsor, BVM, of Xavier College Preparatory was inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Hall of Fame on July 1 at the NFHS annual meeting in Seattle.
The school said that Winsor, who is a member of Xavier’s Class of 1961, has been an innovative coach and administrator since she returned to Xavier to teach in 1974.
Her national hall of fame credentials as Xavier’s golf coach include most dual victories by a girls’ golf team (507); 37 AIA state team golf championships; since 1996, her teams have not lost a regular season match — 285 and counting; from 1996-2014, Xavier won 204 consecutive matches and won 16 consecutive titles, which is tied for the national record; Xavier finished first or second at state for 44 consecutive years; she’s coached some of the state’s all-time greats, including Heather and Missy Farr, Hannah O’Sullivan, Cheyenne Woods, Grace Park, Kimberley Kim, Amanda Blumenherst, and Sarah Schmelzel — all have gone on to compete in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LGPA).
As a founding member of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Girls Equity and Sports Committee, she was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the AIA to provide more sports for girls — soccer, beach volleyball, and flag football. Sister Lynn continues to be unrelenting in advocating for female athletes and administrators to receive more support. She also co-founded and is a charter member of the Arizona Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. She began coaching in 1972 when Title IX became law, and was even featured on the CBS Evening News for her work advocating for equity in sports.
The school added that, in her 47th year as Xavier’s vice principal for Activities/Athletic director, Sister Lynn is the longest serving high school athletic director in the state. She is always quick to credit her fantastic golf teams, her encouraging golf parents, Xavier’s administration, her assistant coaches, especially Tui Selvaratnam — her assistant coach of 17 years and current associate athletic director — for her success.
Brophy offers orientations for new students, parents
The members of Brophy College Preparatory’s incoming freshman class will attend Freshman Orientation on Monday, Aug. 7, beginning at 7:45 a.m.
The new students will be greeted by their Big Brothers who, along with their advisors, will walk them through various aspects of campus life, acclimating them to the Brophy environment. They will end with a personal tour of their class schedule and be dismissed by noon.
The new students will receive their Macbooks and Brophy ties as part of their orientation.
Brophy also will offer orientation for parents of new students (Class of 2027 and transfer students) that evening that will include presentations from administrators who will provide valuable and practical information related to each area of the school.
The event, set for Monday, Aug. 7, from 6-8 p.m., will give freshman parents an opportunity to meet their student’s freshman advisor. The evening will conclude with a social hour to meet and mingle with other freshman parents.
