Brophy students place at math contest
Brophy College Preparatory students Ming Yang, Shaan Keole and Doer He qualified to participate in the High School National Championship Math Contest. They competed on May 20, which was also Brophy’s graduation for the Class of 2023 — giving Quinn Dorward, class of 2023 a chance to drop by and wish them luck. Dorward was the senior class recipient of the Math Award and in the words of faculty member Patty Mazier, a “fellow math wizard.”
Keole went on to win second place in the 11th-grade division and Yang won third place in the 10th-grade division.
Brophy fields a competitive Math Team each year, with the school’s “mathletes” perennial top performers.
Xavier gains at AIA, student wins award
Peyton Bryant and Holland Carey were recognized at the May AIA Annual Champions Gala event (photo by Tui Selvaratnum).
The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) held its Annual Champions Gala, emceed by CBS’s Nick King, at the Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch May 21.
Winner of the AIA Female Student of the Year Award was Peyton Bryant, who graduated from Xavier College Preparatory in May. Bryant received $5,000 in scholarship funds from Albertsons Safeway.
Bryant, who will attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall, was Xavier’s robotics team captain, an orchestra concertmaster, four-star thespian, and a lacrosse player. She was also the vice president of the National English Honor Society at Xavier. Bryant’s nonprofit, Bang For Your Book, donated more than 56,000 books to Title 1 schools.
“For girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), we need to have a focal point and show that if you have conviction in who you are as a person, you can truly make any change in this world,” said Bryant.
In addition, Xavier College Preparatory won the Glen Treadaway Sportsmanship Award for the 6A Region. The School Spirit Video for a big school went to Xavier. Holland Carey, Class of 2023, accepted the award, which includes $500 for Xavier’s program.
Finally, the Skip Bryant Media Award went to the late Don Ketchum. He was a well-known sportswriter and wrote Xavier’s Blog for the last 12 years. His wife, Carol, accepted the award.
Immersion trips are transformative experiences
In Jesuit education, even with the end of the school year, education continues. Some of Brophy College Preparatory’s longest, most challenging, and possibly, most transformational immersion trips happen during the summer. Currently, Brophy students are in Peru and El Salvador; a group has just returned from Appalachia, another group is wrapping up a trip to Montana and the Flathead Indian Reservation and, regionally, students have also recently returned from the Navajo reservation.
The Peru immersion is Brophy’s longest, with students spending almost four weeks in Lima, Arequipa, Cusco and the countryside. Follow the blog at https://sites.brophyprep.org/peru.
The El Salvador immersion takes students to the home of St. Óscar Romero who was assassinated in 1980 because of his outspoken opposition to social injustice and the violence on both sides of the civil war that was wracking his country. Follow them via their blog: https://sites.brophyprep.org/elsalvador/2023.
Students presented their research and cited their sources in this year’s 48-page Science Journal of Brophy (photo courtesy of Brophy College Preparatory).
Students publish sixth edition of science journal
Thanks to the many dedicated and talented students at Brophy College Preparatory who are interested in writing, publishing and other journalism-related endeavors, the school has several award-winning student publications, including The Roundup, Brophy Literary and Arts Magazine (BLAM) and The Wrangler.
In 2018, a group of student scientists and researchers organized to create the Science Journal of Brophy, based on professional scientific publications. This spring, the sixth edition of the SJB was published under the direction of moderator and science teacher, Mike Welty, Brophy Class of ‘83.
A few of this year’s articles in the 48-page magazine include “What Are the Factors and Comorbidities That Affect Children and Adolescents to Develop Severe Kidney Disease,” “Plasticon: An Analysis of Microplastics as Fine Aggregate Replacement in Traditional Concrete,” “Neural Networks and Self-Driving Cars,” “Making Ourselves More Scientifically Literate” and others. The student authors present their research and cite their sources in the 48-page magazine, offering a similar reading experience to professional journals.
This year’s staff includes editor-in-chief Amar Toric, head layout editor Bobby Munhall, director of events Cooper Pitts and online editor William Johnson. Article contributors include Shawn Biltis, Nico Cevallos, Nathaniel Chavez, Vir Dolasa-Sahani, Doer He, Hudson Iannacone, Johnson, Bremer Kaprosy, Shaan Keole, Carson Lauer, Cort Ostendorf, Pitts, Owen Reed, Sami Shammas, Brennan Wiscombe and Nico Wood.
