Brophy College Preparatory Students Use Gratitude-Based Learning to Lead Sustainability Initiatives

BY ISN STAFF | September 1, 2023

Brophy College Preparatory Students Use Gratitude-Based Learning to Lead Sustainability Initiatives

Brophy Alum and San Carlos Apache Tribe Youth Coordiantor Alec Ferreira ’17 leads SCC members in a trash cleanup day on the reservation.

Over the past three years, students at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, Arizona have made huge strides toward sustainability in the areas of emissions, waste, water, and advocacy. They have installed solar panels on campus, reduced waste misplacement in the cafeteria, audited irrigation systems, and hosted advocacy events to protect sacred Native land from development. Brophy students have been recognized nationally for their efforts, winning Catholic Climate Covenant’s 2023 U.S. Laudato Si’ Champions Award in the school category.

As the crisis of climate change becomes more pressing, many Jesuit and other Catholic schools find themselves in conversations about ecological justice—conversations that may all too often begin from a stance of fear, anxiety, and guilt. Meanwhile, Brophy students are taking a novel approach to sustainability initiatives on their campus: they are beginning from a standpoint of gratitude.

“Whenever we look at a problem, we are not going to start with what’s wrong; we’re going to start with what we’re grateful for. And just having that mindset shifts the conversations,” says Cooper Davis, fine arts teacher and sustainability coordinator at Brophy, who is also a 2010 alumnus of the school. “I’ve never wanted to take a fear-mongering approach to any of this work. We live in a hope-filled world; that’s what our faith teaches us.”

“Even in times of friction during a meeting, or when something isn’t happening as we would like it to, this is where our gratitude-based learning comes through,” said Rayan Naraqi Farhoumand, who is a member of the Brophy class of 2025. “We go into a conversation ready to have a dialogue instead of a debate. We don’t have an expected outcome; instead, we have a conversation, and we find a compromise that works for both parties. It’s just beneficial to our goal overall.”

“Whenever we look at a problem, we are not going to start with what‘s wrong; we’re going to start with what we’re grateful for. And just having that mindset shifts the conversations.”

Cooper Davis, Sustainability Coordinator, Brophy College Preparatory

Gratitude-Based Learning (GBL) is an approach to change that centers on being grateful for what is going right and improving on that instead of focusing on problems and deficits. This starting point of gratitude is especially relevant to a Jesuit school grounded in the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, for whom gratitude was the natural response to all gifts bestowed by God.

The school’s Ecological Justice Plan, which was drafted by students and shares both the philosophical grounding of their approach and the story and data behind all of the projects they have undertaken, states: “Gratitude-Based Learning reminds us what we’re thankful for. It helps us understand the problems around us by recognizing what we have already done. This allows us to identify areas where work needs to be done and allows us to make a plan for the future.”

Jesus Ruiz Suarez, a member of the Brophy class of 2023, added, “It’s also great to start off thanking people because that’s something that a lot of people don’t tend to do. And when you do it, people feel a sense of joy because you are actually appreciating the work that they are doing for you.”

“We haven’t always done it perfectly; sometimes we do end up getting frustrated in our relationships,” Davis admitted. “We’ve had a couple of meetings where students go in and lead with frustration and angst. When that happens, just watching the other person shut down, and watching that conversation go a totally different direction than we want it to, is still a good learning process. On the other hand, when we go in with gratitude, pointing out the good things and thanking them for that, the conversations just go so much better for everybody, even with the people and systems that we’re having the most tension with. And it doesn’t mean that we always get what we want or that everyone’s always on our side. But it does mean that those conversations are a lot more productive.”

Gratitude-Based Learning: A Catalyst for Ecological Change

On May 10, 2023, Brophy students presented for the webinar “Gratitude as a Catalyst for Ecological Change on High School Campuses,” sharing their learnings about Gratitude-Based Learning as a catalyst for ecological action for the Ignatian Solidarity Network.

The framework of Gratitude-Based Learning originated with Adam Fishman, a 2010 Brophy alum, of Onora Global, who graduated with Cooper Davis. After graduation, the two remained in contact along with a few other classmates. While Fishman was working in corporate strategic advising, he started to become more aware of the gravity of the climate crisis and found himself asking, “Why am I doing what I am doing?”

As Fishman experienced the existential weight of climate change, he engaged in ongoing conversation with a community of high school friends to process this reality together. In a pivotal moment, one friend asked Fishman, “What would happen if you led with love instead of fear?” These connections and dialogues ultimately led to the development of Gratitude-Based Learning, or “Leading with Love.”

“What would happen if you led with love instead of fear?”

Now, Onora Global, the learning & development lab that Fishman co-founded, hosts programs and fellowships for students from across the U.S., including many of the student leaders at Brophy, to empower them to develop projects that will start the ripple effects of change in their communities through improving relationships & connection with Gratitude-Based Learning.

“Brophy’s the very first school to say, ‘We’re going to try Gratitude-Based Learning, put it into practice.’ This group is all co-founding Gratitude-Based Learning. They’re all co-founders of this,” said Fishman. “Before they even implemented solar panels, before they even implemented any of the composting…they had a conversation leading with thank yous. Approaching a conversation from a different lens.”

ISN’s director of integral ecology Brenna Davis praised the Gratitude-Based Learning model for its connection to the calls of Jesuit education and the broader Church: “What really resonates with Ignatian education and the call of Pope Francis is that it is a culture of encounter. So it’s really relationship-building first, versus this extractive mentality that we can have even in ecological spaces, where we might unintentionally have the mindset, ‘I’m going to extract the outcome that I want out of this meeting or out of this situation.’ Starting with relationships and gratitude instead is such a beautiful shift to invite others into.”

Ripple Effects: Brophy College Preparatory’s Sustainability Progress

The push for sustainability initiatives at Brophy started in earnest in 2019, when the Universal Apostolic Preferences were published by the Jesuits. These four lenses will guide the work of the Jesuits for the decade of 2019-2029 include journeying with youth towards a hope-filled future and care for our common home.

“The principal of the school kind of threw his hands up and said, ‘I think we’re really hitting the nail on the head when it comes to the other three: walking with the excluded, showing the way to God, and journeying with the youth,” said Davis. “But on caring for our common home, he didn’t really have any direction, and he was good enough to say, ‘Any faculty member that has energy for this, please, please step up,’ and I had the opportunity to do so.”

The Universal Apostolic Preferences

Davis also cites a meeting with Jennie Kuenz of Jesuit High School Portland as transformational for Brophy’s approach to sustainability, underlining the power of networking for creating change in Jesuit schools. Kuenz had shared a Google Drive folder with a decade’s worth of materials and resources. “We made ten years of progress over a one hour Zoom,” said Davis.

In spite of great guidance and resources, Davis found that his initial approach, which consisted only of “adults talking to adults,” was making little to no progress on campus. He shared his frustrations with a group of motivated students in his AP Studio Art class, and they recognized the need to center students in on-campus sustainability advocacy efforts.

Under Davis’ direction, students formed the Student Climate Coalition, a student-led organization that shifted the approach away from frustration and angst about institutional shortcomings towards a holistic, collaborative movement led by youth and focused on the positive educational and sustainability gains that could result from student-inspired initiatives.

Mission:

With Christ as our model, use education to inspire and implement solutions on our campus that address the environmental crisis facing our common home. We envision a Brophy community that prays, acts, and learns together to live in communion with our planet.

Vision:

A Brophy campus that uses science driven solutions to 1. offset all direct carbon emissions 2. produce zero waste 3. conserve water to ensure a 100 year supply 4. Prepare the leaders of tomorrow to tackle the global environmental crisis.

BROPHY COLLEGE PREPARATORY STUDENT CLIMATE COALITION

During the 2022-2023 academic year, sustainability efforts were further formalized into an Ecological Justice Leadership class that meets during the school day. Affording student leaders dedicated time, space, resources, and support has allowed them to significantly increase their rate of progress toward advancing sustainability priorities. Grounded in Church documents such as Laudato Si’, the class is organized into four core teams, each with their own priority: waste, advocacy, water, and emissions. They are not only leading the change at the school but also educating their peers about sustainability.

“In this class, we spend most of our time putting together business proposals and crunching data or doing the work like sorting trash,” explained Davis. “We are not afraid to roll our sleeves up, and it just takes a lot of work. And that’s why the class has been so effective.”

“We put students into a situation where they don’t feel paralyzed; they are actors in legitimate changes that can occur throughout their time at high school.
Then, they can see the impacts of their actions on their peers, the faculty, and the campus itself, and then from there begin to understand how that can have positive ripple effects on the world.”

Cooper Davis, Sustainability Coordinator, Brophy College Preparatory

The most significant gain of the Student Climate Coalition and Ecological Justice Leadership class, Davis says, is creating a space for students to develop and implement projects to make the school more sustainable, while also educating the entire student body on what it looks like to live in a more sustainable community. “We put students into a situation where they don’t feel paralyzed; they are actors in legitimate changes that can occur throughout their time at high school. Then, they can see the impacts of their actions on their peers, the faculty, and the campus itself, and then from there begin to understand how that can have positive ripple effects on the world,” he shared. “Gratitude-based learning, student-led initiatives, and good data have really been our keys to success.”

“Gratitude-based learning, student-led initiatives, and good data have really been our keys to success.”

Students have demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities along the way and have made significant progress towards sustainability goals. By the end of the first year of the Student Climate Coalition’s existence, students had proposed the installation of a solar panel system for the roofs and parking areas. After students presented to the board of trustees about both the financial benefit and the moral obligation of solar energy, the board approved the plan for the solar panels at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year, and they were fully operational as of October 2022. So far, this measure has led to a massive decrease in emissions as the solar panels produced 661,000 kWh of energy, offsetting 243 tons of carbon emissions—the equivalent of planting 1,214 trees—and reducing Brophy’s direct campus emissions by about 45%. The solar panels will have an expected $20,000 annual savings in energy costs for the school, and students have lobbied school administration to use those funds for scholarships.

Brophy Alum and SCC founder Biplove Baral ’21 cuts the ribbon to celebrate the completion of Brophy’s 2.1 megawatt solar array.

Students are now advocating for the installation of 30 electric vehicle charging stations to encourage the use of electric cars as they become more available. This is especially responsive to the local needs of the Phoenix metro area, where students may drive tens of miles to school each day.

The student leaders also find ways to keep the conversations about emissions educational and lighthearted. “We even began to measure emissions in the weight of great white sharks, which is pretty fun,” Naraqi Farhoumand added.

Brophy College Preparatory Students Use Gratitude-Based Learning to Lead Sustainability Initiatives

Members of the Ecologial Justice Leadership class pose with Brophy’s new tristream waste collection bins.

Ripple Effects: Brophy College Preparatory’s Sustainability Progress

Once the student advocates had made progress in the area of emissions, they turned their focus to reducing waste at Brophy. Waste audits revealed that 46% of waste on campus was being misplaced during the 2021-2022 academic year. The high misplacement rate meant that even recyclables that were going to recycling plants would be sent back to the landfill. In response, students implemented a new waste stream system in the cafeteria, switching from a simple trash and recycling bin system to a three-compartment receptacle that has compost, landfill, and recycling for aluminum cans.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, nearly everything in the cafeteria was compostable or recyclable. “When students get their food, they have their drink in their right hand and everything else in their left hand. So it’s simply throwing their compostable waste into the composting bin and then a drink into the recycling. That has largely reduced our trash displacement,” explained Dalton Shapiro, Brophy College Preparatory ‘23. “We’ve gotten students engaged, and we’ve noticed that when students are throwing away their trash, they stop for that extra second to decide what trash goes where.”

The results have been clear through the biweekly waste audits. Throughout the 2022-2023 academic year Brophy has seen:

16%

less trash misplacement

21,000

pounds of
compostable waste
diverted

50%

reduction in methane
compared to if the waste
had ended up in a landfill

The ultimate goal is to achieve a 10% trash misplacement threshold, which will be possible once the shift to fully compostable and recyclable cafeteria implements has been completed.

Education and communication have also been key parts of the student advocates’ push for more effective waste management. “We’ve been having a lot of conversations with our faculty and facilities, and we’ve had some really fruitful relationships come out of that where students, the head of facilities, and even the lunch ladies are communicating on a more personal level, which has been awesome for quick fixes and meetings,” said Naraqi Farhoumand. “It’s been a way of bridging gaps by connecting and empowering students to take the initiative to communicate and cooperate with people they normally might not work with.”

They also host town halls with the student body to increase involvement and engage the student body in fun, interactive ways, such as a relay race to sort waste. Ruiz Suarez emphasized that the impact of such events go far beyond short-term outcomes: “So now you’re teaching someone else how to properly dispose of their waste, and because of that, they’re going to be teaching other people, and then it’s going to lead on to this whole thing where you can then divert landfill waste into composting, which would then help to grow crops and fertilize different things all naturally without having to use pesticides.” This dynamic, he said, reflects the ripple effect approach that Brophy students learned from Onora and Gratitude-Based Learning: “That’s what ripple effects are: it’s thinking beyond just the superficial and the short-term outcomes. It’s thinking about the outcomes that are going to happen later.”

Student advocates’ water-focused initiatives are especially pressing given that Phoenix is in a desert and consistently faces limited water. The water team’s main initiative of the 2022-2023 academic year was improving water efficiency. They conducted audits on Brophy’s irrigation system and the sprinkler systems, working both with a water specialist for the City of Phoenix and Horizon Online, and then proposed a more modern, Wi-Fi-based controller system. Initially the students’ plan was different, but they changed and improved it by having curiosity conversations with the facilities staff in charge of the irrigation systems, a reminder that conversations with people directly in charge of the work is a necessary step in the change process. In light of this, the students determined that their next step will be gathering data on water usage for irrigation to then pitch areas on campus to be switched out with xeriscape, which is implementing native plants that require less water.

“That‘s what ripple effects are: it’s thinking beyond just the superficial and the short-term outcomes. It’s thinking about the outcomes that are going to happen later.”

Jesus Ruiz Suarez, Brophy College Preparatory ’23

Ma-Shu-Ska Pidgeon ’24 (right), member of BNAC and SCC, leads his fellow indigenous peers during the Oak Flat Sacred March and Run.

Integral Ecology and Advocacy: The Fight for Oak Flat

During the 2022-2023 academic year, the advocacy team in partnership with Brophy Native American Club has also been busy with the fight to protect Oak Flat, which is a sacred site near Phoenix, Arizona for the San Carlos Apache.

Oak Flat was transferred by the U.S. government to a private company from Australia because there is a massive copper deposit underneath it. “There was no tribal consultation whatsoever,” said Sergio Arvizu, Brophy College Preparatory ‘23. “It was done in the middle of the night as a night rider bill. And we’ve been fighting for that for the past four years.”

Brophy College Preparatory students attended the 2022 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, using the advocacy day to speak to Arizona Senator Mark Kelly about the fight for Oak Flat.

“Two weeks later, I was back in Washington, D.C. with the Brophy Native American Club,” continued Arvizu. “We met with over 30 senators from all across the United States…We met up with people from Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., and we really put our voices out there. People remembered us. We’re still getting emails. We’re still getting letters and asked to contribute to a lot of their advocacy from the senator’s point of view.”

Members of the Ecological Justice Leadership Class pose for a photo on the floor of the Arizona House Chamber during the 2022 climate advocacy day.

Brophy’s Native American Club also held their third annual Sacred Prayer run, which was around 50 miles from the San Carlos Reservation to Oak Flat. In previous years, students had undertaken a 200-mile run sponsored by the outdoor brand Patagonia that had garnered international attention. They run with a staff with eagle feathers to represent the previous runs.

Members of the Brophy Native American Club run along the highway as part of the 2021 Oak Flat Sacred Run.

“That was a really powerful experience…That’s where I found out what I was fighting for,” said Arvizu. “Standing there on the side of the highway, and just being surrounded by nature and looking at the mountaintops, and just feeling the presence of nature was really overwhelming, almost. And it just really pushed that fight inside of me.”

He went on to describe other advocacy efforts, which included action alerts and pushes via email “We’re making noise. It’s all really good noise, and…with the help of everyone in the network, it can really get that across.” Students are now trying to advocate directly to the White House. “As crazy as it sounds, I think it’s realistic with all the work we’ve been putting in and the stir we’ve been causing within the media. It’s going to be a long push, but I know we can get there.” said Arvizu.

Formed as Sustainability Leaders:
A Lasting Impact

Being part of ecological advocacy at Brophy has impacted students both for now and for the future. Students feel confident that they can lead and implement projects that will have a lasting impact.

For some students, this class experience has helped them to develop career interests. Naraqi Farhoumand said, “This class has set my trajectory on what I want to do career-wise: international development on a sustainable level and a minor in agriculture. And on a personal level, I’m hoping to make a hobby out of gardening. Changing my backyard and doing my own composting seems like a great experience to go through.” He cites the class as transformative on a personal level, too: “It’s tapped into feelings and thought processes that get lost in our tech world and our societies where we’re not actually having these conversations. That’s the biggest thing that’s happened for me: just wanting to get more involved and having these conversations.”

Dalton Shapiro, a member of the Brophy class of 2023, who co-created the class curriculum with Onora Global, cited public speaking as a key area of growth and said that he will integrate the learnings from his time as an environmental advocate at Brophy in his future career: “I want to develop real estate but make it regenerative—beneficial for the environment. This class has really helped me with gauging the problem itself and ways that I can get involved outside of it.”

Will Carter, a member of the Brophy class of 2024 and of the emissions team, said that he, too, was inspired to dedicate his life to environmentalism. “I’ve always wanted to make a change, but [I] didn’t really know how with my life,” he said. He also emphasized that becoming an environmental advocate at Brophy has helped him grow professional skills such as research and communication with adults that will benefit him for the rest of his life.

“We really want to connect with more Jesuit schools and share what we’re doing so that other young people can get involved in this, drive meaningful conversations, and take action to positively impact the world that we’re going to be inheriting.”

Rayan Naraqi Farhoumand, Brophy College Preparatory ’25

Naraqi Farhoumand emphasized that the work is meant to extend beyond just Brophy: “We really want to connect with more Jesuit schools and share what we’re doing so that other young people can get involved in this, drive meaningful conversations, and take action to positively impact the world that we’re going to be inheriting.”

For students like Sergio Arvizu who have been part of sustainability advocacy efforts throughout their high school careers, it has been gratifying to see the school make great strides. “It’s been a long four years, but it’s been really rewarding,” he said. “If you put in the work, you’re going to get there eventually.”