The Roundup
October 2016 |
Page 5
»Student Profile
Junior Cibulka continues cancer fight, offers new life view By Chris Agnone ’18
“If you can remain positive and think about the best thing that can happen, then you will open the door for a positive outcome. -Sammy Cibulka ’18
THE ROUNDUP Sammy Cibulka ’18 has been having a life changing experience fighting a battle against cancer for the last seven months. Cibulka was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma right after his Argentine exchange student left his house in February last winter. He had surgery on his right shoulder in April to remove a malignant tumor. He has also been undergoing radiation treatments and consistent chemotherapy. Cibulka said his current scans are a blessing, coming back negative. Cibulka will still have chemotherapy for about another six to seven months to make sure it does not return. Principal Mr. Bob Ryan said cancer is an awful thing to deal with and it affects not only the patient, but every family member and friend along with the community. In Cibulka’s case that includes teammates as he played on the junior varsity basketball team last year. The cancer not only interferes with his athletic life, but also with his school. The consistent chemotherapy and sicknesses that come with it make it impossible for Cibulka to attend classes on a regular schedule.
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Photo courtesy of the Cibulka Family Sammy Cibulka ’18 sits with friends. He is currently battling a rare form of cancer.
Brophy administrators created a system to help by giving Cibulka a plan to stay involved in the community as well as graduate after his treatment. “Sammy is welcome to go to Student Council and class whenever he feels well enough,” Mr. Ryan said. “He is still a full member of the Brophy community.”
Cibulka said he is grateful for all the support he is getting from everyone in the community. He also said he has a new found gratitude for the life he has and how things can change very quickly for anyone. “I was living life like a normal teenager,” Cibulka said. “My family and I were actually in
my favorite place, Del Mar, Calif., when we got the call that I had cancer. It rocked me and my family. It was kind of ironic that we got called about something so grave in my favorite place.” Cibulka said he feels blessed about his cancer situation and that it could be much worse. “There are very young kids in the hospital with leukemia with three years of treatment,” he said. “I have one year and for that I am very thankful. I also see kids who are 15 years old and in a very similar situation as me; I wonder what is going through their minds, what are they thinking about.” Cibulka seems to have discovered an important life lesson through his experience. “It is all about positive thinking,” he said. “If you can remain positive and think about the best thing that can happen, then you will open the door for a positive outcome. I wake up each day and tell myself, I will have a good day today. That is what it is all about.”
»Educational Technology
myBrophy implemented without major issues, offers more information At a Glance myBrophy Transition » Allows students to access new information such as campus news, sports schedules » Happened due to Blackbaud’s decision to switch to new program, leaving NetClassroom with little focus » Mr. Cook: myBrophy committed to updates, Brophy already submitting suggestions
By Kaleb Lucero ’18
THE ROUNDUP The switch from NetClassroom to myBrophy has gone “pretty good so far,” according to Educational Technology Administrator Mr. Blair Cook. myBrophy is now the school’s “Student Information System,” where students and parents can access grades and daily schedules, as well as new items such as campus news and sports schedules. “Things have gone how I hoped,” Mr. Cook said, who spent the summer transferring data from NetClassroom to myBrophy. “This is a massive project, so there’s going to be snafus here and there, but we haven’t had any major issues so far.” The reason for the switch was that “the system we had been using before hadn’t been updated in a long time, and wouldn’t be updated any time in the future,” he said. This is because Blackbaud, the company behind NetClassroom, had acquired WhippleHill Communications, Inc., and decided to make their program (myschoolapp) the focus of their efforts, according to Mr. Cook. This means that there would be little to no support for the NetClassroom program from here on out.
“Everyone using what we were using is going to move to the new platform,” Mr. Cook said. As for other reasons to change, according to the Brophy website, “myBrophy features much more robust capabilities than NetClassroom.” According to both the Brophy website and Mr. Cook, myBrophy is also supposed to be more responsive and better supported on the devices you may be viewing it on, which includes iPads and smartphones. As for what visibility changes between two systems, Mr. Cook said “there’s a lot greater access to information” for students, parents, teachers and administration. This is due to the fact that myBrophy connects directly with the Brophy website. “It’s like a two-sided coin,” Mr. Cook said. “myBrophy is the back end and the website is the public side. The way it’s working is that if you’re a member of the community, information will be tailored for you, whereas the website is becoming more public, generic information on Brophy, not tailored.” For example, Mr. Cook said if a student was on the football team, he would log into his account and easily be
Photo Illustration by Bryce Owen ’17 myBrophy offers several new features that NetClassroom did not.
able to find schedules, scores and other information that would come from the Brophy website itself. As for the future of the program, there will not be an app coming, but there are many changes to come, as, according to Mr. Cook, the company has an aggressive stance toward updating the application, and Brophy is actively submitting suggestions to them. As of right now, Mr. Cook said he hasn’t heard much complaints from students, and said that he has received positive feedback from teachers. Alvaro Marcelino ’17 said that so far it hasn’t caused too many problems for him, and said that for the most part it had been a neutral experience.
“The system we had been using before hadn’t been updated in a long time, and wouldn’t be updated any time in the future. -Mr. Blair Cook
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“It’s new and I’m still getting used to it, but I like it,” he said. However, Ian Lobo ’18 said that while he was at first excited for the change, he now believes that the new system is too complicated. Lobo said that he didn’t like the
aesthetics of NetClassroom, and thought that myBrophy might be more appealing. “The positive aspect of myBrophy is that it’s organized with the ability to view your classes and assignments in one section and has another place to see what’s going on in the Brophy calendar,” he said. The negative aspects, he said, is that it is too complicated, and said that it took too much time to view grades, with so many buttons that it seems cluttered. “Right now the only flaw that it has is that it is too complex,” Lobo said. “Most kids at Brophy just want to view their grades and that’s it.”