Picture a 7th grader sitting across a conference table from the Town Manager, the Chief of Police, and the Superintendent of Public Works. He has his facts in order. He has a case to make. And he got himself into that room by recovering from a mistake with more grace than most adults could manage.
That would be Bobby of the Class of '31, and what happened in that Town Hall meeting is one of the clearest examples of cura personalis you'll find outside a BC High classroom.
Mr. Gartside's 7th grade civics class asks students to pick a real issue in their community and advocate for it. Students research the problem, identify the decision-makers, and make contact. The project is a great example of experiential learning in its most direct form: civic life as a subject you practice in the real world.
Bobby chose to research and advocate for pedestrian safety in his town. Inspired by a crossing that he cared about, he spotted a problem he thought he could help solve. Bobby wrote to the Town Manager and waited for a response.
The Town Manager responded to Bobby’s email, but he missed it coming into his inbox. For a lot of students, that would probably be where the project ended (and for a lot of adults, the moment would have passed too.)
Julie, Bobby’s mother, reached out because she wanted Mr. Gartside know that Bobby didn’t have the expected response. He reached back out anyway, apologized, explained what had happened, and asked if they would be willing to meet again.
Jesuit formation at BC High is about what a student does after he falls short. Bobby's instinct was to take responsibility and keep going, an instinct that the Arrupe Division spends two years building.
When the meeting was scheduled, Julie thought she would need to help Bobby get ready. She didn't. "I thought I needed to help him prepare," she wrote, "but he was ready with his facts and why it mattered."
Bobby walked into Town Hall, confident and fully prepared to make his case. He sat across from three public officials and spoke with passion about pedestrian safety.
The safest long-term solution for the crossing Bobby had in mind would be a pedestrian overpass that would cost approximately $5 million. As the officials noted, even Bill Belichick hadn't been able to get the state to fund one.
But the conversation didn't end there. Instead of closing the door, the Town Manager, the Chief of Police, and the Superintendent of Public Works helped Bobby think through another path forward. They took his concern seriously and worked through the problem with him.
Julie shared what Bobby took away from the experience: "He left understanding that making change isn't always about getting an immediate 'yes.' Sometimes it's about asking good questions, building relationships, and finding the next step."
This experience exemplifies the BC High emphasis on learning outside the classroom. Bobby came away seeing that change takes time, relationships matter, and a “no” is actually often the beginning of a longer conversation.
Those were Bobby's first words walking out of Town Hall. He was empowered that they had taken his ideas seriously and made him feel like he belonged at a table.
This is what happens when adults treat a young person as someone worth hearing. And it's also what cura personalis looks like from the other direction: a student learning that his voice matters enough to use carefully and well.
"That experience," Julie wrote, "is something he will carry with him."
“Citizenship isn’t something we learn only from books,” wrote Julie. “It’s something we practice.”
At BC High, we talk often about forming young men who lead with competence, conscience, and compassion. Bobby's afternoon in Town Hall is what those words look like in practice: a student who recovered from a mistake, prepared on his own, engaged respectfully with public servants, and came out of a "no" with a clearer sense of how change actually works.
Of everything Bobby experienced in his first year at BC High, Julie called this the greatest gift to their family.
That's the goal of a Jesuit education: to put a student into the world equipped to navigate what he finds there. To form the kind of young man described in BC High's Graduate at Graduation: open to growth, committed to doing justice, and ready to build relationships with people he might not have expected to like.
Bobby '31 likes those guys, and they listened to him. That's a pretty great start.
Interested in what a BC High education looks like for your son? Learn more about the Arrupe Division or reach out to our enrollment team.