The year was 1989, and what started as a competitive floor hockey game during Olympic Week at Prep turned into a memorable event that left a lasting impact on the school’s culture. In an exclusive interview, Mr. Meza, currently a biology teacher at Prep, reflected on the incident from the perspective of a wide-eyed freshman who witnessed the unexpected turn of events.
Meza takes us back to the day, describing how he, a freshman biology student at the time, went to the gym with the rest of his class to witness the Seniors vs. Faculty floor hockey match. He vividly remembers the wooden bleachers, now replaced with the familiar blue plastic ones, where he sat, feeling like “a little fish following the little school of fish who has no idea what he’s walking into.”
As the game unfolded, the atmosphere was initially festive and fun, with rowdy senior boys facing off against the most athletic coaches and young teachers.
Meza recalls a shift in intensity, noting, “The faces on the seniors, I started to pick up that this game meant more to them than it ever would to me.”
The physicality of the game escalated, with both teachers and students applying more pressure than necessary. Meza, still a freshman navigating the unknown, witnessed a teacher lowering his hip and hip-checking a senior boy, leading to a moment. A pile-up of students and faculty including the head soccer coach and the captain of the football team. Meza couldn’t believe what he just saw.
The unexpected brawl prompted Meza’s biology teacher to swiftly guide the shocked class out of the gym. Meza admits that after this happened, the students reflected on what they had just seen and there was not much more taught during that biology class.
Meza said he is certain that there weren’t underlying issues or challenges between the students and faculty in this specific game that contributed to the brawl. He says that what he saw was a spur of the moment surge of high testosterone mixed with a need to win.
Meza said that being a freshman, he wasn’t certain about any disciplinary actions that happened with the specific students or teachers involved but what he is certain about is the change in culture of Olympic Week. Floor Hockey was never played again but that is not the only change that was made.
Since 1989, Olympic Week has even further evolved into a celebration of unity and support. Meza, who returned to teach after seven years away, noticed a significant shift in the spirit of community and culture. He believes that valuable lessons were learned from the 1989 incident, leading to positive changes.
When asked about personal growth from this experience, Meza, now a participant in the faculty basketball team during Olympic Week, acknowledged that the nature of the sport can be quite physical. He recalls instances where students use extra pressure, and the memories of the floor hockey incident serve as a reminder of the potential for learning and growth.
While Olympic Week remains physical and competitive, Meza proudly asserts that, as a teacher, he is “100% sure that something like this would not happen now” adding “We’re just so much better now at building community.”
