By John Wichterman ’23
THE ROUNDUP
The Brophy Olympics began with its first event on Oct. 28 and students, as well as faculty, already have high hopes and expectations for the year long competition.
Thus far, the Brophy Olympics has hosted multiple events, including the rock paper scissors tournament, counting the Skittles, and the filling of food boxes for the 2020 Turkey drive.
“I think we have grown into a wonderful but large campus, we are right around 1400 kids and with split lunches and with students at home, there is a chance that you may just not see people that you want to see on any given day,” said Mr. Pete Burr ’07, who is a Student Council Moderator and the Director of Student Activities.
“Our goal is to find some fun and creative ways to shrink this place a little bit so if you have eight teams with roughly 140 students on each team, it’s some new connection points to peers that you maybe would never see on campus.”
Mr. Burr explained that a way to ensure student participation is through having a meaningful incentive, which in this case, is having an entire day off from school next semester.
“I think that the Brophy Olympics offers a new way for students to contribute to the environment that we have here,” said Patrick Oldani ’23, a member of Brophy’s Student Council.
“This offers a new way to gain back connections that we once had with our friends and teachers before the COVID pandemic,” Oldani said.
Ms. Monica Casteñeda, who is a new freshmen advisor this year, is excited to begin her advising career with the Brophy Olympics.
“I think it’s a neat way to get the kids, especially the kids who aren’t involved in competitions and athletics, to have that sense of a team and being competitive,” Ms. Casteñeda said.
Ms. Casteñeda’s main goal is to encourage kids who wouldn’t normally be involved in a competitive setting to have a chance to compete and have fun. Another priority that is set high on her list is that she wants her team, Team Xavier, to win the entire thing.
“If we can get the food drive, then I feel like we have the momentum. I think it would be a really neat way to start my advising career.”
Although so far the Brophy Olympics has had smooth sailing, there are some challenges that come with the competition.
“The biggest challenge we have now is being able to come up with events that we think are meaningful enough to at least some kids and then at the same time dream of big events,” said Mr. Tony Oldani, who is also a Student Council Moderator.
“We have some big ideas, but then it’s like, ‘How do you pull off the big ideas?’”
As of now, the Brophy Olympics has had great success with the events, as well as student participation.
Cole Miller ’23, a sophomore on Student Council, was pleased with how the events have gone so far and hopes that they continue to improve as the year progresses.
“I hope that the future events we continue to hold will have just as much or even more student participation,” Miller said.
Mr. Burr explained that future events could always change if necessary or if a better idea comes up.
“Everything we do is to hopefully make sure Brophy is as fun as possible for the students, so I hope they come find me if they have thoughts, feelings, or ideas, and I would love to talk through it,” added Mr. Burr.
