Steven Meckna is a Pace teacher at Polytechnic High School. He is also the varsity coach for Poly’s badminton team.
Meckna said, “I’ve been teaching since 1989.” This means Meckna has been teaching for 32 years. Meckna wasn’t always the varsity coach for badminton. For a couple of years, Meckna was the JV coach, but has moved up the ranks into a Varsity coach. Even during the pandemic, Meckna was still coaching through it.
According to Meckna, “Coaching during the pandemic was really hard but it was worth it because it held the team together unlike other schools where they actually didn’t have a team during the pandemic.”
According to Molly Flynn, a sophomore who has worked with Meckna during the pandemic, “I think Mr. Meckna worked very hard in order to keep things in shape and training like a team.”
Students who have been taught or are being coached by Meckna have a lot of great things to say about Meckna.
Timothy Win, a varsity badminton player who is coached by Meckna, said, “Coach Meckna is a really passionate coach that adjusts to the student’s needs. He’s really flexible and students are comfortable talking with Coach Meckna about their struggles. He’s really trustworthy and a more than competent teacher and coach.”
Prongha Talukder, the best player on the varsity team, said, “There are very few people that can establish a culture of success with such little support and resources. It’s just him and his family making us better badminton players and people, furthering the sport for others.”
Peter Kongjang, a JV bad- minton player, said, “Inspirational and motivated teacher is available whenever we need to talk to someone, and just overall a great guy.”
Overall Meckna has been an outstanding coach for the varsity players and an outstanding teacher for the PACE program.