February is Black History Month, and Malden High School is cel- ebrating Black history and culture in various ways. “As Black people, we keep in tune with our mental health and our physical health,” Micaela Henry, co- president of the Black Culture Club, stated. Spanish teacher Claudia Rome- ro explained how Black History Month is important to her because “it is a time to learn more about her students and colleagues.” She was Continued on

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while creating their art pieces. After choosing the winner, the Black Culture Club will be throwing a pizza party for the winning group.

Though the Door Decorating contest may seem like a simple fun thing to do, Magras explained how it is a good way to show “the contributions of Black Americans and…to promote Black excellence.”

One of the many groups to participate in this event was science teacher Michel-Le Meranda’s group, which consisted of sophomores Tori Gammon, Sarah Boucher, Delilah Hudson and Samara Hogan-Sanders. Located on the fourth floor, Meranda’s door is beautifully decorated with the face of a Black woman with many curls.

Boucher expressed that Black History Month is a month ¨where we get to express our culture and show what our history means to us.” Gammon added that Black History Month is an important time of the year because it gives “us the chance to show our culture and creativity.”

When it came to deciding on whether to join, Boucher felt “it was an obligation to show people how much we care about this month.” It helped that throughout the entire process Boucher had a lot of friends. Romero chose to join the contest as she “wanted to recognize people within the Black community who have made our lives better with their contributions, their example, and art.”

Gammon explained that being with her favorite teacher, and “being with a group of friends when we had all been friends for so long,” made them enjoy the experience more as they were able to become even closer over the course of the project.

Throughout the month of February, the Black Culture Club has also been hosting Wellness Wednesdays and HBCU Spotlights. These programs are open to everyone who wants to come to support the Black Culture Club.

Henry mentioned that they are considering continuing the Wellness Wednesdays past this month because “it has been really fun and impactful,” as it is a significant resource to have available for the Black youth at the high school.

As students walk through the building these next few weeks and see the different doors decorated in the halls–painting the stories of pain and suffering, as well as love, strength, beauty and culture, they are reminded to appreciate the people behind it—those who stepped forward to decorate a door with more than just art—they are pieces of history, and examples of excellence.

Gabriella Ilebode Reporter

Ruka Truong Reporter

As the new year started off Malden High hosted its annual Poetry Out Loud (POL) semi-finals. Eight people competed in a recitation competition. Only two people from each period could move forward to the finals.

The Poetry Out Loud Finals took place January 27th. Malden High School's POL competition is the largest in the state. Jessica Li won the competition this year as a 9th grader.

During the finals are two student rounds where the students recite two poems. Specific staff members pick the winners of each competition. This year, those judges were Mrs. Marquez, the Accuracy Judge; Ms. Brookes, the Recitation Judge; Ms. Mulkern, Recitation Judge; and Ms. Clapp, the Tabulation Judge.

In first place from the Period 2 semi-finals was Alyssa Littlejohn, who performed “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood, and second place winner, Kiley Fray, who performed “The Albatross” by Kate Bass.

Alyssa Littlejohn said that, ¨it is such an honor to have won first place, both in my class competition and in the semi-finals.¨ She even exclaimed that, ¨I definitely gained more confidence, especially speaking in front of a group of people I'm not used to speaking in front of as much.¨ She has a background in performing music and ¨it was definitely a different experience.¨ ¨I think they did amazing, especially after two years of not being at school,¨ accuracy judge Yaharia Marquez explained.

There were 13 finalists in the student competition. Each student would go up, state their name, the name and author of the poem and then recited the poems while teacher Mrs. Marquez did an accuracy check. After the student was done reciting their poems, they would give the judges time to grade the student on how well it was recited and then move on to the next student. The first round of recitations took about forty minutes, starting off with Alyssa Littlejohn, after Ryan Coggswell; once the last student was done, Mrs. Marquez called the staff on stage for the teacher round of POL.

Five staff members participated in POL to show solidarity to students, knowing how hard it is having to stand up in front of people reciting something. To start the teacher round, Principal Mr. Mastrangelo performed first, followed by Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Mauser, Mr. Pitnof, Mr. Charles and Ms. Clapp. Once the staff was done reciting their poems, the students participating in Poetry Out Loud voted on their favorite staff recitation. Ms. Clapp was announced as the winner for the staff round and her name was added onto the David Holland award.

Lastly, the final round of the Student Poetry Out Loud, they went in reverse order so starting the second round was Ryan Coggswell and it went on faster from there. Again, the judges graded the students on their performance. By the end of the second round, the judges turned in their papers and Mrs. Clapp totaled up the students' scores. Mrs. Marquez announced the third through first place winners. In third place was Sophomore Ryan Cogswell, in second place was Junior Jadelini Mora and in first place was Freshman Reporter for the Blue and Gold Jessica Li.