January-February Edition 2023

The Blue and Gold

Poetry Out Loud Pages 14 - 15

maldenblueandgold.com Malden High School

Volume 108 Edition 4

77 Salem Street

Janurary - February 2023

Band Hosts Winter Instrumental Concert

Wind Ensemble playing in unison to “A Christmas Festival” by Leron Anderson. JESSICA LI

Jadelini Mora won the Poetry Out Loud competition this year. Thomas Conti and Makeila Scott tied for second place. Isaac Wilde won the teacher competition. Article on the Article on page 14 semi-finals on pages 14-15. Finals article will be in the next edition.

Golden Tornados Tip Off Season With Win Against Mustangs Ryan Coggswell Reporter

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inter sports are beginning, and the boys’ basketball team is ready to retake the court. After a disappointing 2021 season with just one win compared to nineteen losses, the young men know that there is plenty of room for improvement.

The first official game of the season would feature the Medford Mustangs traveling to the Finn Gym to take on the Malden Golden Tornados. Malden played a few scrimmages at the beginning of the month, including victories against the O’Bryant Tigers and Quincy Presidents, but this would mark both their first regular season game and Greater Boston League (GBL) contest.

These two teams opened last season with the same matchup, which can be seen here. The Mustangs won that game 66-46. Malden dropped their other matchup with Medford 77-45 in January. The boys looked to bounce back with a few new players tonight.

The Golden Tornados won the tip-off and started with the ball. They would set the tone quickly as senior guard Justin Bell knocked down a three-pointer to put the team on the board. Medford responded with a quick bucket but junior forward

Ezechiel Noelsaint drew a foul and hit both of his free throws.

After Medford turned the ball over, Ethan Phejarasai, the team’s only freshman, made his first varsity bucket from beyond the arc which brought the lead to 8-2.

Soon after, Noelsaint would score from downtown to extend Malden’s advantage to 13-3. These Golden Tornados were red-hot to open the game.

Bell ensured that the momentum continued. The next three Malden scores were all made by the senior, including a layup, three-pointer, and mid-range. On the other end, Medford started to pick up the pace. A few scores allowed them to close the gap including one that directly stemmed from a wide-open missed layup by Phejarasai. With a 21-14 lead and the first quarter coming to a close, senior guard Peyton Carron dished a pass to Phejarasai who made up for his rookie mistake by draining a three with four seconds left. As the buzzer went off, fans were delighted by the early performance of this sharpshooting Golden Tornado team.

The second quarter began with a Malden layup by senior forward Ransley Saint-Jean. Medford failed to respond and Bell capitalized by knocking down another three-

pointer. The Mustangs went back down the court and matched it but Bell would take the ball again and make another three.

Once

again,

Medford

responded with a three of their own. The Golden Tornados then pulled off a great passing play to find senior guard Aiden Tham in the corner for another three-pointer.

When Medford turned it over, Bell hit his third three of the quarter to bring Malden’s total to 38.

After a few Medford free throws, Tham threw up a shot at the buzzer that fell no good giving Malden a 38-25 halftime advantage. Through one half of play, Malden had scored 27 of their 38 points on three-pointers including 12 out of 14 in the second quarter.

Malden started off the second half the same way that they started the first when Bell hit a three from the corner. After a few back-and-forth possessions that resulted in points, Noelsaint made a big three-pointer.

He tried another on

A player dribbling. RYAN COGGSWELL

Continued on page 24

Staff

2 Math Department Calculates Ways to Improve Curriculum

The Blue and Gold Janurary 2023

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Meet the Blue and Gold

Delina Yohannes Reporter

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s Malden High School and its students were introduced to a brand new school year, the policies and rules for this year changed as well. Math teachers were first and foremost introduced to a new curriculum called Carnegie Learning. Evan Mauser, a long-time staff member here at MHS, stated that this new curriculum opened more doors for the department, including online math programs like “Desmos and DeltaMath” as well as “more options and resources for students.”

The math department considers itself as a safe, open learning environment. “I love working in this department; it’s a very collaborative environment,” said Christopher Giordano.

They have considered all of the new changes and realized the severity of the student body’s needs. Kayla Scheitlin, the head of the math department, stated that, “we’re trying to be more aware and thoughtful about students and their needs inside and outside of the classroom.”

As most of us already know and have possibly already experienced, the global pandemic had an immense impact on students whether it impacted them personally or educationally. The long period of isolation that brought major changes to the schooling system such as virtual learning altered the way students excel in the classroom.

When students returned back to in-person learning, it was obvious that the quarantine had brought upon many challenges with anxiety and other mental health-related issues.

“We’re definitely trying to be more cognizant about where students are mentally and emotionally,” said Scheitlin. The math department’s ambition to help and build a supportive community for all the students is something that has caught the eye of many.

Murphy Page is a new addition to the math department this year.

Editor-in-Chief: Chaimaa Assli ‘23

Head Copy Editor: Gabriel Fesehaie ‘23

Editor-in-Chief: Juliana Luong ‘23

Head of Photography: Divina Wembi ‘23

Editor-in-Chief of Print and Design: Kayley Glavin ‘23

Managing Editor: Nathan Dean ‘24

Editor-in-Chief of Web and Mobile: Kaoutar Wakaf ‘23

Head of Sports: Daniel O’Toole ‘24

Head of Local: Hadjar Yousfi ‘24

Reporters

Reporter: Aiden Luciano ‘24 Lead Reporter : Mack Keating ‘25 Reporter: Jenayah Moreno ‘26 Lead Reporter: Jessica Li ‘25 Reporter: Beatriz Oliveira ‘26 Lead Reporter: Dani Licona-Cruz ‘25 Reporter: Emanuelle Oliveira ‘24 Lead Reporter: Zachary Nedell ‘24 Reporter: Gabriela Parini Cordova ‘26 Lead Reporter: Lily Nguyen ‘25 Reporter: Chouaib Saidi ‘26 Lead Reporter: Ruka Truong ‘25 Reporter: Ace Showstead ‘26 Reporter: Hajar Azegza ‘25 Reporter: Bo Stead ‘25 Reporter: Ryan Coggswell ‘24 Reporter: Emalie Teixeira ‘24 Reporter: Elijah Etienne ‘26 Reporter: Haset Tesfaw ‘26 Reporter: Qiuting Fang ‘24 Reporter: Delina Yohannes ‘26 Reporter: Joao Ferreira Neves ‘23 Reporter: Ada Zhang ‘26 Reporter: Christel Jean’ Baptiste ‘23 Reporter: Zhi Zhu ‘23 Reporter: Edmund Kam ‘23 Reporter : Nasuh Esat Kacmaz ‘24 Class Advisor: Ryan Gallagher Prior to their time at MHS, Page worked as a math teacher at both Peabody High School and an alternative school in Revere.

However, unlike their previous jobs, Page felt an instant connection with the school and “was welcomed in.”

Having connections with the director of guidance, who loved the district, Page had a good idea of the district from the beginning. Similar to the responses of other teachers working in the math department, Page describes it as an environment where “teachers are very interested in collaborating with each other and

Students in math class. DELINA YOHANNES

showing the creative side of math.”

Integrated math is something that is rare to many school districts but the Malden district is not one of them. Compared to Page’s previous jobs, students had the typical setup of Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, etc. Page finds interest in “creative math” which includes a lot of experimenting with curriculum and doing things that aren’t considered “typical.” Integrated math is one of those experimental forms of educating students. They said, “Integrated math is a better approach in general. Keep things fresh in

mind and enforce the connections between different things in math.”

Mauser agrees with Page and implies that there had been “more visual learning throughout most math classes in general” which made for a more creative environment for students.

The teachers of the math department have worked hard to keep the department active and engaging. Giordano feels that as a teacher, it is interesting to “learn from their [students’] experiences as well.” Mauser emphasizes that the teachers here are “the true soldiers.”

Students in math class. DELINA YOHANNES

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Chinese Culture Connection Hosts Lunar New Year at MHS Elijah Etienne Reporter

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unar New Year is the celebration of the new Lunar calendar. The date usually falls between January 20th and February 21st and has been celebrated for thousands of years.

The date of the Holiday is different each year, as it is based on the cycles of the moon. Traditions for the holiday include cleaning for good luck, putting up decorations, and an array of other things.

On January 14th in the Auditorium, a Lunar New Year celebration took place. The event ran from 12:30 to around 5. The event used the Auditorium and Jenkins hallways. This event was hosted by Malden’s Chinese Culture Connections with the help of MHS’s Key Club, to help unite Malden’s residents that want to celebrate the new year.

A member of the MHS Key Club Johnny Nguyen explained that, “[The Key Club] been doing this for many years but it closed because of COVID.” This year marks their first official year back in-person, as their celebration last year in 2022 was hosted online through Zoom.

Hosting this event ran smoothly for the most part, though it was “mostly coordination and communication but those are just minor issues, overall things went great,” explained Nguyen.

Organizing this event was a lot of organizational things, to help make sure that the event ran smoothly in its entirety. Nguyen also revealed that he “[liked] the things that happened like the stage performances.”

The event had many different tables set up for different purposes.

Some tables consisted of arts and crafts, origami, and a place to hang items on a tree. There were also more informational tables, like pamphlets for the event and YMCA information.

This event was packed, but the team of people that helped out with the event seemed to have everything under control. When asked what was challenging, Key

All photos by Chouaib Saidi.

Club President, Allison Yu said it was “…just making sure everyone knows what they’re doing, and getting everyone organized, and also keeping things on track, because there is performance going on, and we need to get performers on stage, on time, and also to manage the

stands.”

As far as preparation goes, Yu said, “I guess assigning roles and making sure people know who to go to when they’re confused about what they’re doing, and communication.”

The event was perceived very well. Each performance had its own

roar of applause immediately after.

The event ran for around 5-6 hours and by the end, everyone looked pleasantly happy.

Lunar New Year is a time cherished by many, and it is amazing to see those who celebrate it come together as a community.

Editorial

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Juliana Luong Editor-in-Chief

Attendance On Trial

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tor’s note for the school when the student might already know what is wrong with them and just needs the time to get better. Gabriela Krupka, a senior, said, “Sometimes, people can wake up feeling nauseous or with a cold, and it would just be a hassle to go to the doctor’s office because this is something that you do not need a doctor’s diagnosis for.” There are many times doctors advise against doctor appointments if they are not needed in specific circumstances.

Even though this policy is strict, it does encourage students to come to school on time and make more efforts to try. However, “If a student is able to keep up with their grades, even with excessive absences, then their hard work should not go down the drain,” said Krupka.

A solution to such a broad issue is to update the policy to the understanding of what society has learned today about illnesses and the coronavirus. The CDC also found that the “...flu has resulted in 9 million – 41 million illnesses” in the U.S. per year during 2010-2020. The facts proven deserve to be an excused absence based on the frequency of illnesses.

At Malden High School, unless you are 18 years old, you are unable to dismiss yourself without a parent or guardian’s permission. If it is required to have a parent release their children from school, why is it not acceptable for them to give a note excusing them from school? Senior Jose Mejia Guerrero expressed his opinion on the unacceptance of notes from parents to be “preposterous.”

There are also other situations not involving sickness that students have no choice but to miss school.

One example is school dismissal, where parents also make the deci-

ttendance. In high school or middle school it is something that is always seen as a priority, but are there exceptions to this highly focused policy?

This year at Malden High School there is a new attendance policy adjusted from the previous one. If a student has four or more unexcused absences in a class then the student may receive a 59 for the quarter instead of their earned grade.

Along with an adjusted attendance policy, the administration has also reissued the “Attendance Appeal”. Students who are failing a class due to lack of attendance can defend their right to keep their earned grade in the class to school administration. Though there are options to make up for attendance, should students be at fault?

There are many flu and colds that happen in a year, as well as the coronavirus that is still so widely effective, especially back in school.

While the coronavirus is an excused absence (with proof of a positive test), what about the other sicknesses that can be caught throughout the year? Especially the sicknesses that don’t need a doctor’s treatment. According to the CDC, “Most people with flu have mild illness and do not need medical care or antiviral drugs.

If you get sick with flu symptoms, in most cases, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people except to get medical care.”

Everytime a student has to go to the doctor’s office because they aren’t feeling well is more money out of a family’s pocket. Money that is sometimes wasted to get a doc-

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sion for their children. For example, missing school for a vacation. There are times when students’ families make decisions that a student has to miss school for which isn’t in their control. Should they be punished for it?

Now seeing as a student could usually only be missing out on one day of school because of illness, family obligations, etc., it won’t affect their grades as much if it’s a first time occurrence. Administration is giving a one time solution of an appeal but many things can happen in a school year and there should be more guidelines to the judgment of an excusable absence other than the determination of the decision from a house principal or panelist.

Guerrero said “[The appeal] sounds absurd.”

With the different circumstances for many absences, it is a good opportunity for students to

be able to explain their situation and why they were absent with the appeal process. Although one solution that Guerrero proposed, before the need to appeal, was to monitor notes from parents and make phone calls for confirmation of the reason for the absence. Guerrero also went on to say, “This policy may be the easiest to prevent forgeries and fake sick days, but it isn’t necessarily the right way.”

Malden High School is filled with many students with different opinions and solutions. The administration should consider opening up to the idea of finding other solutions to the attendance issues from students that experience those unique situations. They have always looked for ways to connect with the student body and make the school whole, and what better way to solve such a schoolwide issue than with the students that undergo it?

Attendance policy flow chart shared with students. Given by administration.

Editorial Policy

The Blue and Gold

The Blue and Gold is an open forum for student expression. It is produced by students for the school and the community. The views presented in this paper are not necessarily those of the advisor or the school administration. The views presented in the editorials are those of the editors-in-chief or guests. The goal of The Blue and Gold is to inform and entertain students as well as the community regarding issues that we feel are important.

We strongly encourage readers to respond to material printed in the form of signed letters to the editors. No libelous, malicious, defamatory, obscene, or unsigned material will be printed.

The Blue and Gold reserves the right to edit the letters. Names may be withheld upon request. Not all letters will be printed.

Although The Blue and Gold appreciates the support of advertisers, we may refuse any advertisement that violates the above policy or that promotes products questionable to student use.

Any correspondence concerning this publication should be directed to Mr. Ryan Gallagher’s room in J387 or to his mailbox in the main office.

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Lincoln Commons Holiday Visit Mack Keating Lead Reporter

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is the season, as fall comes to a close and winter approaches quickly as ever. In holiday spirit, Ward 7 Councilor Chris Simonelli worked diligently alongside the Local 25 Teamsters and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) to decorate Lincoln Commons with seasonal lights and decorations.

To commemorate their hard work, Simonelli worked with Mayor Gary Christensonto host a tree lighting event to officially illuminate the park.

The Teamsters used a truck to blast Christmas music across the park until Simonelli was ready to give his speech. He thanked the Teamsters for their help and support, as well as the electrical team that set up the lights and electrical director Craig Kelly, his fellow council members, his girlfriend, the people dressed as Mrs. and Mr. Claus, and Christenson, among others.

In his speech, he explained that it was “a time to enjoy yourself, enjoy one another, get to know your neighbor, and have a fun time with

the kids.”

As Simonelli wrapped up his speech he passed the microphone over to the Mayor, who had nothing but praise. “I have never seen someone as determined as Councilor Simonelli to make tonight happen,” he opened. He joked that the Councilor had “positively broken our budget because of his commitment to this neighborhood.”

At the end of the speeches, Simonelli and Christenson chanted down from 10, egging the crowd to join their countdown. Finally, the park came to life with colors, lights, and excitement. Going from a nearpitch black to an almost blinding luminescence, children and adults alike cheered for the decorations.

Attendees huddled around the Councilor and Mayor for a group

photo before dispersing to enjoy the event.

Hot chocolate, Christmas light necklaces, and photos with the Claus family were spread across the front of the park. The path, outlined by lights, was clear for attendees to walk along and enjoy themselves.

Like Christenson said, “This is a season to celebrate, it’s also a season of caring and giving,”

which they showed with their afterparty at the DAV. Attendees were encouraged to cross the street to eat, talk, and “have more fun.” Simonelli also organized a time “where Santa Claus [sat] down with the kids” at the DAV. As the event came to a close and as Maldonians went home, Simonelli wished all a merry Christmas and a good night.

Craft Fair Gives off Holiday Spirit Hajar Azegza Reporter

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ith the holidays coming around, many find all types of ways to display their holiday spirit, and one of these is showing off their creativity. This is exactly what the Malden Housing Authority had in mind when they decided to host their Annual Craft Fair giving artists and crafters an opportunity to showcase their holiday spirits through their creativity.

Doors opened at 9:00 in the morning December 10th to those who wanted to come and purchase

a possible Christmas gift. Vendors and crafters had multiple tables scattered around the club room each selling items they put together themselves, of course all holiday related. You could pretty much find anything worth gifting to loved ones at this craft fair from hats to mugs to candles.

It means so much for the people who make these crafts to see others happy. Grace Leyk, who was selling crocheted hats, gloves, and scarfs that she makes, said “I think people like a little extra things to decorate or maybe a gift for a family member, one lady today bought a bag for a little girl that she’s going to send to

Festive sports hats along with dolls and toys ready to be sold.

Linda Fasfiano and supporting friend pose with the accessories she is selling.

Michigan from Massachusetts so it means a lot to me.”

Leyk also manages to be inclusive with her prices saying “professional people would say, you have to charge twice the amount of your materials. But a lot of my materials I use are leftovers from other things like little bags of coin purses, so I can charge less on those.

I charge what I think I would pay for it.” It is always nice to know that the business you’re supporting is not wasting anything.

Linda Fasfiano, who was also at the craft fair selling anything

from headbands to facemasks, said that “craft fairs have run better in the past, to be completely honest with you, but this year I can feel the spirit with what we have so that’s all that matters.”

Just from walking around the room for the first ten minutes, I was greeted with welcoming smiles and goodie bags full of sweet treats handmade. It showed what the event was really for, which was to put a smile on people’s faces for the holiday season because although we don’t all celebrate, everyone can appreciate a gift from a loved one.

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Malden High School’s Strong Guidance Department Ace Showstead Reporter

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hen Caitlin Quinn switched from her position as a guidance counselor to the Boyle house principal, some other things in the department changed as well.

Quinn commented on how interacting with the counselors changed. “My role in working with the counselors is a little bit different from where I used to see them all the time and work with them on everything we were doing with the students... I now see them only once a week in meetings and I’m there for more of a communication between counselors and principals.”

“In some ways my relationships with teachers has changed, just that I’m maybe interacting more and have a little bit of a different role on how I work with teachers, but in a lot of ways it stayed just the same,” she added.

“Since I always knew I wanted to be in a school and I found I liked the one-on-one work, I went back [to college] and got my masters in school counseling and in guidance counseling and so it kind of became a position that worked really well for me,” Quinn concluded.

Kristy Magras, the current

“I ended up getting more interested in the stories that students had than I was in the teaching side of things.”

BENJAMIN BUTLER

Kristy Magras, Holland House counselor. ACE SHOWSTEAD

Caitlin Quinn, Holland House Principal. ACE SHOWSTEAD

Benjamin Butler, Boyle House adjustment counselor. ACE SHOWSTEAD

Holland House counselor, used to be a part of the Pathways Program, which is a program for students who need extra help. “The opportunity came that Pathways needed a part-time guidance counselor and instantly, I loved working in that area. They are students like everybody else.”

Magras continued, “We became like a family. Even now when I see them out in the world; it’s like they’re still my students.“ Guidance counselors and

adjustment counselors have similar jobs in the sense that they work with students outside of the classroom.

But guidance counselors tend to work on career and college planning and academic awareness, while adjustment counselors focus more on mental health.

“Social workers, school adjustment counselors, spend more time taking a deeper dive into some of the mental health and emotional functions of students,” Benjamin Butler, the Boyle House adjustment

counselor, stated.

“I started out teaching, and I taught for about four years and liked it, but I didn’t love it…I liked it but I also felt like there was a lot that was happening in the students’ lives that was more of a priority for them than the book that we were reading or the paper that we had to write,” Butler explained.

“I ended up getting more interested in the stories that students had than I was in the teaching side of things,” he continued.

a cool experience and I’m looking forward to continuing to work on the clothing closet as a way to help students in Malden who need some winter clothes, summer clothes…” explained Lifshitz.

The candle making fundraiser starts in Winter. “They’ll start making boxes to be sold through the Mystic Side company, which is our candle company,” said Deplacido.

The scrap wood that people donate to the PACE program is used by students to make memory boxes to develop their skills. This year expectations would be memory boxes instead of the pallet signs that were made last year.

“We’re going to open a clothing

closet that will be free for students so the students in the transition program have been organizing over that; we’re going to be advertising that in store and hopefully be able to open a store so the people can come and shop but they don’t need to open them,” said Lifshitz. Students in the PACE program have been washing and folding the clothes the teachers donated.

The new transition teacher, Aylat Lifshitz has worked with individual disabled students as a counselor before coming to MHS. Lifshitz has experience with disabled students on household chores, behavior management, and daily living skills.

New Additions to PACE Department Build on Program’s Success Ada Zhang Reporter

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he PACE program, which stands for Practical Academic Community Education, is a program at the school that works for students’ needs. The Department works to help students with disabilities; they are educated and taught work skills. “They’re exploring different careers,” said Elizabeth Smith, an administrator for the PACE Program.

This year there is a new transition coordinator, Kelli Collomb, who sets up worksites for the students in the PACE program.

“She’s always adding in new programs, new things,” explained David Deplacido, a PACE teacher.

Jillian Robinson is an adaptive PE teacher handling the Unified Sports class. “Barbara Scibelli did it for years and years and she was absolutely fantastic, but now we have somebody else who is an [Adaptive Physical Education] teacher running in class and taking over to help support the mentorship

between our mainstream students” and PACE students, said Smith.

This year, athletic director Charlie Conefrey set up the Unified Sports flag football game against Medford. “He really believes in Unified Sports; we have the program here in school but we also have it outside of school so we’re expanding that program to flag football and the kids had a great time doing that so it’s really exciting [doing] something new,” explained Smith.

Floramo’s is a restaurant in Malden open Monday through Saturday. Deplacido explained that Floramo’s has offered jobs to many of their older PACE program students which helps students explore different careers.

Aylat Lifshitz is a new PACE transition teacher who is also running MHS’s clothing closet “where donations are sent from numerous places,” said Deplacido.

Lifshitz is passionate about her idea to help students. “It was

PACE students in their classroom. ADA ZHANG

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Meet the New Black Student Union Hadjar Yousfi Head of Local

Divina Wembi Head of Photography

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ith such a diverse student body, it is no surprise that Malden High School has different organizations dedicated to people of different backgrounds, such as the Black Student Union (BSU) of MHS. Advised by biology teacher Michel-Le Meranda, the club has started strong this year with its first meeting on November 30th, 2022, although the idea to start this club was first thought up a year earlier by junior student Meklit Abel.

The club was originally started to “create a safe space for Black students in Malden High to talk about issues that are usually stigmatized and looked down upon,” as Abel explained.

The process of starting the union proved to be quite difficult for Abel, as she wanted to make sure that it turned out as amazing as possible. “I didn’t know enough about what I wanted to do at the moment so it took me a while to answer back,” she stated. “I did some more research and deep diving over the summer and got into contact with many other schools that also have this union up and going in their schools. This helped me better understand what I wanted for the club and helped me start the union last week, which was November 30th—our first intro meeting!”

The main message of the union, in Abel’s opinion, is to hopefully encourage the members to “talk about issues that they face in school every day or even around the world.” Treasurer of the club Dina Genene feels as though the Union wanted to “convey the idea that anyone can speak out against injustice despite what they may have been told, whether or not they are a minority.”

Abel is confident in the importance of this club to Malden High School, she feels that it is especially important to “display the efforts of the black community and how much of an impact we have in this school and the world.”

Secretary Qai Hinds has her own goals when it comes to the club.

She deeply hoped that “by the time I graduate, the Black Student Union has accomplished creating a safe community for Black-identifying students in a public school system that doesn’t serve them.”

“I want every Black-identifying student here at Malden High to know that this space is created for you, to support and empower you, and for us to unapologetically be ourselves,” Hinds emphasized.

“I would personally like to see the union be able to break down issues surrounding Black students within our school so we can find solutions to work towards getting rid of them. I feel like this will greatly

help create a more comfortable environment for the Black student population here at MHS,” Erikah Macharia, a member of the Union, explained with passion.

Spreading the word of the Union and reaching as many people as possible seemed to be a common goal among the officers. Genene felt the same way saying that she would “like to see the union accomplish gaining as many members as possible and be able to address all of the issues that people may be struggling with.”

Having more people in the club leads to more discussions that bring people together. When there are more members it opens a gateway for other races to hear out Black students and hear their stories. Another goal that Genene has is to “provide information about injustices that happened within the past and find ways to educate” on how to take the injustices.

Macharia loved the idea of this Union being started at MHS, so she jumped at the opportunity to join. “I wanted to join the union as I knew it would be a safe space for Black students to come together and discuss important topics that

BSU members Erikah Macharia and Victoria Gammon at the first BSU meeting of the year. HADJAR YOUSFI pertain to us. I’ve seen and heard of other Black Student Unions on social media and from friends, so I knew it would be the right choice to join,” Macharia explained.

What made Genene join the club was that she wanted to see others at school be “passionately vocal” about what they believed in, as well as being a part of these experiences. This is the same reason that Genene encourages others to

“I want every Black Identifying student here at Malden High to know that this space is created FOR YOU, to support and empower you, and for us to unapologetically be ourselves.”

QAI HINDS The BSU officers (L to R) Qai Hinds, Lindsay Bordenave, Michel-Le Meranda, Meklit Abel, Dina Genene, and Orit Abel. HADJAR YOUSFI

“Black people are just the same as non-Black people and if we actually put aside our differences, we are all very alike.”

LINDSAY BORDENAVE

join the Union. Genene wants her fellow black students to know that the BSU is a “safe haven” that brings any topics to the table and allows you to “get things off your chest.”

Abel wanted to make sure that students of Black backgrounds could be more confident, and could help to “display the efforts of the Black community and how much of an impact we have in this school and the world.”

Lindsay Bordenave is the social media coordinator for the Union.

She would like to see the club “gain members and possibly hold events out of school.” This would be a way for non-Black students “they could see a point of view of where Black people come from when they are treated differently from other people.”

Bordenave wanted to be a part of the club when Abel told her about her plans. She wants everyone to know that “anyone can join the club, not just Black people.” Lindsay hopes that they can help people see that “Black people are just the same as non-Black people and that if we actually put aside our differences we are all very alike.” Once people are able to come to this conclusion progress can be made.

As a member, Macharia hopes that “more students know that this club is a great place to be if they’re looking for more students who look like them and that they can relate to. Also if they feel like they need a place to be able to freely speak their mind on issues or topics about race, this is the perfect place to do so as it is such a comfortable and supportive environment.”

Needless to say, all the club members want Black students to be aware of their impact whether that is at school or somewhere in the world.

For them to have a place where they can talk about issues that matter to them, without having to look over their shoulder and feel judged.

Hinds especially encourages all Black students to remember that “melanin is a blessing and that we are all here for each other..”

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Science Experiment Club Returns

Beatriz Oliveira Reporter

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he Unified Sports Program (USP) sponsored by the Special Olympics was started in 2008 by administrator Barbara Scibelli in hopes of unifying all students and providing a normal high school experience for those with special needs.

This Thanksgiving, Malden High School hosted its first official Unified Sports football game at Fenway against their biggest rival, Medford High, which made the news on Channel 5 which can be seen here.

Charlie Conefrey, Malden’s athletic director who was selected as the District Five Athletic Director of The Year for 2022 in Massachusetts, exclaimed, “It was truly heartwarming to watch how happy our students were talking about their experiences on television. They were not shy which was so great to see. Mr. Mastrangelo set that up with Channel 5 news, so a big thank you to him is warranted!”

Conefrey also added, “Speaking of the unified football game; Our plans are to make it an annual tradition before our annual Thanksgiving Day football game vs. Medford. We will make it bigger and more efficient next year!”

The USP has been a big part of MHS for a long time now and the faculty have worked hard to improve this program over the years. “When I started seven years ago, one of my main goals was to create more experiences for our P.A.C.E. students. In 2016, for the first time at Malden High School I started a Unified Basketball team in the fall and a Unified Outdoor Track and Field team in the spring. As the years progressed and I learned more about unified sports through the Special Olympics, I strived to create a Nationally Recognized Banner School through the Special Olympics,“ Conefrey explained.

Witche Exilhomme, current social studies teacher and football coach, as well as Scibelli’s former student leader, explained, “Being a student leader in Malden High back then, it was fun, it was a great experience. I was nervous but I had the right people around me making me feel comfortable in what we were doing. We were shifting the culture to giving back and getting involved in our communities and unified sports was one of the major projects that we started with.” He continued,

Zhi Zhu Reporter

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ove to learn about science and perform experiments?

The Science Exploration Club, now named the Science Experiments Club, is back with a new name and president this year.

Initially founded by Christina Trinh, now a Senior at Malden High, the club started two years ago when she was in 10th grade during remote learning in 2020 with John Frigo, a science teacher at Malden High, as the advisor. The club continued up until the end of last year, June of 2022. Unfortunately, due to Trinh having no time and being unable to run for president again, the club was left generally untouched and many wondered if it would be brought back this school year.

Luckily for the club, Nasuh Kacmaz, a Junior at Malden High who is also a reporter for The Blue and Gold, decided to pick up the position to become president as he mentioned that he also wanted “We started our unified sports in a way to encourage students to be more welcoming towards special needs students and it took off.”

Today, the USP is led by Jillian Robinson, an adaptive PE teacher with a physical education certification to teach students with severe special needs. Robinson decided to make the USP a creditbearing class, which encouraged more students to join and help support what the program stands for. “Just sitting here and watching it, new kids stepping in, new people leading it. It’s nice to see where it’s heading,” Exilhomme said.

The new staff of the USP are bright workers and will keep coming up with new innovative ideas to

to join the club but it “had no president.” Thus, he decided to take on the role of becoming president for the continuation of the club!

For Kacmaz, he explained that he was looking for clubs that he would be interested in joining.

Having come from Turkey- on a one-year visa Kacmaz decided that he wanted to take the opportunity to “join as many clubs as I could here.”

In particular, Kacmaz came across this club as he stated, “I was always interested in science and I always wanted to do science experiments but I’ve never had the equipment to.” Furthermore, he decided to change the name of the club from Science Exploration to Science Experiments due to the fact that the basis of the club was mainly learning and carrying out different experiments. As Kacmaz stated, “we generally conduct different science experiments, document what the procedures are and what the outcome will be.”

The Science Experiments club which meets Tuesdays after school in B430, Mr. Frigo’s room, had its first meeting this school year on December 20th. The club conducted its first experiment on January 10th, 2023.

The experiment was trying to see if they could potentially make homemade bar soap. Mr. Frigo gave a general overview of what would be happening, then reviewed the steps and procedures necessary to conduct the experiment.

Next, the students followed the steps in the procedure and started to measure out the ingredients used to make the soap.

The curing process for bar soap takes days, however, so the final product was not shown. In the meantime, there are more experiments to come! Kacmaz says that “we might even try to make some edible things from different experiments sometime,” such as an edible water bottle!

The Malden High School Special Education Basketball Team. Submitted by Charlie Conefrey, Director of Malden Athletics and P.E. for Malden Public Schools. Taken prior to the pandemic. grow the program throughout the school and the city of Malden.

“The Unified Sports program is my favorite. We are talking about serving a population of students

who are generally underrepresented and underserved. I plan to continue to create experiences for our P.A.C.E students,” Conefrey said.

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The History Department Thrives to Engage Students Chouaib Saidi Reporter

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ome students may love history, some might not, but we all know it’s important to learn about history and how it has evolved over time.

The Social Studies department, which is commonly referred to as the history department, has some changes about staffing this year.

“One of the biggest goals we have is we want students to understand why they’re learning about issues in the past and how it connects to their lives and relates to today. There’s very few events in history that are isolated to just that time period that don’t have parallels to today. One in particular that’s a big one is when we learn about the Great Depression and the New Deal; we’re talking about the rule of government in people’s lives and the economy and how much the government should be assisting people when they fall on hard times and to what degree,” Kerry Veritas, the teacher lead of the social studies department, said.

Veritas teaches two sections of AP World History but she is also covering a section of 9th Grade United States History (US I) for a teacher until he comes back from leave.

“In US I, we are in the middle of a migration and settlement unit and in this particular part of the unit we’re learning about what happened to the Indigenous people of this country, from the time of the colonists in Massachusetts Bay up to the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

We’re just looking at that pattern of forced migration and then we’re

going to connect that to Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States felt they had the right to spread and settle to the west, but that brings up again conversations about what rights did people have.”

The social studies department does a variety of things in their classes and as a department besides studying history, from Model UN to hosting Mock Elections.

Veritas explained that the social studies department has been doing Model UN “for many years.” She continued, “Mock elections, we did many years ago we just suspended them for COVID. They were something we brought back since we are now in person. It is the belief of the history department that when students are civically engaged at a young age they are more likely to vote when they are adults so we like to get them aware of a few things, that elections happen every year not just in a presidential year.”

Veritas stated that, “We like the experience to be as close to real as possible, it’s proven that voting is a habit and the more you do it, the more likely you are to do it in the future and so, we were really proud to work with the city, who lent us the voting booths that the city actually uses, and photocopied all the ballots. It was a lot to run but I think it was worth it.”

This year, Malden Public Schools hired a new director of social studies for grades K-12, Gerard Tannetta.

Tannetta

Richard Tivnan banging a gavel in Mock Trial. CHOUAIB SAIDI

Students in Mr. Tivnan’s class participating in Mock Trial. CHOUAIB SAIDI transferred from Melrose.

“Malden has a lot more to offer with just the amount of staff and students there are, there’s the ability to throw in different courses to happen, the FLEX period I think is an awesome creation that Malden is doing, it’s not something that we had in Melrose,” Tannetta explained.

Malden Public also hired two new additions to the social studies department, Ashley Garlick and James Hill.

“It’s been a good year so far, first year at Malden; [it’s been] been comfortable and smooth. I want to make sure everyone improves in history skills,” Hill said.

“It’s been nice, the school has been very welcoming, the students

are friendly and the history team is very supportive,” Garlick said.

The new teachers both feel that students were welcoming and their experience has been comfortable so far. Garlick also stated that she is “trying to connect with the students, build relationships, and teach about different aspects of US and World history.”

Richard Tivnan, veteran teacher at Malden High School, thinks that the history department should “broaden out some of the elective classes. I hear some schools have some cool classes that we don’t have. I think we have a decent amount of electives, like sociology, psychology, AP Gov. But everytime you could broaden that up a little more, to give kids a little more of a choice, I think that’d be good.”

Tivnan also teaches a class called Mock Trial, where students in grades 10 -12 are given cases which are filled with witness statements to get students civically engaged from a classroom and experience in the legal system.

Tannetta also feels the need to increase the amount of electives in the history department. “We are also exploring trying to increase the amount of electives we have in the History department… we would like to expand what we have.”

The History department has many fun opportunities for students outside of the basic classes.

As a whole, the department seems to be organized and efficient. The classroom environment in history courses and electives seems to be enlightening. Still, the department is always looking to improve and make its students look forward to class each time they step foot through the door.

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Francesca Montillo Visits Malden Public Library Lily Nguyen Lead Reporter Emmanuelle Oliveira Reporter

Flyer for event. Photo from Francesca Montillo’s website.

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he Malden Public Library is known to knit the community closer together through its events.

So, in celebration of a successful local, the library recently gathered Malden citizens and beyond to welcome cookbook author and founder of the Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures, Francesca Montillo.

Held on December 15th, Montillo and attendees had an intimate conversation about her life story: how she turned a passion for her Italian heritage into a successful travel business.

Montillo is an Italian native, having been born in a little village called Palermiti in Calabria, Italy. In 1988, she moved from Italy to the Greater Boston area. She worked in healthcare administration for several years but would yearn for a more exciting path in her life.

“What I truly wanted was to focus on traveling to Italy and inviting people to Italy in the realm of food and wine,” said Montillo. “There’s a lot of tourism there, with museums, history, architecture—all wonderful things—but I’m more passionate about its culinary aspect and sharing it with others.”

In 2016, she founded her travel business, Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures, as a “side hustle.” She hosted her first few Italy tours, all while working her then full-time job.

Then, over the years, the business became more full-fledged, leading to Montillo’s greater focus on ensuring its success. “But, as everyone knows, the pandemic slammed the brakes on traveling.”

Montillo knew that it was “devastating. I was sure I had to give up my business.” In the early stages of the pandemic, she had lived on savings and a part-time healthcare job.

However, through her persistence and a significant consumer demand to travel once the pandemic simmered, the business continued growing. She began to host more and more culinary adventures around Italy—one of which she did with celebrity TV chef Joanne Weir.

A few of the many Italian des-

tinations that Montillo traveled to with her guests include the Amalfi Coast, Bologna, Calabria, and Puglia. In these adventures, she planned activities such as making fresh pasta and cheese from scratch, tasting wine, visiting olive oil mills, and dining at local hidden gems.

But while the metropolitan landscapes of Italy are more coveted tourist destinations, Montillo also expressed that she enjoys exposing her guests to the quiet charm of the countryside. She revealed that “some of next year’s six trips are in more rural places—out in the country. One is in a villa in the Tuscan countryside, and then in another, we’ll go to Bologna, which is a very rustic, foody region.”

While tourists often flock to cities like Florence and Venice— places she does offer culinary tours in—she finds that “the more rural part of Italy is just as beautiful and is authentically wonderful but sometimes overlooked… still, Italy is wonderful throughout.”

But above all, Montillo shared that bringing others to Italy makes her feel “happy because it’s like bringing them to my home—well, it is my home! When you bring someone to your house, you want them to make them feel welcome, show off the best, serve them well… and it’s the same when you’re in Italy.”

“I’ve formed really great personal relationships with others over

Two of Montillo’s cookbooks, which include classic yet simplified and efficient Italian recipes. EMANUELLE OLIVEIRA. my travels and have had many come to her mother, whom I learned how back to go on more trips. We have to cook from.” And while the recigreat dinners, great bonding experi- pes are tailored to a more American ences—and it’s what really makes audience, they uphold their charm the trips wonderful. I’m doing what dear to her family’s Italian cooking.

I enjoy for a living.”

Additionally, in some cookAs the Lazy Italian Culinary books, Montillo aspired to help busy Adventures flourished with sold- home cooks struggling during the out culinary tours, Montillo started pandemic with fast and affordable branching out her business to be- Italian recipes that can be made with yond traveling. “I was doing food common pantry ingredients. blogging, food writing, and teachOverall, although residing in ing cooking classes in-person and Greater Boston, Montillo finally emon Zoom for hundreds of students phasized that she maintains direct in these last few years. It’s been an connections to her Italian heritage interesting ride,” she remarked. through taking others on culinary While integrating these new tours while sharing with them the culinary aspects into her travel busi- physical and cultural beauty of Italy, ness, Montillo launched cookbooks as well as visiting relatives in Calcontaining family recipes. She had abria. “made these cookbooks dedicated One attendee, Elena, expressed

Francesca Montillo, founder of the Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures and a cookbook author, poses next to her display table. EMANUELLE OLIVEIRA

“I’ve formed really great personal relationships with others over my travels and have had many come back to go on more trips. We have great dinners, great bonding experiences—and it’s what really makes the trips wonderful. I’m doing what I enjoy for a living.”

-Francesca Montillo

that she appreciated Montillo’s “experience in these tours and how she is so knowledgeable about Italy.” With this, she hopes to reconnect with her roots by attending a few culinary tours one day as her mother, an Italian firstgeneration American, “tried always cooking Italian. But, as none of the recipes were written down, we only watched and tried to do them from memory.”

The attendee further added that “if it’s not written or remembered and is without someone to pass it on, the culture dies—no one will know what true Italian food is… so I want to go and actually experience Italian food in Italy with [Montillo] because that will be something unforgettable.”

Finally, the event ended with attendees sharing warm conversations with Montillo and holding new signed cookbooks in their hands, and they left the Malden Public Library happy that night.

For more information on the Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures’ virtual cooking classes, culinary tours, and more travel services, visit www.thelazyitalian.com.

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New Skit Club at Malden High Christsel Jean-Baptiste Reporter ost students look forward to the end of the day in order to unwind and enjoy themselves after a long stressful day. For some, that is a nice, peaceful club in which members share their interests and hobbies. Clubs are places to make connections, find friends that you would not usually find in a school day setting, and create a comfortable safe place that meets your needs.

And so, in the next curtain opening sequence, Malden High School welcomed the new Skit Club, a club for those interested in performing arts to enjoy such activities as doing improv, writing and acting out scripts, and wearing costumes.

The club sprang forth from Zahira Acosta and Jingxin Chen—its President and Secretary, respectively. Acosta explained that they drew inspiration from “an activity in English class where we had to perform a skit in front of everyone that we liked and thought was fun, so we decided to turn it into a club.”

Vice President Lisa Guo added that in particular, “trying improv is

just something we’ve always wanted to try to get out of our comfort zone, so making this club would help achieve that.

As such, the Skit Club was approved by principal Christopher Mastrangelo and held its first official meeting on November 17th, in which the officers estimated about ten participants. To increase that number, Acosta hopes to “share more flyers and get people to talk to their friends who might like watching or performing skits. Having social media is also important for reaching out to more of the community.”

On that note, Guo emphasized that the officers are “really open to anything and anyone, as we’re a new club. We welcome anyone with the passion for or has tried improv, but expanding it into something greater is also in the works.”

So far, the Skit Club has only had a couple of meetings, which consisted of activities such as creating skits and playing charades.

In the near future, advisor Pasquale DiBenedetto as well as the club officers hope to create more upscale projects for different demographics to enjoy. “As we work towards more formal meetings, hopefully, we can start performances,” stated DiBenedetto.

Freshman Yohanna Tinoco

da Silva is helping with just that, stating that she joined the Skit Club not precisely for improv, but because she enjoys “designing clothes and giving ideas for the club” and is interested in “talking about plays and scripts” written by her fellow members.

When or if one would wish to join the Skit Club, one will soon find that it is a place that encourages individual growth. This is echoed

by DiBenedetto’s statement that “all the members are very open with

Jenayah Moreno Reporter he elective offerings at Malden High have continued to grow stronger. The courses are filled with variety with so many teachers loving what they do. There has been one addition to the district this year with Gerard Tannetta, who is the new director of the social studies and fine arts departments.

Tannetta finds joy in directing the elective and history courses and finds them both intriguing.

One of Tannetta’s favorite offerings at Malden High is an after school activity, the Speech and Debate Club.

As for an actual class, he loves Mock Trial, taught by Richard Tivnan. Tannetta finds it interesting to see students debate back and forth on a topic. “That’s a very fun elective where students take on roles of prosecutors or defenders.

They get a very specific case that they need to study and they actually compete against other schools, so that’s a really fun one to watch,” Tannetta said.

One thing that’s tricky about electives is the process of making a new one. Tannetta described how it’s a very long process and that there are multiple steps to it.

The first step is usually a teacher who is interested in teaching the subject. Then it has to be passed by the administration. However, to be

passed by administration, things that need to be taken into account are funding and the chances of students being interested. The last step is setting up a trial version of the elective and seeing if enough students sign up. Tannetta says this is one of the biggest hurdles.

This year Julie Mullane’s is teaching a full load of five classes of ceramics at MHS and she has started the year off strong. Teaching ceramics can be a difficult subject to teach since it’s something you can’t really explain but you have to show in order for the kids to learn.

When asked what her strategy is, Mullane said she liked to show her class examples from past students and even some pieces that she has made herself.

“I could explain something to you forever but once I hold it up and show you, it just clicks so it’s so much easier,” Mullane explained.

She also says that kids tend to come to her class excited but can get discouraged by seeing how messy the elective can be.

To get them motivated again she suggests waiting till the clay dries, so the students can carve intricate designs in the clay instead.

Mullane says “sometimes there are different avenues you can take so when the clay gets a little bit hard it’s not really super muddy anymore and you can carve it a little

bit cleaner.”

On the fourth floor of Holland many spot a wall with long, lengthy whiteboards hanging.

These whiteboards belong to Paul Marques and his computer science classes. Marques’ walls are covered in different coding steps, tips, and projects.

Marques explains that coding is not about the computers doing something but is actually something more. Coding is when you tell the computer what to do and mostly how you tell the computer what to do.

Lily Nguyen Lead Reporter

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everything, and they’re all very nice.

They all have their own individual interests.”

Beyond club meetings, an exciting event the Skit Club has planned for later in the year is a field trip to a theater in downtown Boston, which they plan to support with bake sales among other fundraising events.

For those interested in the club, updates can be accessed on their Instagram @_mhs.skitclub_ or in Br487, Dibenedetto’s classroom.

Members of Skit Club dresssed up, posing for a photo. LILY NGUYEN

Update on Elective Offerings

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Marques says the most important step is step zero which is understanding and perfecting the algorithms which is essentially the language of computer science. He says if you can do that you will be very successful with your coding in the future.

Marques’s favorite part of being a teacher is seeing his students grow from freshman year all the way to senior year. “Watching them go from not really knowing anything from the beginning part to the finale,“ make Marques feels so proud, “I still remember day one.”

Aaron Al-Marayati using a laser cutter in the maker space. JENAYAH MORENO

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CO’23 Hosts Holiday Spirit Week Mack Keating Lead Reporter

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ith students practically shaking with excitement for winter break, the Class of ‘23 added to that a holiday-themed spirit week.

Throughout the week prior to vacation, students were encouraged to follow a common theme each day.

On December 13th, Instagram page @maldenhs_co23 posted the announcement detailing the themes of each day. “What better way to get into the holiday spirit than by having a HOLIDAY SPIRIT WEEK,” the post asked.

The first day, December 19th, was Merry Monday/Holiday Pajamas, with students showing up in a range from flannels to snowflake fleece pants. Many students leapt at the opportunity for a dress-down day and wore pajamas to school without judgment.

After school, starting at 3:00 pm, How the Grinch Stole Christmas was streamed in Cafe A with free admission. Once inside, concessions like snacks and water could be purchased. Funds from concessions would go towards the Class of ‘23, but the rest of the week “was not a fundraiser” and was instead “just to have fun,” according to Class Advisor Michael Lightbody.

Sweater Weather followed on Tuesday, and students wore a range from ugly Christmas sweaters to winter-themed hoodies. Blues, greens, and whites could be seen throughout the halls. Lightbody advertised that students could “come to the basketball game after-school and get concessions also sold by the senior class” on this day as well.

A common theme for school dress-up weeks includes a Flannel Day, which was no different this time around with Lumberjack Day. This day had the most student participation as most students already had readily-accessible clothing that fit the theme. Flannel tops, plaid pants, and anything of the sort could be seen at every turn in the halls.

Now more than halfway through the week, white flooded the halls with Winter Wonderland Day. Akin to Black-Out Day from Homecoming week, the prompt matched all students in white clothing for the wintery season ahead.

To end the week and school before break, Friday brought perhaps the silliest prompt of Crazy Hat Day. On a normal school day, students are not permitted to wear hats inside the building. An exception was made, though, for the three-hour school day just prior to the holiday break. Students came in with anything from wigs to tree toppers to

Santa hats.

As the week came to an end and the school transitioned into holiday break, students were not the only ones celebrating. MHS staff organized a series of holiday trivia for teachers. Every day for that week, staff members Ms. DeRosa and Ms. Alexis came onto the intercom to announce the question or puzzle for the day. Prizes included the usage of Principal Mastrangelo’s parking spot, a free yearbook, and much more.

While levels of excitement varied from teacher to teacher, several faculty members rushed to their phones at the start of the period to call down with the correct answers.

And a few came out victorious, gleefully claiming their prizes.

The idea behind the event, otherwise known as TeachMasKwanzaaChanukkah (Teacher/ Christmas/Kwanzaa/Chanukkah), was the same as the Holiday Spirit Week - to bring excitement and enthusiasm to the school before break.

Always a fan of theatrics, DeRosa alongside Alexis demonstrated holiday cheer every morning.

For both faculty and students, the enthusiasm and holiday cheer was most obvious when the bell rang at 11:00 and Mastrangelo wished everyone off to a great break.

Juniors Mahrianna Comin-Larmie and Dominic Nesta on Flannel Day. HASET TESFAW.

Junior Karen Reyes Martinez and Senior Michelle Dang on Crazy Hat Day. HASET TESFAW

2022 Comes to End With Spirit Week Haset Tesfaw Reporter

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Sophomore Yasmin Coelho on Pajama Day. HASET TESFAW

Freshmen Gabriella Lemus and Mailee To pose for a picture on pajama day.

HASET TESFAW

he holiday spirit week was a huge success as everyone had fun participating in all of the days throughout the week. The days of the spirit week were Merry Monday, a Holiday Pajama Day, Sweater Weather, an Ugly Sweater Day, Lumberjack Day, Winter Wonderland, Whiteout Day, and Crazy Hat Day. Many teachers and students had fun wearing their holiday clothes this week and there were smiles all around.

“This actually came from the officers. The officers had decided around Thanksgiving when we had the normal Thanksgiving football game type of spirit week. They thought that it would be nice that the week before break that we try to get people into a cheery mood and try to organize some fun things.

This can be a tough stretch for lots of reasons, you know the stress of holidays, and all that stuff so we thought we’d just try to get a diversion to help get us through these last few weeks,” Michael Lightbody, advisor of the Class of 2023, said explaining the thought process behind hosting this spirit week, “This wasn’t a fundraiser or trying to generate money for prom and things like that, we just wanted to have fun.”

The first day of spirit week was Merry Monday, a Holiday Pajama Day, which most students participated in. Many of them said it was

the easiest because a lot of students wear pajamas on other days that aren’t spirit week. This theme was definitely a lot of people’s favorite.

“The themes all came from the officers. We went back and forth on a couple and some of them… when you come to the holidays like ugly sweater day, it’s kind of a given. And obviously pajama day was kind of a given. We didn’t want to necessarily have it too much like the Thanksgiv-

ing Spirit Week so that’s where the idea of the whiteout, or the winter wonderland came and the idea of crazy hat day or tree topper. We wanted … to have a holiday theme and encourage not just like Christmas but any holiday that might take place,” Lightbody said. Overall, this pajama day was a fun and cozy way for students to start their week.

Freshmen Fiona Youmell, Rashmi K C, Sarah Fontaim, Michelle Shi, Mailee To, and Gabriella Lemus give eachother piggy-back rides for a photo on pajama day.

HASET TESFAW

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Malden High Students Watch World Cup Gabriel Fesehaie Head Copy Editor

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he green of a pitch emanated from Chromebooks galore.

Within every class, you could hear shouts of joy, cries of misery, and chant after chant. The FIFA World Cup departed from the high school almost as fast as it had come, but the impact was certainly passionate during its month of runtime.

Students came in with colorful football jerseys, scarves with messages were seen everywhere, and the atmosphere was often festive. Throughout the course of the tournament, the matches and the fanfare have had varying effects on the student body and the school as a whole, ranging from positive to distracting.

The opinion of most students was that the Cup was a positive experience. Christian Taipe, a senior, said that the cup was a “rare occurrence” (due to taking place in November/December), and that it was “important to try and watch as many games as possible.” This is corroborated by another senior, Eric Tang, who said that he was “happy for Argentina” after seeing the final and that the Cup made him “enjoy football once again.” Doubtless, there are many more examples like these two throughout the school.

The Cup could be seen in almost every room, every nook, every cranny, and, in intense periods, even in the auditorium. The times of matches were set in advance and were known to all: at the beginning,

there were matches at 5:00, 8:00, 11:00 in the morning, and 2:00 PM, meaning that for the majority of every school day, you could find a World Cup match to watch. Melissa Sullivan, an art teacher, was able to broadcast matches live in her class, due to the nature of the art class.

“Luckily in art, we can multitask, and [we can] get into the rhythm of producing artwork while kind of listening or kind of periodically watching something.”

There was a varied interest throughout Sullivan’s classes, but there was a level of interest in every class, and it was often indulged. If this can be used as an example, it is quite fair to say that the Cup generated a large amount of interest.

The Cup was so large that it inspired an entire Joy block dedicated to it. Jeremiah Smith, the coach of the boys soccer team at MHS, ran a Joy block dedicated to soccer appreciation and jumped at the chance to cover the Cup, saying that he hosted the block, “because of the unique situation that it was occurring during the school day and the amount of excitement throughout the school.” He also cited the ability of this block to keep the soccer team together in the offseason.

However, the Cup also brought some problems. Due to the location of the World Cup in Qatar, the timing of matches was entirely incompatible with our time zone. The consistent appearance of matches throughout the school day posed a struggle,

as students were split between the choice of doing their schoolwork and watching games, a choice in which many students decided to ignore their work and focus on the game.

Sullivan noted this phenomenon in her classes. “I think it distracted students from working because they really needed to watch.” This was also noted

by Taipe, saying that although he mainly focused on school, he “tried to find time to watch as many games as possible…[it] kind of affected my performance in school.” Smith also corroborated this, saying that it was “difficult to keep students on task.”

He recognized that he could not stop people from watching it completely.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime situation

as the tournament is usually run in the summer.” Although some students may have had problems striking a balance, others were able to enjoy the Cup without any major problems.

The ending of the Cup is the ending of a big fluke in international football. It is likely that we may never see another World Cup hosted during the school year for the rest of our lifetimes, if not ever. Especially in a school such as Malden High School, with its representation of many countries and peoples, it is quite hard to find a team in the Cup that wasn’t represented at MHS. It was truly an experience to remember.

Students in James Valente’s room watch a match of the World Cup. GABRIEL FESEHAIE

MHS Chorus Performs at Massachusetts State House Zachary Nedell Lead Reporter

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or the first time in two years, the Malden High Concert Chorus and Madrigals performed at the statehouse to celebrate and bring cheer with songs of the winter season.

Brian Vences, a junior and two-year member of the chorus, reflected on how large and majestic the building itself was: “It was really cool. That place has a lot of ring echo to where, if you hold the note, you’re going to hear that go through the halls because it’s all marble, and it’s just this vast open area.” He also remarked on its sound, saying that “it’s got great acoustics. It was just incredible.”

Adding to what he said, senior Alyssa Littlejohn shared that “my favorite memory was definitely the moment I hit the highest note in my solo of ‘I Wonder as I Wander.’ There is a slight pause, so just hearing that high note and the accompaniment of the choir just ring throughout the State House was just the most incredible sound and I took in every moment of it.”

Vences elaborated on the schedule that was laid out for them

Students and Staff from Malden High pose for photo with Staff from the statehouse. Photo submitted by Emmalyn Woods. that day. “So we arrived, we got settled for a little bit, and then we got tours of the State House. We got to go around the State House and see all of this stuff that happens and where all the senators… and the representatives and people work. We got to see all the flags, as they have a flag of every city in Massachusetts.

We looked at Malden’s flag and we

took some pictures and then we came back. We did some warm-ups and then we started our concert at around 12.”

Reflecting on a similar experience, Littlejohn said, “We got settled. Then, we split up for tours, which was about 40 minutes to an hour where we got to tour the State House… Afterward, we made our

way back to the grand staircase and we got ourselves organized. We warmed up a little bit because we had already warmed up before we left but we were getting used to the acoustics and we just touched upon a few things.”

Todd Cole, the choir teacher at Malden for 20 years, remarked on everyone’s reactions: “For some of them this was the very first time seeing just the building itself as it makes an impression on you. And then the acoustic in there. It’s just striking when a choir sings in there and gets that much ring, that much echo.”

When the show began, people began coming out of their offices to come to watch the Concert Choir perform on the grand staircase. If some could not, they opened their doors to hear the heavenly melody.

“We’re standing there for like an hour, hour and a half on hard marble stairs, singing,” Vences described.

Reflecting on the whole event, Cole stated that “I’m just grateful for all the support. Just the fact that they have this event for us to go sing at the State House.” Vences added on, saying, “Join Concert Choir and then when you do that, join the madrigals!”

Local News

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MHS Band Hosts Winter Instrumental Concert Nasuh Kacmaz Reporter

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he Malden High Band performed their yearly Winter Instrumental Music Concert on December 14th. They performed a total of nine songs. Six different groups came up after each other to perform different songs.

The audience loved the show: one audience member stated “I loved every single song! But my favorite was definitely ‘What a Wonderful World.’”

The songs played were “I Think I like When It Rains” by WILLIS, performed by The Rat King, “Where Is My Mind?” by Pixies, played by Power Rangers, “Yellow”

by Coldplay, performed by The Yard Sale, “A Childhood Hymn”

by David Holsinger and “Winter Fiesta” by Paul Jennings played by the Concert Band, “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong played by the Senior Chamber Group, and “Epic Venture Grant”, “Adagio Holsinger”, and “A Christmas Festival” played by the Wind Ensemble Group.

Another audience member said, “I was shocked when I saw one of my favorite songs on the list that they were going to play! Every group was awesome, I loved it!”

Lauren Foley, band teacher at Malden High, said the concert turned out pretty well. Three small ensemble groups, the Concert Band, and a senior chamber group each performed at the event.

“I’m very proud of the work they put in,” Foley said. “...and then we had a senior chamber group that performed a cool arrangement of ‘What A Wonderful World,’ that, I think, was really sweet. And then when an ensemble performed three

pieces, which I loved, all those pieces were so high energy. But especially the last piece is, like, one of my personal favorites.”

“We chose some of the pieces based on pieces I’ve played before.

Like the last piece that the wood ensemble played…I wanted to make sure that we had some type of winter songs for each year of the bands.

The small ensemble groups picked their o w n , senior

chamb e r groups picked t h e i r own.”

This performance has been a long t i m e coming for the b a n d and Ms. Foley, as they started to work on the concert in mid October.

It took them nearly three

months to prepare for the concert.

With the turnover of the school year, many new small ensembles were created within the band. For many of them “this is their first performance as groups. So they got the bass performance experience there…and then the concert band. I don’t think they have done anything like an after school concert due to COVID, so I think that was kind of the first for a lot of them.”

Looking ahead to the next concert, Fouley expressed how many members are “really excited for

All photos by Jessica Li.

the spring concert for whatever pieces they end up playing.” Fouley emphasized how “preparing for the spring concert is going to be a main focus for us moving forward.

The ensembles have a couple of field trips and special performances that they’re preparing for, such as the MICCA Concert Festival, and Music of The Parks, which I’m very excited for.”

At the end, every audience member left the auditorium with a smile on their face and the Christmas spirit around them.

The Yard Sale playing “Yellow” by Coldplay.

Freshman Phi Gold drums “Where Is My Mind?” by The Pixies.

Band teacher Lauren Foley addressing the crowd.

Malden High School’s 16th POL Competition Hajar Azegza Reporter Gabriela Parini Cordova Reporter

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oetry Out Loud is a contest where students recite a poem of their choice found within the competition’s official website. This contest allows students in grades nine through twelve to first perform

Junior Kisten Karanja recites her poem.

within their English class and then, if they win, to move on to the semifinals, where two winners will then be chosen from each class period.

This escalates until the winner of the finals moves on to the state and possibly national finals. The national finals consist of three rounds of competition, each requiring the students to recite one poem that they must stick with throughout the entire later part of the competition, as well as some additional ones with stricter criteria.

Although other schools may differ their practices, Malden High School takes the first place winners from every English class in the same period and holds the competition

for semi-finals in the auditorium.

The classmates of the winners and teachers attended to show support for their class winner. Each contestant performed the poem they had previously memorized.

While some were happy to just make it to the semifinals, some saw the opportunity to improve their performance. Although it may be nerve racking for most at first, others saw it as a second chance at surpassing their initial performance.

Schools all around the nation participate in this competition, and many students and teachers prepare for it differently. Sophomore Yanni Genene said she could recite her poem to the very last minute of the competition before her class, which she found very helpful. “I chose [a short poem] because I knew I would not be able to memorize anything longer,” adding, “but my teacher prepared us well by giving us time.

When I performed, everything went well, thankfully!”

How teachers chose to prepare their students for the competition also varies and will determine how the students present themselves.

Although many memorization tactics can work for different types of students, most students seem to favor the station work that some teachers assigned. These stations consist of all types of ways to memorize a poem and help participants better understand their poem so they can execute when it’s their time to perform.

One of these stations is to have a printed out copy of a poem to mark up where a stanza starts, ends, and pauses to add dramatic effect to the presentation of the poem.

With this same copy, students were challenged to read to a partner with and without it until they memorized it. One station which most teachers found the most helpful was writing the poem on a blank sheet of paper twice, as it is said writing something multiple times helps with memory.

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15 Let’s Get Ready Divina Wembi Head of Photography

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All photos by The Blue and Gold Staff.

LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM: Makeila Scott wins first place in Period 7 Semifinals; Mandy Man; Shaun Dearborn; Jadelini Mora recites “Manhunt or Ode to First Kisses” by Elizabeth Acevedo; Natalie Keating performs; Period 7 contestants; Ethan Tran; Makeila Scott recites “Thoughtless Cruelty” by Elijah Lamb; Theo Parena recites.

Most teachers also had students use the “Tips on Reciting” videos that are on the Poetry Out Loud website.

Jennifer Clapp, an English teacher at Malden High, said, “I do think it’s really important to have that experience of getting up in front of other people because that’s a lifetime experience you’re going to have to do that lots of different times in your life and the only way we get less anxious about that stuff is by doing it. So if you never do it, you never get less anxious about it, and it’s always going to be a big deal.”

Clapp added that she finds memorization to help and uses the strategy of stopping, looking at the poem, reciting it part by part, and finding the meaning of the poem.

She stressed that students think about the tone and how to reflect that through their bodies and voices.

They also watch slam poetry and

find techniques they could use. She said that “the more prepared you are, the less anxious you are” to help motivate nervous students and that with practice they have no reason to be nervous or scared.

Leanne Derosa, another English teacher at Malden High, added, “I think just performing and making yourself vulnerable to people is a really important skill and something I love to keep practicing.”

English teacher Anne Mooney offered a different opinion: “I think that the pandemic has made it really difficult for students to even just speak within small groups, and I think that Poetry Out Loud is quite jarring.”

She added, “I think it would be a great idea to spend a little more focus on getting students talking about literature and writing.”

When it comes down to picking

a winner, Mooney said that “the biggest thing is understanding the poem, because you could do a great performance with a ton of emotion, but if you misunderstood the poem, then it doesn’t really matter because your emotions are misplaced.”

It takes a lot of courage for one to go up and perform, but even having checked all of the criteria it can come down to the audience. Mooney noticed that, “unfortunately, not all of the audience members have that piece of empathy, so there were certain times where I felt students were on their phones or not paying attention.”

Notably, different students focused on one criteria and ones that incorporated everything. All in all, the contest went well, and it took a lot for these students to not only top their class, but also move on to the next level of competition.

s we get ready to begin the second semester of the year, the class of 2024 is starting their final journey in high school: the college application process.

On January 9th, there was an important information session about the Let’s Get Ready program for juniors that were interested in getting help with their college application next fall. The session was run in The College and Career Center in room B337 by councilors Karina Martinez and Michelle Sun. Let’s Get Ready (LGR) is a Virtual Access Program that is absolutely free, which removes any financial barrier to getting college access help. LGR not only provides college help through peer mentorship, goal setting, financial aid advising, among other things but also provides optional SAT exam prep to help juniors preparing to take their SATs soon.

They are virtual to account for students’ busy schedules, hence giving students more flexibility and choice on when to meet. This program is a resource that juniors can definitely utilize and benefit from.

Sun leads the virtual events, while Martinez helps with the preparation. She reached out to the manager of the LGR’s enrollment process, Pamela Hasbun. Sun took charge in spreading the word throughout the junior class through Google Classroom, Instagram posts, and creating the event on Naviance for students to register for. She also talked to guidance counselors to “ask them to inform their students as well in hopes more students would sign up and apply.”

The purpose of the information session was to “give insight to the Let’s Get Ready program and give them a chance to know what the program is all about before they apply.” This gave students the chance to learn about a program that can help them with applying to schools. Sun said that “This program is an amazing resource that juniors can definitely utilize and benefit from.”

For the students who missed the virtual event and want to take part in the next one, there will be tons of opportunities within the second semester. There will be trips to see universities nearby like Suffolk University and Boston University.

Starting on February 13th, there’s going to be a flex session for juniors. In March, there will be a Junior’s Day at the College and Career Center where students can register for SAT/ACT. This gives them the perfect opportunity to ask questions about applications.

Students who visit during the Junior Day will be entered in a raffle of a college sweatshirt of their choice.

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Movie Review Beatriz Oliveira Reporter

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lass Onion, released in 2022, is a movie sequel to the Knives Out movie which was released in 2019. On December 31st in 2022, I was mindlessly scrolling through social media when I stumbled upon a video advertisement for the movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

I was intrigued because I usually find many good shows and movies through media recommendations.

Although the movie was new, I was still surprised to see that it was on Netflix since it’s my main streaming service and I had not come across it before.

After eating dinner for New Years Eve, at around 10:00 PM, I finally had some free time and I found myself thinking about this movie again. I was bored with nothing to do on winter break. I was probably drawn to this movie because of its beachy vibes since I missed the summer already, but it looked like something I would enjoy watching.

The film begins with five of the main characters receiving a puzzling box from Miles Bron, also a main character, with an invitation

An official Glass Oninon: A Knives Out Mystery Movie Poster from Netflix to spend a long weekend on his private island to compete in solving his set-up murder mystery. The recipients of the box being Claire Debella, Lionel Toussaint, Birdie Jay, Duke Cody and Cassandra Brand aka Andi. One these characters chose to invite a master detective,

Benoit Blanc, to this venture without informing Miles which leads to much chaos throughout the movie.

Plot twist after plot twist, I could never imagine what would happen next. This film was unpredictable and full of suspense, never leaving me bored.

About ten years ago in the film Andi and her friends, the other recipients of the box, used to hang out at a bar called Glass Onion before they all became successful. Andi had met Miles and introduced him to her friends but Miles had the obsession of, “being responsible for something that gets talked about in the same breath as the Mona Lisa. Forever.”

From then on, he put his life’s work into making this phrase a reality which gives this story its roots. It was interesting to see that all of the characters and their backgrounds were all individually revealed in the film which only further developed the complicated story behind the Glass Onion.

I found that all the characters in the movie were completely different from each other. Claire is the governor for Connecticut, Lionel is a scientist and engineer, Birdie was a model, and Duke is a Twitch streamer. Though they were so different, Miles had gotten control over the lives of each character in a way.

This led detective Blanc to notice that every character on the island had a motive to end Miles’ life which turned the story into a real life murder mystery instead of just a game.

By the time the film had ended it was already midnight, making this the first movie I watched in 2023. If I could watch this movie for the first time again I would, but even rewatching it was fun because I was able to notice so many details that I had not paid attention to before. I’d recommend this movie to anyone, it was a fun and exciting watch which left me on the edge of my seat.

C₆H₁₂O₆ Sugar Nasuh Esat Kacmaz Reporter

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ver since I’ve come to the US, I have been seeing more and more of the same ingredient in almost all of the foods Americans eat: sugar.

It seems like no food could escape sugar’s wrath because I have been seeing “Incl. 20g Added Sugars” in almost every single packaged food I get my hands on.

It almost became a habit for me to check the “Nutrition Facts” in everything I consume. I would not eat something without checking if the producer company had sneaked in another 20 grams of sugar into the food that I am going to eat.

I’m not saying that you should avoid sugar completely. You should totally get some naturally occurring sugar from vegetables and fruits.

And actually you don’t even have to go full veggie-mode, but at least try to consume less of the “Added Sugars” which do not naturally occur in the ingredients of the food you’re consuming.

I think that being aware of the things you put in your mouth is very important and you should be careful about what you eat. Even the foods that are served in our school are full of sugar. Let me break down the sugar content of some of the foods that get served everyday at our school’s breakfast grab and go; BeneFIT Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars: There’s nothing close to fit nor beneficial in this bar. The funny thing is that they still try to advertise how the bar has “3 grams

of fiber per serving!” while having 20g of sugar as well. The whole thing is nearly 300 calories, that’s more than 3 bananas (for scale).

Dried Cranberries: A pack of this thing is 32 grams, and it has 22 grams of added sugar in it! You’re basically eating 5 teaspoons of sugar with added cranberries. Oh and there’s also a strawberry flavored version, why would you eat cranberries if you wanted to get the taste of strawberries? Raisins take the win right away against the dried cranberries in my opinion, they have nearly zero additives, zero added sugar and they actually taste like the fruit itself.

Delicious Essentials Chocolate Chip Muffin: Honestly these taste really good so I’m not going to roast them much. Although I have to say something about their advertising, I see lots of ads about how products use whole grains. Using 50% whole grain in your muffin while having 17 grams of sugar and nearly 200 calories would not help your blood pressure that much so try to avoid falling for advertisements like that.

Hood Chocolate Milk: One carton of these has 4 teaspoons of sugar in it. It calls itself an excellent source of calcium but you probably can get your daily need of calcium from other dairy products without added sugars or from vegetables.

Lucky Charms: Who eats cereal anyways?

Cheez-Its: It would sound cool for me to say that even Cheez-Its have added sugar in them but at

Photo from Wikipedia Commons least those don’t. Some kind of relief at last.

I think you get the general idea of what I’m trying to say here.

Honestly I love inspecting the nutritional facts of products so I’d like to review and roast more snacks but I don’t go out of my way to buy any. I think you shouldn’t either.

But what you can always do is to come to school early to get various fruits or other breakfast foods like bagels or croissants. I would like to go into detail about the ingredients on the hot breakfast foods but since they’re not packaged and have their nutritional info on them, I can’t.

We have varieties of different foods for our lunch that change almost every day, I again would love to get into detail on those but I can not know the ingredients without the nutrition facts unless our school gave me a special tour of the kitchen of our school, then I would be able to write a sequel to this article!

I’m also really angry about misinterpreted or outright false advertising. I see lots of products that

advertise how they are “Excellent Sources!” (Just like the chocolate milk and the chocolate muffins). An ice cream would advertise how it is an excellent source of calcium while having 30 grams of sugar per serving with 340 calories.

A juice carton that’s being served at our school would say “100% Apple Juice” with a huge text on it and you would barely be able to see the “with added ingredients” at the bottom. 100% apple juice is supposed to mean no added ingredients in my opinion.

Products that get to use the “Excellent Source” label have to have more than 20% of said nutrient. But I would suggest that you don’t eat 3 pints of Ben and Jerry’s frustratingly-long-named ice cream to get in your daily need of calcium just because you saw “Excellent Source of Calcium” on the box. The only excellent thing you would get after that would be 4200 calories.

I would not suggest that you get your vitamin C from packaged food that has the label “Excellent

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Entertainment

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Superache Conan Gray Album Review Ace Showstead Reporter

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ith three albums out now, the singer Conan Gray released Superache in late June of 2022, which hit number 9 on the US Billboard charts. It didn’t get as high as his second album, Kid Krow, which had placed number 5 on the charts.

Superache still got a lot of love, though. As the album name suggests, most of the songs are about heartbreak, romantic or platonic relationships.

“Movies”: “Movies” is about being in love with someone but it may not be enough. The singer claims how he’s “Falling in love with a damn fantasy,” and knows that his dreams about this person won’t become reality. The romantic interest in the song is still involved with their ex, and seems to show apathy towards Gray, not caring much about him or his emotions.

He notices this, and points it out in the song. Gray sings how “baby, this ain’t like the movies,” saying that romantic relationships can not be perfect like how they are in films, no matter how much we wish they were.

“People Watching”: “People Watching” is about craving romance, or a relationship with somebody else, but not wanting to go through with it. The singer expresses how he wants somebody to connect with, someone he loves who will love him back and share his feelings with.

Since the singer can’t seem to find the connection he is looking for, he experiences it through other people’s lives, as said in the lines, “I’m only looking just to live through you vicariously/ I’ve never really been in love, not seriously.” There are also hints of self-sabotage, where Gray reveals that he is nervous to put himself out there and “cuts people out like tags on his clothing.”

“Disaster”: “Disaster” is about the fear of being rejected romantically, and overthinking about it. The singer lists various ways in which things could get entirely messed up and focuses on them. In general, this song has themes of anxiety and the singer tends to fear the worst is going to happen if he shares his feelings with the person he is interested in. He is torn between telling them— because things could go well—but at the same time he knows that it could go terribly wrong.

“Best Friend”: “Best Friend” is simply about friendship. The “best friend” that the singer is talking about is very important to them and someone in which they would do anything for. The singer lists multiple scenarios where he expresses this. His emotions are conveyed in a lot of the verses in the song, especially the line “Everybody knows I love you so, so, so, so much.” The friendship between the two people is so close that everyone knows how

Photo from Getty Images much they care for each other. They are proud to be best friends and to call each other such.

“Astronomy”: The song “Astronomy” is about a long distance relationship in which the two people in the relationship are drifting apart.

The singer reflects on the nice aspects of it, but, in the end, he feels that he and the other person shouldn’t be together anymore. There is regret in moving away from each other, since that was the main reason why the two separated. Although the singer seems like splitting up is the right choice, the other person does not.

The two disagree on the decision to separate. Gray sings, “Stop trying to keep us alive/You’re pointing at stars in the sky that have already died.”

“Yours”: The song “Yours” is about not being chosen first, or not being enough for somebody, specifically a romantic interest. The person the singer is addressing only interacts with him if he’s one of their last choices. The singer seems like he would do anything for the person he loves, but they brush it off, or don’t give him any attention. This is told in the lines, “Cause I could give you all you want, the stars and the sun/ But still, I’m not enough.”

The singer feels insignificant to the person, and desperately wants their love and approval, but he knows that they’re not interested.

“Jigsaw”: “Jigsaw” is about changing yourself for somebody or the people in general. With lines like “You take every part of me, all of the things you need/ Then the rest, you discard”, “Pointing out my flaws doesn’t help”, and “Why don’t you love me?”, it shows the despair and frustration in the song in how the singer has to change himself for people to like him. He just wants to make people happy, but they don’t appreciate him for who he is. This song is one of the more emotional and open songs on this album, and Gray seems to pour his heart out in his vocals.

“Family Line”: “Family Line” is a more personal song of Gray’s.

It is about his childhood and family life growing up, and how unstable

it was. His parents divorced when he was three, and the song outlines the struggles he had as a child because of this.

In the song he conveys his lack of forgiveness to his parents about the negative events he had throughout his child-

hood. His experiences have caused him to have specific flaws and anxiety over certain things. One of the singer’s fears is being abandoned, displayed in the line, “Cause now I’m scared that everyone I love will leave me.” This worry is most likely caused by his parents’ divorce.

“Summer Child”: In the song “Summer Child”, the singer is addressing the people who can relate to him or the things he is singing about. The person/people he is addressing wear(s) a mask of happiness to hide inner feelings like sorrow or loneliness. This is expressed in multiple lines such as, “But there’s darkness behind those eyes/ Even when you smile” and “You don’t have to act like all you feel is mild.” The person the singer is communicating to seems to have a calm and joyful personality, as displayed in the line “And you laugh and you dance in the wind”, but is weighed down by more damaging emotions.

The adresse tends to help others before helping themselves.

“Footnote”: “Footnote” is about doing anything to make someone like you back. In this song, the singer had actually confessed to the person about his feelings for them, but the person rejected him. It seems they stayed friends, though. “So I’ll stop

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

being pretentious and loathing our friendship.” This line expresses how the singer acts towards the person because of the rejection. He is hostile and hesitant towards just being friends with the person, but he can’t change their feelings towards him.

This is conveyed in the lines, “You told me that patience won’t change how you felt/For me”.

“Memories”: “Memories” is about the singer not wanting to see his ex anymore and wanting to distance away from them. The singer is trying to get over them and their not-so-great relationship. His ex wants to get back together while he wants to keep them in his memories and nothing more than that. The singer seems to have a soft spot and feels bad for his ex, though, because when they come running to him, he lets them into his home. In the line “I can’t turn away a wet dog”, he is referring to his ex which shows that he pities them and feels bad that they’re having a hard time. He can’t resist helping them, like how he would feel if a wet dog showed up at his door.

“The Exit”: “The Exit” is about an ex of the singer’s, and how he feels that they broke up when things weren’t over for them, how they still may have had a connection. The singer displays his jealousy at “a girl who’s not him”, which is the current person dating the singer’s ex.

He feels that his ex got over him so quickly, while he can’t let go of their relationship. In the song, the singer repeatedly says “I’m still standing at the exit.” This means that he is hesitating to accept that he and his ex are splitting up, and “The Exit” is referring to the end of their relationship. He is at the exit, not wanting to go through, not wanting to break up.

Superache is Gray’s newest album. Even though he only has three out, Gray’s fans think his music has potential. Fully coming to light in 2020, he is still somewhat of a new artist and has a long musical career ahead of him.

Sports

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REMM Boy’s Hockey Clash Gymnastics Team Leaps Against Somerville in a GBL Face-Off into the New Season Edmund Kam Reporter

W

ith the arrival of the winter season, the gymnastics team

is ready to spring back into action.

Last season, the team finished as Greater Boston League Champions.

Despite the fact that many of the gymnasts had never done gymnastics before, assistant coach Michael Nicholson was amazed “to see all of our athletes progress as the season [went] on.”

Practices are held every day in the gymnastics room. The first thing they do is stretch. Nicholson emphasized how vital stretching was, stating, “Flexibility is one of the most important skills in gymnastics.”

Afterward, gymnasts split out to practice their events, and at the end, they come together to discuss their routines and end practice with conditioning.

On January 10th, the team had its first meet against Medford. Some events they had were “vault, uneven bars, floor, and beam.” Although they did not win, Nicholson expressed that he was proud of everyone, especially those who had never competed before and those who “come to practice every day and give their all.”

One area Nicholson noticed that needed improvement was the little details when they performed, such as “pointing toes and having clean jumps, twists, and turns.” But, he is optimistic the improvements “will come in time.” Moreover, their “progress of skills” has been significant.

Nelson Jiang, one of the senior captains who has been a part of the gymnastics team for several years, stated his goal for this season is to ensure “the team is on the right track.”

Although there were few returning gymnasts, an influx of new people joined this year. Jiang hoped the new gymnasts would stay on the team.

Jiang revealed that one challenge they faced during the first couple of weeks was the gymnasts being uncomfortable with each other. He added that “the team bond has increased” since then.

Nicholson’s message for the gymnasts is to “keep up the great work, everyone!”

Malden player Jacky Summers wrestles with a Somerville player for the puck. NATHAN DEAN. Ryan Coggswell Reporter

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lthough ice hockey is not a popular sport at Malden High School, a few students are up to the task of the toughness and grit seen in one of Boston’s most iconic pastimes.

Since the school is unable to field an entire team of players, they have combined with a few neighboring schools: Revere High School, Everett High School, and the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School.

Known as Team REMM (Revere, Everett, Mystic Valley, Malden), they also go by Everett/Rev and play their home games at the Allied Veterans Memorial Rink in Everett. Only four players on the Malden player Jacky Summers passes the puck. NATHAN DEAN. team are from Malden: forward captain Jake Simpson, defenseman John riding a two-game win streak into was an immediate momentum shift “Jacky” Summers, and the team’s the matchup. that may have just saved the game only two goaltenders: Benjamin The game began similarly to the for the team. During the rest of the “Ben” Rosa and Aaron Al-Marayati. last contest with Somerville control- period, the teams exchanged power The team has won four of their ling the puck very nicely. Still, Team plays but no shots were between the first seven games, three coming REMM looked slightly better and iron and the first period ended with in blowouts against Lynn and one was able to keep the Highlanders Somerville holding a 2-1 advantage. against Timberlane Regional. They from scoring for the first 6 minutes. While Somerville dominated the dropped close games to Medford Then, a penalty was called to put first 8 minutes, Team REMM reand Somerville before barely fall- Somerville on the power play that sponded in the last half of the period ing in overtime to Bridgewater. For they ended up capitalizing on with and looked solid. their eighth game of the year, Mal- 8:46 left in the first period. After the During the first intermission, den went on the road for a rematch goal, REMM was called for a hook members of the Somerville Youth with the Somerville Highlanders at and immediately went back on the Hockey program played a quick Veterans Memorial Rink. penalty kill. Once again, the High- five-minute exhibition game. The In their first matchup on Janu- landers capitalized and brought the crowd was very entertained by the ary 4th, which was also at Somer- score to 2-0 just under seven minutes play as the young kids put on a ville, Team REMM looked sluggish into the game. great show. on the ice. It was their first game in With the momentum roaring in The second period started in three weeks and it showed as the the other direction, something big the same way the first ended with Highlanders dominated puck pos- needed to happen for REMM to get great REMM control. After three session and won the game 4-1 de- back in the game. Just 42 seconds minutes, Everett forward and capspite a solid performance from Rosa later, Malden’s Summers took a in the crease. This game should be a slapshot from the point that found Continued on page 20 different story, however, as they are the top corner to narrow the lead. It

Sports

The Blue and Gold Janurary - February 2023

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maldenblueandgold.com

Is Baseball Dying in America?

Bo Stead Reporter

T

hroughout history, baseball has always been regarded as “America’s national pastime.”

However, many people would have a hard time finding that title to be appropriate for the sport. Let’s be honest—baseball is by no means the most popular sport in America; most Americans would rather watch an NFL game or an NBA game due to the excitement involved in one.

Baseball, year by year, is losing supporters in America, and the blame can be pointed in a couple of directions. Perhaps it is the marketing of the brand and sport at the professional level, or maybe it is the sports’ appeal to younger children.

Either way, both sides of the argument have been doing a very poor job of helping the sport grow.

If you look at baseball at the youth level, Little League once reigned supreme. The national program was once the clear leader of youth sport participation in America. Despite this, these numbers have declined steadily in the past years.

According to a study conducted

by Aspen Institute, the number of children aged 13-17 who regularly played baseball dropped down 16.8% between 2019-2020. This may be because baseball is too slow for the attention spans of young children who would rather be running up and down a basketball court or lacrosse field.

This unprecedented decline of the sport is vast around the country and no one is really sure who to blame. Some blame other popular spring sports on the rise like lacrosse. Others blame the popularity of clubs, where families pay thousands of dollars to give their child “top tier” training, which is really just a business. Costs of equipment have also risen, which turns many lower-class children and families away from the sport which is a huge portion of the demographic in sport participation.

However, another common belief among baseball enthusiasts is that there are problems with the game itself. Sports fans live for action and love big plays and shots

Ronald Acuña Jr. scores the Braves first run from Nationals vs. Braves at Nationals Park, September 12th, 2020.Photo by (All-Pro Reels Photography) found on Wikimedia that will be on the Sports Center the ment, there have been several rule next morning. Unfortunately, base- changes implemented to cut down ball does not frequently produce time, such as pitch clocks which highlight-level plays. limit the time between each pitch.

This common conception that Baseball has always been a baseball is too slow is agreed upon game of intelligence. As baseball by many sports lovers in America. legend Yogi Berra once said, “BaseMany say that they cannot just sit ball is 90 percent mental. The other down and watch a baseball game. half is physical.” Baseball at all levAccording to a study by the Wall els is entering an age where some Street Journal, on average, the actual players are judged solely based duration of the ball in play is about on quantifiable numbers, through 18 minutes if you were to take a stats that seem so obscure but mean stopwatch and stop and start at each a great deal to a team and player stoppage of play. performance. For this reason of Surprisingly, the NFL averages complexity, many people turn from about 11 minutes of active play. De- baseball. spite this, the factor which puts the All of this considered, unNFL above and beyond the MLB is doubtedly the biggest focus in tothe highlight plays. Everyone loves day’s MLB is the conflict between seeing two guys jump for a ball on two types of baseball fans. One side a deep throw in football, but no one is those who embrace the “unwritwould really care about someone ten rules of baseball,” a set of rules diving for a ball in baseball. that have been followed since the Baseball at the professional creation of the sport, such as being level for a long time was simply classy to your opponent, not making not very marketable. Perhaps if you friends with the other team, and not asked a child in the 1940s-1970s showing up the other team when who their favorite athlete was, some you make a big play. would say Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, This brings us to the point that or Hank Aaron. However, if you ask not all hope is lost for baseball proa young person today who their fa- fessionally. Countless young playvorite sports star was, they will like- ers who are now entering the major ly say someone like LeBron James, leagues, starting in the late 2010s, Shaquille O’Neal, Rob Gronkowski, are exactly what the MLB needed. or Patrick Mahomes. The main This revitalization of the sport reason is that in the middle of the instilled a new generation of youth twentieth century through World into the league, which in turn proWars and other conflicts, people duced younger viewers to watch fell back on baseball as an escape, the exciting and flamboyant young and things like baseball cards were athletes. These young players also sold nationwide. In the present day, have off-field personalities and simsomeone would much rather go and ply play the game the way it was watch an NFL game due to the hype meant to be played by having fun. around it that professional baseball Not turning it into some sort of borsimply lacks. ing and serious event where everyThere is a certain romance of one seems deflated. Some examples baseball that only those who truly of people we can thank for this are know the game can understand. players like Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Each baseball game is like a chess San Diego Padres, Ronald Acuña match as there is no running clock Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, or Bryce and the possibilities of the game are Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies. endless. Games may last two hours, People fall in love with these some may last five, and the start of guys because they make you want every baseball game is a new page to to watch the game by having flashy an open book that no one can tell the bat flips and talking trash. While outcome of. Recently, in attempts to some would consider this unsportsrestore more action in the game and manlike, a lot of people love the give fans more game-day excite- competitive and fiery spirit these

guys have within them. In addition to this, before this era of youth, many players did not associate with players from other teams, even if they knew them their whole lives.

However, knowing these guys are just kids on a field having fun and producing tons of highlights which people love to see. Viewership for the MLB has actually had a slight uptick after a decline in recent years.

One final reason that baseball can actually hold its group is because of how many international players are now in the sport. In countries such as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Venezuela, baseball is like a religion.

Kids live and breathe baseball in these places like young Americans once did. Their love for the game has produced some of the biggest names in the sport today and is bringing entirely new countries to come and watch the sport.

Most recently Shohei Ohtani, regarded to be the best player in the MLB and a generational talent, is a Japanese-born pitcher who can also hit home runs which is perhaps the rarest thing in the sport. With this, he has kept the strong cultural connection between Japan and baseball that other Japanese players before him such as all-time great Ichiro Suzuki created and have made baseball the most popular sport in Japan, in addition to the increasing number of MLB players originating from there. This has been so crucial for the growth of the sport globally.

In short, baseball has hit a crossroads in America. It can choose to keep its old ways and sizzle out from what was once a great flame, or take the new path and follow other leagues to instill excitement in the youth and growth of the sport. While the future of baseball in America may remain uncertain, it is an exciting time to be an MLB fan, with many of these young players coming in and stealing the show to deliver entertaining baseball. So, until the fun stops, baseball will not die.

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels during a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 10, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo in WikiMedia

by Keith Allison

Sports

20 Boys Hockey

Continued from page 18

tain David Saia netted a backhander into the left side of the goal to tie the game. The rest of the period would be dominated by the REMM side, but they never ended up finding the net. Rosa made a few good saves to hold the score at 2-2 heading into the second intermission. The score was 2-1 entering the third period in these teams’ first matchup, but Somerville scored 2 goals in a dominant final period.

It began in favor of the home crowd. Saia was called for a questionable interference penalty just two minutes into the period. Soon after, a beautiful screening by three Highlanders left Rosa unable to see the slapshot that deflected off his arm into the net. Somerville had scored all three goals on the power play so far.

Once again, Team REMM responded. They dominated puck possession after the goal before Revere captain and defenseman Chris Cecca came through with a huge wrist shot to tie the game with 10:58 remaining in the game. The team’s energy was through the roof as they jumped into the boards in celebration.

Unfortunately, a penalty left the REMM side on a penalty kill once again. This time, however, Rosa made some big saves and they fought off the penalty. The clock continued to wind down and only four minutes remained.

With just under three minutes to go, it looked like the away side would pull off the upset. After driving into the corner, Saia received a wide-open pass in front of the net.

A quick wrister just sailed wide left and Somerville took a counter-attack back down the ice. The deflected puck just missed the net for them as well. With just ten seconds left in the game, Somerville took a hard shot but Rosa made a huge save to force overtime.

Overtime was short-lived.

Team REMM took one possession down the ice but did not get a shot on the net. Then, Highlander Richie Gaskin made a few great moves down the ice including one on Rosa to open up the net allowing for an easy game-winner only 27 seconds into overtime. For the second time this year, Somerville took down Team REMM. Overall, it was a solid performance from the away crowd. While the first game was a struggle all the way through, this contest was a dogfight between the two teams.

This game would have ended differently if it weren’t for the many penalties that Somerville capitalized on.

Discipline wins games and tonight, it won for the Highlanders.

Summers was watching tape from the game the next day, saying, “there is so much that we could do better. We should have won last night.” He was quite disappointed by the loss knowing how close they came to victory.

“I disagreed with a lot of calls,” he mentioned. “I put some

The Blue and Gold Janurary - February 2023

Girls Cheerleading

maldenblueandgold.com

Photos by Zachary Nedell.

Zachary Nedell Lead Reporter olding strong and stable, with pompoms waving passionately, the cheer team continues to march loudly and proudly through their winter season with their new coach Jasmine Dessert. With success behind and ahead of them, they have been leaping over obstacles to bring energy to the crowds and motivate the basketball team.

Kimberly Smith, a sophomore participating in her second year, commented on how “this season has been actually really great. This year, we had a new coach and everything has been working a little bit differently and I feel like we all work better together and we’re all motivated to become a better team,” she reflected saying “we’ve made progress in this last year.”

The performances of the cheer team at games is a spectacle to behold as they do stunts like cradles

and baskets or they’ll come up the stands and cheer right next to spectators, really bringing up the energy of the crowd to root for their home team.

Dessert has had a great time detailing how “I’ve only coached the younger kids so it’s really exciting to coach the high school age because as a teacher that’s the age range that I am most comfortable with. And I really like just being around the team and hearing about their school life, their personal life, and how cheer intertwines with that.”

Commenting on the season so far Dessert said “we’ve had a pretty good season. You know, we’ve changed a lot of things and I would say Malden definitely has a different sound and a different look.

Our cheers are completely different than what they’re used to as they’re not as traditional. I would say compared to previous years, and what kind of cheers we’ve been doing.

We’ve incorporated a lot of stompand-shake cheers, which are more southern-driven. I thought it would be a nice change to bring to Malden just to change things up because we are so diverse. So I incorporated a little bit of that. I let the girls kind of make up their own cheers as well.

So it’s more like we’re not just passing down traditional cheers, we’re also incorporating a little bit of us and creating a legacy.”

Adding on, captain and senior, Ava Conroy said, “It’s been really good. Everyone’s working together.” She reflected, “I feel like being a captain and teaching the team new things also teaches me how to be a better person.”

In the end, the team has strong willpower and even stronger energy to bring the school together as a whole. They will continue to give it their all and are always looking forward to the next game that they will help to hype up.

of the blame on the referees for that game.” Three out of four Somerville goals came on the power play with some of them being on extremely questionable plays, including the aforementioned Saia interference that gave the Highlanders their third goal.

Simpson was also disappointed. “We need to score on more of our chances and stop more of theirs,” he mentioned. One thing that he wants the team to work on is controlling the puck in front of the net. He feels that “half of the time” a good pass goes through the slot they

“mishandle or whiff on the puck.”

While it was not the best result for the Malden players on Team REMM tonight, they are always mproving and are looking to bounce back this season. Now sitting at 4-4, they have a serious chance of earning a spot in the state tournament.

H

Sports

The Blue and Gold Janurary - February 2023 maldenblueandgold.com

Swim Team Remains Undefeated Bo Stead Reporter

M

alden High School’s swim team continues to be a strong competitor in the Greater Boston League and the state. At the time this article was written, the Golden Tornados swim team boasted a 3-0 record picking up a home win against Bishop Fenwick, resulting in a score of 84-77. Additionally, the team also emerged successful in two away meets against Medford (85-74) and Lynn Classical (77-50).

time, but hopefully I can get a new best time sometime soon.”

There also seems to be a common goal around the locker room as much of the team seems to be very pleased with their performance as a whole, but there is still room to push for more improvement. Nathan noted that the team’s “cheering was very strong,” however, he also pointed out that there were some technical errors that will need to be “cleaned up” for future success.

Head Coach Jessica Bisson

tains and recognizes the challenge that comes with the leadership role.

“It’s really finding a balance between being a captain and being a teammate at the same time and finding that balance, but I think they’re doing really well working into that role.” Bisson concluded that it will be important for this year’s captains to have the same “connection with the team as last year’s captains.”

Joslyn explained that “I want to become more open to the team, someone whose teammates can reach out to, and definitely become more of a leader. My goal is to make states in my relay and hopefully try to cut some time off most of my races and possibly make sectionals in backstroke.”

Bisson described the team as “resilient” and through the pandemic, and pools closing, they were able to “go with the flow, and bounce back from everything.” Bisson also highlighted “Nimon Jusufi, I’ve seen a lot of improvement in his breaststroke.”

Malden High’s swim team of last year had a great season and when asked about the differences that can be noticed from last year, Nathan believes “The team looks way better than last year. I feel like the depth on this team feels like we can be unstoppable.” Bisson, also discussing last year’s team, stayed optimistic, saying, “I have a lot of new swimmers on the team this year. So, from last year to this year, I definitely have seen technique-wise a lot of improvement in the swimmers that I’ve seen before.”

There are high hopes for the team’s success this season. Bisson stated that she noticed “we have a lot of strength coming in and we just want to build off of that.” Joslyn also promoted the idea that it would be crucial for the team to “be more connected as a whole for the season.”

“It makes me really happy to see that we have such a strong team culture,” said, Nathan. Bloom is also eager to “show new swimmers how much fun swimming as a sport is.”

There was a common agreement among all swimmers that they wanted to be able to win the Greater Boston League and have another impressive season. It sure looks that way as the team remains confident in their personal abilities and teamwork as a whole.

The team celebrates their win against Bishop Fenwick in their first meet of the season. JESSICA LI. In the meet versus the Bishop explained that the team needed to Fenwick Falcons, seventh grader work on “consistency.” Bisson also Sophie Tran shined, having the best went on to say how she “works a lot time for Malden in the state 100-me- on the small details technique-wise. ter butterfly. Her sister Hailey Tran So they have to really make sure that also had a strong showing, hav- they are focusing on those small deing the top time for Malden in the tails in practice.”

200-meter Individual Medley, which However, these comments is a race consisting of four styles of did not come without praise for swim: breaststroke, backstroke, but- the team, as Bisson noted that “it’s terfly, and freestyle. just a really good team community.

They’re very close-knit. They really support each other. I think that’s just something that really helps the team grow.”

Bloom agreed that the team is “confident to win the GBL.” He also noted that he believes that he is coming into his role as a captain quite well, despite only being a second-year swimmer. “I’ve been going to the swim clinics and helping out A swimmer during a relay race. a lot of people there and we’ve also JESSICA LI. been communicating a lot with the Senior Nimon Jusufi had the team,” Bloom remarked. best time for the Golden Tornados Nathan said that his personal in the 100-meter breaststroke, while goal was to “make sectionals and sophomore Joslyn Nguyen and sestate cuts, coming off pneumonia.” nior captain Nathan Nguyen were He is also pleased with how he has the best of the Malden swimmers in been doing well as a captain, but it is their individual races of 500-meter “a lot to manage, but I’m very proud freestyle and 100-meter backstroke, of it.” Bisson is happy with the caprespectively.

Joslyn is satisfied with her performance individually so far, noting that she thinks she “did pretty well, considering it’s early in the season I think there’s definitely areas I can improve in.” Nathan shares a similar feeling, stating, “I had a couple of really strong performances out there, I was putting in 100%.”

Also a senior captain, Liam Bloom believes that he has had a good start to the season, but not great. Bloom, when recalling a moment from the first meet included that, “my goggles fell off, but I only got one second slower than my best Junior Joyce Zhou during the 200 meter freestyle. JESSICA LI.

21 Sugar

Continued from page 16

Source Of Vitamin C!” on it while you could have just eaten a kiwi and got over %130 of your daily need of vitamin C. I know that packaged food is easy to access and eat anywhere at any time while eating clean requires cooking skills and the willpower to be accountable for yourself but you need to at least acknowledge the consequences of regular consumption of junk and take action.

After getting so frustrated with my eating habits, I decided to do an experiment on myself to discover food’s secrets. I didn’t eat anything until dinner time for two weeks (basically fasting) to see how it would affect me. Everyone (including me) would think it would ruin your productivity but it turned out to be quite the contrary. I was so focused on my work that I rarely realized that I was hungry. I have done so much work in those two weeks that I get amazed at myself when I look back.

I could read books without zoning out even once. At a certain point, because you know that you’re not going to eat anything you don’t even feel that much hunger. There is a certain amount of stress on you given to you by your body to think about when and what you’re going to eat next. When you’re eating nothing you feel some kind of relief in your mind.

I would suggest everyone fasting or intermediate fasting for a period of time to see the outcome for themselves. But I don’t think that this kind of eating is sustainable in our environment. There are certain times for you to get lunch or breakfast in our school and there’s a certain time for dinner at home too.

Even though fasting seems hard I highly suggest that you try it for a while.

If you’re not willing to try intermittent fasting but you would still like to change some things about your diet, try adding foods rather than subtracting others. If you’re eating junk everyday, do not try not to eat junk, try to eat more of the better foods. You used to eat pizza everyday? Still eat your pizza for dinner but try to eat a fruit beforehand. Then later on you could change a single meal in your day to a healthier option. Do not go all out on the first day of your diet, then it is certain that you will fail.

And at the end, why are you taking advice from me anyways?

I’m just a guy from your local newspaper.

Take a look at this great Ted Talk that won the Ted Prize about American food by Jamie Oliver.

Sports

22

The Blue and Gold Janurary - February 2023

maldenblueandgold.com

Indoo r Track Leaps Into a New Season

Junior Abigail Morrison competing in the 55 meter hurdles. NATHAN DEAN

Hadjar Yousfi Reporter

T

he 2022-2023 Indoor Track Season at Malden High School has finally come to an ambitious start.

Despite this, the team has already faced some bumps in the road.

The Malden Golden Tornadoes, unfortunately, lost their very first meet against Medford last Wednesday the 14th, but it is not a secret that the team will not let this define or hold them back.

The MHS track team is well

known throughout the school for being large and welcoming. Each year they have a staggering number of both new and returning players, and with their constantly growing environment, they work hard to grow and learn

Junior Thora Henry competing in the high jump—she would go on to win the event. NATHAN DEAN

Check out our new podcast episode “Updates on Boston Sports”

together.

Many of the runners such as junior Rolando Mejia have concrete goals this season. Mejia hopes to get below 3 minutes for his 1000 meters, and below 5:30 for his mile.

He also wants to encourage his team to “keep putting in the effort to improve.”

Returning junior Thora Henry’s goal is to see the team “building on the strength that we already have and improving in areas that might have held us back in the past.” Henry started Track last year and enjoys the thrill of competing alongside other runners.

Even though the season has not started off the way that the team had hoped for, they have not let this hold them back. Nicholas Duggan, a returning junior, hopes that the team will continue to push itself.

“Even if you push yourself a little at a time, the small increments add up,” Duggan said encouragingly.

Henry also sends some kind words of encouragement to her teammates. “Always go into meets with a clear mind and try your best.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. We all have to start somewhere, and with practice, you will get better!”

Last year the team made it quite close to winning the GBL, so finally attaining that title is a shared goal amongst the runners. Emma Spignese-Smolinsky explained that her goal is for them to win what they just missed out on last year, but she also just hopes to meet some of her personal goals such as breaking 14:30 for her 2-mile.

With the start of the new season, many runners are seeing this as a chance to work on themselves.

Such as Henry, who feels as though “track is a way to better myself both physically and mentally.”

Duggan feels as though track “is a sport that allows you to push past what you are currently capable of while simultaneously keeping you in shape.”

The team has some high hopes for this year and looks forward to improving. They plan to work hard in hopes of possibly being crowned GBL Indoor Track champions, which they are sure to achieve with their hard work and dedication. So long as they stay optimistic, it does not matter what this season throws at them. “This season is gonna be great,” Mejia affirmed with confidence.

Sports

The Blue and Gold Janurary - February 2023

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maldenblueandgold.com

Yak Leads Girls Team to Win over Whittier Bo Stead Reporter

D

espite falling to two division rivals, the Malden High Girls Basketball team has found its stride, posting wins against Everett, Salem, and Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School. Malden, in a home contest at the Finn Gym versus the Whittier Wildcats, posted a 51-43 score in the matchup.

The first quarter would have been thrilling to watch for anyone who loves defense, as both teams contested almost every single shot in the defensive zone. Neither team seemed to have their touch on shots beyond the arc, as many bounced off the rim and out.

The Golden Tornados starting center, senior Anna Yak, was a vacuum on offensive and defensive rebounds, snagging several secondchance points to steadily push Malden up to an early first-quarter lead.

However, this early success did not come without its perils. As the game progressed, the Wildcats began to drive to the basket for a layup rather than shoot it from distance. This proved effective as Whittier Tech’s point guard Maddy Dawkins, who contributed 12 points to the team, drew several shooting fouls under the basket.

Malden began to adopt the same strategy as key offensive players such as Tori Gammon and Anna Yak, who shot several free throws to increase the Malden lead.

Perhaps the most entertaining element of the Golden Tornados game plan was their crisp passing around the court. The entirety of the team out there seemed to be patient and unselfish with the basketball.

Before the end of the half, threes began to fall for Malden after the rough spell as Sophomore Point Guard Kimberly Tropnas became a sharpshooter with two quick threes before the end of the half.

As the ball got rolling in the third quarter, a frightening scene would unfold on the court as a scoring leader and captain Tori Gammon took a harsh fall to the

floor after lunging for a ball in an attempt to reclaim it prior to a steal.

Gammon unfortunately was taken off the court by medical staff and could not finish the game. However, the Golden Tornados persisted through this adversity of losing a starter, as they still posted a doubledigit lead moving into the third quarter.

The fourth quarter seemed like it would be a breeze for the Golden Tornados, having dominated the Wildcats on both ends throughout the game. This would not be the case as the resilient Whittier team began to capitalize on Malden’s defensive miscues and take advantage of some miscommunications. Time ticked off the clock for what seemed like a blink for Whittier and hours for Malden.

Whittier kept scoring, with forward Angel Efosa leading the charge with eight points.

Malden coaches called a muchneeded timeout to regroup the team after Whittier cut the lead to striking distance, to just an eight-point game. Before the lead could get any closer, Malden captain Angie Colon decided to take matters into her own hands, pushing past Whittier’s defense for a pair of layups and a mid-range shot alongside Anna Yak with several crucial buckets in crunch time. Malden had crushed the hopes of a Whittier comeback as the clock ran out and Malden had earned their hard-fought victory.

The top three scorers for Malden were Anna Yak with an efficient 18 points, Tori Gammon, despite playing two and half quarters with an impressive 14 points, and Kimberly Tropnas with 10.

Whittier’s top performers went as follows: Angel Efosa with 14 points, Maddy Dawkins with 12 points, and Lauren Mazza with eight points.

Senior captain Maritza RamosPerez highlighted that she herself did a good job “feeding the ball to post players” and the team “had great communication.” As a captain, she believes she has done well overall. However, she has “had her

Tori Gammon rushes up the court on a fast break. BO STEAD

Anna Yak looks to grab an inbound from the baseline. BO STEAD

Tori Gammon gets up after a hard foul by a defender. BO STEAD off days, but the team has its own spark to it.” Ramos-Perez noted that in order for the team to make it back to States they would have to work on “uplifting each other more” and cutting down on little mistakes.

Anna Yak also was rather pleased with the team’s performance, stating that they “played their hearts out and did a great job penetrating the gaps.” Despite this, Yak thinks that the team needs to “take it slower when taking shots and clean the fouls up.” Yak drew a similarity between this year’s team and last year’s team noting she believes they are “on the same road” and thinks she needs to slightly tweak her offensive game for more success later in the season.

Head coach Scott Marino said, “Our girls did well, even after losing a starter in the third, different girls stepped up and got the job done.”

Marino did not seem pleased with the calls of the game and noted, “It was like there was a different opponent out on the court tonight,

but I made sure the girls did not get distracted by elements that are out of their control and the girls did a great job even with the odds stacked against them.”

Marino also included that the team really shines when they play as a cohesive unit with ball movement and hustle through the whole game.

Marino and the team, with hopes to make it to the state tournament, stated that “we lost 95% of our scorers from last year,” and that the team needed to stop turning the ball over. “The game should have been over in the first half, we missed 11 free throws and 9 layups; those are difference makers in close games,” said Marino.

Overall, Marino hopes to improve certain aspects of the team but is pleased with how the season has started and hopes to continue their win streak to carry them to a Greater Boston League title and an appearance in the state tournament.

Sports

24 Continued from page 1 the next possession that failed but senior forward Jonald Joseph came down with the rebound and made the putback attempt. Malden now held a 20-point lead of 54-34 halfway through the third quarter.

Again, Bell made sure that lead keptAgain, Bell made sure that lead kept growing. He hit a layup while being fouled and made the foul shot for a three-point play. Next, he made another layup. Then, he hesitated around a defender to make a solid mid-range jumper bringing the lead to 61-38. At the end of the penultimate quarter, Bell was fouled on a three-point shot and then made all of his free throws. Tonight was the Justin Bell Show and absolutely nobody was going to stop him.

The Golden Tornados had a solid 24-point lead to open the fourth quarter, which meant some new faces were bound to enter the game. The first bucket of the quarter was a layup by sophomore center Earl Fevrier. Then, Phejarasai made another three-pointer, solidifying a great performance for the young player.

After, Bell converted from inside the paint for his 38th point of the night. Sophomore guard Jose Ferreira wanted in on the action and did just so with a nice layup.

Malden’s final points of the night came on a floater from Tham, who would dribble out the clock after Medford’s last bucket to secure an opening night victory for the Golden Tornados by a final score of 76-54.

The story of the night was obviously Justin Bell, whose 38 points made up for half of the team’s

The Blue and Gold Janurary - February 2023

maldenblueandgold.com overall total. He earned his right to win the basketball season’s first Blue and Gold Player of the Game Award.

Still, he was humble about his performance. “It’s a team game,” he mentioned. “Me having 38 points wasn’t winning us the game. We had 76, that’s not just me.” When asked about his personal goal for the year, he said “I have to be a GBL All-Star, for sure.” If Bell consistently performs the way he did tonight, there is no doubt that he will accomplish that goal.

Carron was extremely fond of Bell’s work. “I think Justin was the key to our win. I was giving him passes and he just hit every single shot.” He knew how special the night was for Bell, stating, “I know this means lots to him because we have this conversation every day about how much this means to us and we’re glad that it’s finally paying off.”

Carron also spoke about the team’s overall performance. “We were great. We’ve been working very hard and it’s been a long offseason but it has definitely worked out. You can see it on the floor.” He is proud of the victory and looks forward to the season ahead. “Last season was not the best and I think that this year is going to change that.”

It seems as if he will be correct because Malden has already matched their win total from last season on opening night. Things are looking up for the Golden Tornados who have shown much improvement. Malden continued their success in their next matchup by defeating Lynn English 76-54.

Justin Bell, the Blue and Gold Player of the Game. RYAN COGGSWELL

Ezechiel Noelsaints goes up for a rebound. RYAN COGGSWELL

Multiple players looking to collect a rebound. RYAN COGGSWELL