Written by the students of Marblehead High School for our school and community
Between the lines: start to finish
Madalyn Gelb, Sophomore
Have you ever just gone out for a run, but five minutes into it, you are out of breath, parched, and ready to end the run before you hit one mile? Yup, that's how most people feel. However, not the students on the MHS cross country team. Especially the three that are spotlighted in today's article. Everyday after school they go on rigorous runs and workouts. They have regular team dinners and have races every week.
The girls' cross country team has competed in many different races. Local races against Peabody, Salem, and nearby towns, along with races such as the Twilight Meet, and the Ocean State Cross Country Meet in Rhode Island. This team has natural talent and determination. Three girls that have shown great perseverance throughout the season are Evelina Beletsky, Jesslyn Romer, and Marri O’Connell.
“Each person on the team is super supportive of one another,” said sophomore varsity member Evelina Beletsky. The teammates also credit much of their success to their captains. “Marri is an amazing captain for the team. She really is responsible and leads the team for success,” said Beletsky.
Beletsky started the year off with a 7:02 mile and made significant improvements throughout the season, ending up with a 6:31 mile time. She eventually led her team at the Masco vs. Danvers tri-meet to second place overall after quite a fall. Beletsky says that her biggest mentors are her coach, her team captain Marri, and her
aunt, a coach at a local high school who shaped her running career. Earlier in the season, varsity runner and sophomore Jesslyn Romer had a personal record (PR) of 12:45 for the two mile. Jesslyn says that she looks up to Cat Piper, who graduated in the senior class of 2024 and is now a freshman at Dartmouth. “Cat was a big inspiration for me freshman year. At the start of the year I had just started cross country. She seemed so fast to me. Then outdoors I was running with her almost every meet, getting almost the exact times and we pushed each other,” Romer happily exclaimed in a recent conversation I had with her.
Romer is carrying on Piper’s fast pace and is not far behind Marrietta O'Connell, one of the fastest 5K runners in our conference. Marrietta (Marri) O’Connell has a personal best record of a 5:10 mile and a personal best of 17:48 in a 5k race. Her perseverance and dedication really shines through on the cross country course. She may be one of the fastest and strongest runners in our conference, but even she has faced some issues in her running career. When she was a freshman, she got injured with patellar tendonitis and she had to take some time off. However, she was able to cross train while recovering. This helped her stay motivated and keep her strong endurance while she was healing. Marri says that her main inspiration and mentor is Parker Valby, because they have similar running styles. Both runners like to start out extremely fast and lead the pack.
Even though all three of these athletes are young, they have great futures ahead of them at MHS and beyond.
Dual enrollment comes to Marblehead High School
It's no secret that many high school students can’t help but look forward to their days in college after graduation. Many of our fellow students at MHS are either beginning or in the process of looking at or applying to colleges. However, a new program at the high school this year has allowed several students to get an extra head start at their college classes through
dual enrollment, a program that allows high school students to take college level classes offered by different colleges and universities. This is Marblehead’s third year of having dual enrollment with a selection of classes that are taken at Salem State. Starting this year, Endicott College is offering a new and exciting class!
Every Tuesday night at around 5:45 PM, students of
Marblehead High School make their way into the lecture to study the Endicott class taught by Professor Gary Comeau, a former soldier and member of the Boston police. In his class, students are presented with a college level course on the science of criminology, the study of crime and of criminal behavior. The course combines many principles taken from other sciences, such as psychology, sociology, and victimology, among many others, all to create a single challenging college level course.
To learn and gain a better understanding, we have real, unfiltered, and thought-provoking discussions. We review how the different science principles are incorporated in different kinds of crime, which Professor Comeau adds to by sharing his experiences in working for law enforcement. We have also been reading Gang Leader For a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh, which details his research as a student of the University of Chicago. In the book, Venkatesh observes and
studies the behavior of a gang and their leader, J.T., and how sometimes it mirrors the structures and ways of our society.
This class, along with many others, allows high school students to learn about a certain subject that they might not be able to learn in high school. These classes will allow students to become more engaged in learning and develop a better work and study method.
Along with personal enjoyment, dual enrollment also has many academic benefits. First, it looks impressive when applying to colleges and allows you to create relationships with colleges and their staff. Second, you get three college credits if you pass the class, which helps in being able to finish college early, depending on how many classes you take. Lastly, based on your performance, you may be able to boost your high school gpa, but this only applies to certain classes.
Now if this all sounds appealing to you, then you should consider participating in dual enrollment.
MHS teacher spotlight: Ms. Richman
This year we have several new teachers at MHS. Among them is Ms Richman. Ms Richman works in the Foreign Language department as a French teacher. Previous to coming to MHS, she worked as an independent consultant for college admissions, tutoring in French, writing, and humanities. She also worked with families on self-advocacy training in special education.
Ms Richman said that so far students at MHS have been kind and welcoming and that the staff seem dedicated. She also added that she is optimistic for the next year at MHS. When asked what she was looking forward to this year and at MHS in general she responded, “I’m looking forward to building strong personal connections with my students as individuals and building a strong sense of a French-speaking community in my classroom, making French not just about learning a language, but also exploring the culture, history, and perspectives that come with it. I’m excited to see my students grow and challenge themselves. My top priority is creating a classroom environment where everyone feels comfortable and confident
expressing themselves out loud speaking lots of French!”
Ms Richman said she loves to travel and experience other cultures, which is part of why she loves being a language teacher. She has lived and studied in several places, including Quebec, Sweden, France, Belgium, and more. When asked about her other hobbies and interests she stated, “In my free time, I enjoy playing European-style board games, and I’ve always been a fan of the arts, especially theater and music, so I tend to go to a lot of performances. I can't wait to see what the MHS students can do! I like to spend as much time in nature as possible, so the fact that the beach and the rail trail are so close to MHS is a huge perk of the job for me!”
When asked if she had anything she thought students should know about her she said, “In addition to being a teacher, I am a lawyer, having graduated from Temple University Beasley School of Law with awards in legal writing and trial advocacy. I was also a college professor of French for 14 years and have taught and designed curriculum for French learners from pre-school through adult. I’m here to help, and I love seeing students succeed in their own unique ways.”