Screenshot of the GoFundMe page for Danny’s Run.

A year ago, Malden lost a friend, a son, a student, and a teammate.

Josue “Danny” Quispe was a dear person to many, and to carry on his legacy, his family is hosting “Danny’s Run” in his name. This charity race will take place on sunday, November 13, 2016, at the Pine Banks park.

Registration can be done online at www.gofundme.com/DannysRun, by calling 978-907-5797, or by arriving at Pine Banks at 9am the day of the race (at the Sylvan St. parking lot).

The race will begin at 10am, and the registration fee, which is $20 for Malden High School students and $25 for anyone else, includes a long sleeved shirt with a Danny’s Run logo. All of the proceeds made at the event will be donated to Saint Jude’s Cancer Research Hospital.

Every Halloween, the Malden Public Library hosts their annual ‘Halloween Party.’ On October 27th from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, the event was a great success with video games and board games being played. Food, snacks and drinks were also provided with the entertainment.

Students from grades 6 to 12 were invited to take part in the event funded by The Friends of the Malden Public Library in the Maccario Room. This event is out of the twenty programs done throughout the year from gaming parties to movies and crafts.

Students gathering to watch movies. Photo taken by Rebeca Pereira. 

Patrick Brennan, who is the information librarian in charge of the young adult section, was the organizer of the party and says that it is important to host these events given the fact that “there are a lot of programs for adults and a lot of children’s programs and sometimes middle school and high school students get left out.” Brennan states that the library has a “very safe and relaxing environment,” which draws kids from all grades to the library who need a “quiet place to hangout.”

Delilah Doeleman, a sophomore at Malden High School, attended the event and states that she loved “being involved in the Malden community and the library is such a great place to get involved because it is so close to the high school,” especially since “the library is very welcoming.”

Some students attended the event even though they do not celebrate Halloween.

Julia Pacheco, who is also a sophomore at Malden High school, appreciated “the library’s efforts to involve the students in the Malden community in a fun celebratory party and activity.”

Overall the students that were at the event were thrilled to attend and spend the afternoon with friends.

Annually, Malden High School, along with its athletics department, holds multiple events for each sport. Some new events include concussion awareness assemblies, pink out games for breast cancer awareness, and also senior nights.

Senior Felicia Lombardi trying to escape a Medford player. Photo by Gustavo Silva.

Every year, MHS’ sports teams prepare to say farewell for graduating senior athletes. One of these teams is the girls soccer team, which held their senior night game on October 27th, 2016. Before the team celebrated and honored the seniors for their big night, the girls spent their time carefully strategizing and preparing themselves to play against Medford High School, a worthy adversary for their special game..

As the girls walked on to the field, they were awed by the posters dedicated to every senior on the team. Senior Sanaa Bezzat along with senior Suanny Almonacid stated “the whole time [the team] put in their best effort and played with passion, [although] it didn’t end how [they had] hoped.”

They both, along with many others, “felt [the game] was a bittersweet feeling.” With different situations throughout the game, the girls use different strategies in order to stand their ground.

Junior Isabelly Barros runs down the field against two Medford players to look for a goal. Photo taken by Gustavo Silva.

Before walking on the field, head coach Rick Caceda highly emphasized to the girls that they should “play [their] hearts out on the field and keep [their] head[s] up.”

Although the final score for the night was 0-2 with Medford taking the win, the seniors felt proud they had played their best and still felt the team had shared a great season.

Senior Cleverina Cong described the feeling as a “disappointing ending to the season, [as they went] without reaching [their] goal of making states.”

However, the girls felt proud because they left the field for the last time, “knowing [they] gave it [their] all for four years,” Cong said.

Cong encouraged the seniors specifically to “make the most of the last 80 minutes of [their] high school careers.”

Overall, most of the team felt bittersweet, and as senior Natalie Rodriguez put it, “[the team] gets overly excited on game days, [however] the last one didn’t feel like any other previous game” she has encountered in the past years. Rodriguez realized it was the last game in her high school career and becoming aware of this, it made her very emotional.

Senior Desiree Delgado scanning the field. Photo by Gustavo Silva.

Rodriguez also shared that the seniors along with herself have told each other that no matter what the final result was, whether it was a win, loss, or even tie, they had the best season ever, on and off the field.

Rodriguez summed up the season, saying that “[the girls had] pushed [themselves] all season to play better than [they had] played before [and] even though [they had] lost some of [their] games, [losing never] stopped [them] from battling [as hard as they could] on the field.”

With the season coming to an end, the girls felt they had done their best on the field and the team has lost another great batch of seniors.

With the start of November comes the advent of the Writers’ Den. This coffee shop style room inside the school is hoped to be a place for students to work on creative writing. Though it’s still a work in progress, the Writers’ Den finally has chosen the first Tufts student to oversee it. Larry Evans was welcomed warmly to MHS in October.

Evans is 22, born in Boise, Idaho. He came to Tufts University to major in English and Writing, though originally he intended to major in engineering because he was proficient in both math and physics. He explains that his reason for majoring in writing is that “in high school… [he] always had this intense internal desire to write” both creatively, and formally, and that he thought he’d reap more happiness as having it for a profession.

The reason for the switch he explains, is that in the past his parents didn’t encourage him very much to take on writing as a profession. He explained that “[His] dad is a civil and mechanical engineer, [and his] mother is an oncologist so [he] didn’t really get much support from them.” They wanted him to take on a more financially secure study, and he understands the concern. However, he decided that writing was not just a hobby to him.

Due to the lack of support Evans is extremely set on encouraging other students at Malden High to write creatively, and go after their dreams. “[He hopes] to inspire students to write creatively and follow the things that they want to do, like [he is] trying to do. If [he] had the support in that field in high school [he] would have been much more driven to research colleges and try to follow [his dreams] rather than be economically infallible.” There might be students that have dreams that their parents don’t encourage, or even know about because they’re afraid of what they might think. Evans wants to create an environment for them to express themselves and practice what they love, despite the world telling them not to.

Evans also wants to expose the benefits of writing to students. It is his belief that “reading and writing both have that sense of understanding other people that other fields tend not to care about” or focus on. He explains that if he is able to change the way students write, and by extension, think, he will be able to improve a student’s life. “[Evans wants] to bring [empathy] to students and make [himself] more empathetic too,”  especially to those whose interests are centered around math and science, and may not have the social outreach to practice empathy that students whose interests are in english may have.

He states that he’s excited to meet students from a younger generation that will soon be in the same position he is in of going to college and exiting the high school lifestyle. “Specifically for Malden, it’s really nice to see a more eclectic mix of student body and faculty than [his] very homogeneous Idaho background.” The high school is very racially diverse, and Evans is excited to interact with the different cultures and backgrounds and bring them together to collaborate harmoniously.

In the Writers’ Den Evans will be a guide to the students and faculty that will take advantage of the room. It is his belief that “the best way to guide students is to let them guide themselves.” meaning that in the den he will be there to help you with ideas, and expression though he won’t act like a teacher, with a lesson plan every day. “Workshopping is the best way to really understand how many different sides there are to making a piece of writing, so [he thinks] the best way [he] can guide students is by not guiding them at all and act as a facilitator.” He doesn’t want students to think that he is in charge. Evans aims for students to work on themselves, and have everyone collaborate, read each others’ work, and exchange ideas.

Sean Walsh, being the person to instigate the Writers’ Den’s opening explained why he was pleased with Tufts’ choice of Evans to come to MHS. “[Walsh] thought he was incredibly enthusiastic, and incredibly mature… [Evans] demonstrated skills and talents to really work well with students and throw himself into this kind of position [or] this kind of role.” It’s his belief that Evans will be a good addition to the school. The Writers’ Den is meant to be the place for all students, and Evans will be able to curate to everyone’s artistic and creative needs.

The widely known Play Production is one of Walsh’s other projects, where he is co-director with Miranda Libkin. He explains that his role in Play Pro isn’t very important in terms of creating the work, because the the students are the ones that are mostly in charge. Since he expects Evans will be in a similar position in the Writers’ Den, and he laments how fine the line between editing a person’s work and editing a person’s creative ideas are. “Too much fixing and it loses the student’s [voice], and it’s a difficult balance” Walsh explains. Thus his only advice to Evans, from one facilitator to another, is to “listen to the student, ask a lot of questions, provide students a lot of options to explore their work, [and] really make [the Den] a safe space so they can feel comfortable taking appropriate risks.”

Until the day that the Writers’ Den does open, Evans can be found at the high school most days. For the past three weeks he has been in classrooms getting to know students and faculty. Creative writing is an art that need to be cultivated to all students, and Evans has taken on the responsibility to administer ideas and support to those who seek it.

BY CHRISTINA APPIGNANI & SYDNEY STUMPF 

Abbey Dick is a well-known English teacher and Malden High School. She has been teaching here for 3 years and currently teaches English 10 CP classes and one AP Language and Composition class. Dick recently acquired a position as Humanities director of Malden Public Schools.

As Humanities director, Dick will be leaving the teaching environment and applying herself to coordinating curricula in the English, Foreign Language, History, and Fine Arts programs in the K-8 schools as well as the High School. Dick has left her “big beautiful classroom” for “a cubicle, downstairs near the gym by the athletics office.” This, Dick has said, has been a “really big change.”

Dick recalls how she got the job; “the position was advertised and [she] thought about it for a while, and [she] applied and was interviewed and got the job.” When considering the Job, Dick admits that when she read the job description, she thought “[it] is a huge and challenging role. But [she] would like to give it a shot.” Although Dick got the position on her own will, she believes that, “the superintendent and assistant superintendent made it happen.”

When asked why she applied for the job, Dick said that “[she] really likes working on curriculum so helping teachers, and not just design day-to-day lesson plans but long term picture”. She frequently asks herself “where’s the district going in the next five years? What assessments do we need to show that display how students are making progress? What does [the district] do? What does [the district] brainstorm when [students] are not making progress?”

Dick really likes the scope of work that Humanities Director offers her. She says that “being a Humanities Director is obviously incredibly different from being a teacher, and it will be very very challenging, because it’s not just English, it’s social studies, art, music, and foreign language. So, it’s gonna be a huge job learning what [she] needs to know about all of those topics.” Despite these challenges, Dick is feeling confident because of the many people there is to help her along the way.

As to her goals as Humanities Director, Dick claims that “right now, [she] is  thinking about the new grading system for big assessments, called Mass Tree Connect, which is like an online scantron sheet for major assessments. [She] needs to go to all six schools and figure out what the curriculum documents are and if they’re being implemented. Another part of being the Humanities director is evaluating teachers rather than students, and Dick does this by “going to their rooms to write reports on them  and watch them teach”. Dick also mentions that “There is a lot of important professional development days that [she] will be in charge of, so, there’s a lot of activities that [she] will need to be able to balance at the same time to do this job correctly”

Dick’s new position will also require different work years, as she will be working for 220 days, through the summer, as opposed to the teacher’s’ work year of 183 days, working only during the school year. The movement of the job will also be a major difference from her job teaching English. Dick will be “coming and going from all the K-8 schools”, observinging teachers, and working on curriculum “on that level.” This will be a major transition for Dick, as her “whole life [was] tenth grade English and AP Language.”

“Meeting teachers in the district [Dick has] never met before”, is one the more exciting aspects of her new position. Dick feels like “we can all learn something from every person we meet, and there’s so many people [she] hasn’t met.” Dick recalls the “2-3 years [it took] to learn all of the names of Malden High School teachers.”

Dick started her new job as Humanities Director on Monday, Oct. 31st. As for Dick’s classes, the students “[were] the first to know,” and were still being worked on as of Thursday, Oct. 27th.

Last week we had multiple teams going head to head to head to head on some of the most fiercest games that went down last week. We are nearing the end of our first season, so let’s just see how they did!

Field Hockey V / Everett

When: Mon, October 24, 4pm – 5pm

Where: Madeline English School, 105 Woodville St, Everett, MA 02149, USA

Final Score:  3-1

Field Hockey Season Record: 1-15

Soccer B V / Medford

When: Tue, October 25, 6pm – 7pm

Where: Hormel Stadium,  Locust St, Medford, MA 02155

Final Score: 0-1

Soccer Season Record: 7-8-3

Soccer G V Home Medford

When: Wed, October 26, 4pm – 5pm

Where: Pine Banks, 1087 Main St, Malden, MA 02148

Final Score: 0-2

Soccer (Girls) Record: 5-12-1

Cross Country GBL Meet / Everett

When: Thu, October 27, 4:30pm – 5:30pm

Where: Everett

Final Results: Malden

Soccer B V / Winchester

When: Sat, October 29, 12pm – 1pm

Where: Knowlton Stadium, 458 Main St, Winchester, MA 01890, USA

Final Score: 2-7

Soccer (Boys) Season Record: 7-8-3

Soccer G V / Stoneham

When: Sat, October 29, 10am – 11am

Where: Stoneham High School, 149 Franklin St, Stoneham, MA 02180

Final Score: 0-4

Soccer (Girls) Season Record: 5-12-1

Football V / Lawrence

When: October 28th, 7 pm – 8 pm.

Where:  Macdonald Stadium

Final Score: 22-13

Football Season Record: 3-5

MHS defense preparing to stop the Lawrence High School offense. Photo by Tenzin Dorjee

 

“Just keep striving for greatness and never stop because in my opinion, the moment you stop is the moment you fail.” #humansofmaldenhigh

A photo posted by Humans of Malden High School (@_humansofmhs) on Nov 1, 2016 at 6:32am PDT

Sophomore Mirabelle Jean Louis has been involved with the volleyball team for two years.

Louis, who plays the position of a middle hitter, decided to start playing volleyball because of her friend who influenced her to join the team. So far, Louis says that her experience with volleyball has been really good. She says that her experience with the sport is,”pretty good, especially since [she] made varsity as a sophomore.”

Despite this being her first year on varsity, Louis says volleyball this season is going pretty well. Louis also says her favorite part about the sport is the games and what makes volleyball so special to her is her teammates.

Louis says, her biggest challenge this season was learning how to serve. “[She] couldn’t get my serves over for a number of times, so [her] coach taught [her] how to do it and ever since then, [she’s] been able to serve,” Louis said.

Although the season is approaching the end, Louis says that she wishes the season could have been better even though she says that it has been a really good season for her. Louis says that she wishes she would not care as much when she loses.

The advice Louis has is that making the team is possible as long as hard work is provided. “As long as you work hard, [one always has a chance] to make the team,” Louis concluded.

Caitlyn Leonard is a senior in Malden High School and is in her fourth year as a member of the field hockey team.

This year, she is now one of the captains of the field hockey team. Leonard has been playing field hockey since she was in the sixth grade. Leonard participated in a camp that was coached by Deena Bello and has stuck with the sport ever since. She used to see her sister play and knew she wanted to continue to play when she got to high school.

Senior Caitlyn Leonard prepping herself to receive the ball during a game. Photo by Jesaias Benitez.

Leonard said that she wanted to play field hockey because it has always interested her. Learning to play when she was younger and watching the high school girls play captivated her love and fascination for the game. Leonard has always looked up to the previous girls in field hockey as role models, especially her sister, former Blue & Gold Editor-in-Chief and captain of the field hockey team, Kristen Leonard, and she wanted to play and be just like them.

Now being part of the field hockey team, she hopes to be as same inspiration to younger generation girls as well as boys. Which is also a reason why she has decided to help out at camps that are held for younger field hockey players interested in the sport.

As a team captain she says that, “the team was prepared for this season and although [she] won’t be part of the team next year, [she knows] they will continue to work as hard as possible next year as well.” She had said everyone on the team had impressed her and showed great motivation to work hard, which is why they won a game this year.

Although the season has ended, she believes that some advice for next year is that “they need to improve on the communication, then the rest will fall into place.” Being a part of the field hockey team has made Leonard meet new people each year and create relationships with people that will last a long time.

Everyone on the team gets along so well and all of them have each others’ backs. Being a part of the team has made her realize how proud she is to have been one of the captains of the MHS field hockey team because the players MHS has are truly resilient.

Leonard noted that being captain of this team will be something she will “cherish for the rest of [her] life.” For the years coming, she believes that the team should continue to encourage each other, communicate on the field, and work hard because she knows this team is capable of tremendous things.

 

“Being a leader, in my opinion, is really important. I try my hardest to lead others in the right path, especially when I’m on the hockey rink.” #humansofmaldenhigh

A photo posted by Humans of Malden High School (@_humansofmhs) on Nov 2, 2016 at 7:13am PDT

On December 10th The Pharnal Longus Race, Culture,and Ethnicity High School workshop will be taking place at Salem State University. This workshop has been going on for 20 years and was created by Dr. Pharnal Longus, hence the name.

According to Erga Dormevil, a former student of Longus’ and a facilitator and promoter of this event, Longus created this workshop because he “saw the need to create a safe space for students and adults to learn about and discuss issues related to race, culture and ethnicity” as well as “to provide us with an opportunity to step out of our ‘boxes’, to learn about different cultures and celebrate our differences instead of allowing our differences to divide us.”

Dormevil adds to this saying that the workshop’s goal is for people to be informed “on the root of racism and provides [people] with the tools that we need to undo [it].”

Currently the workshop is looking for participants to attend the event. Each high school can have 5-25 participants as long as there is one teacher present for every five students. On the brochure promoting this event it also mentions that the participants should represent various groups at the high school.

At the event participants would be provided with breakfast and lunch.  The participants will be mixed with students from different schools and go into smaller groups to learn about different concepts, including discrimination, through different activities.  

Dormevil adds to this saying that “at the end of the workshop participants earn a certificate which looks great on college applications and resumes.”

She ends saying that “participants will have the opportunity to experience an invaluable workshop, make new friends, learn about different cultures,and gain knowledge to help undo racism”. If you are interested in participating at this event you contact Dormevil at 1RACEinc@gmail.com. You can also contact Luz Longo, the head of registrations at LBlongus@comcast.net.

Sherrill Nichols is a woman that just recently moved from Seattle and is now living with a family in Malden.

Nichols originally came to Boston for a job interview, but since it didn’t work as well as she hoped it would, she had a backup plan and is now working in the field of accounting. She is currently searching for her own place to live in the Malden area while her husband is exploring options elsewhere for their family.

With her and her husband, lives her dog Violet and her three cats, Precious, Jewels and Aurora, which she loves with all her heart. Once they get settled, she wishes to travel more with her husband and possibly move to an area overseas like Mexico, Italy, Spain and or Greece.

Nichols went to Heald College in California where she got her first degree in sports journalism and got her second degree at Indiana University Purdue University in hospitality. Then got her third degree at The Chef’s Academy in Indianapolis for her Culinary degree and is now working on her PhD in metaphysics.

Nichols has had several jobs throughout her lifetime, but would say that there are about 2 or 3 jobs that she enjoyed most. Working for the NBA and the NFL for ten year’s as a sports journalist at Media Relations and Radio was one of these jobs. The other job that interested her would be when she had her own restaurant.

Her and her husband currently run their own gemstone company. Nichols also worked on broadway as a payroll administrator meaning she oversaw payroll benefit, human resources, unemployment and workers compensation. She said she “liked it as far as watching the shows being put on and seeing the end product but you work a lot and [she] wasn’t that much into musical theatre as [she] thought [she] would be. [She] liked some of the shows but [she] worked 60-70 hours a week.”

What influenced Nichols to go after several different job careers was her great aunt. When she was little, she was partially raised by her great aunt and she always told Nichols to never wonder, “what if?” Her family is there to support her decisions in trying tons of different things. Nichols says, “they always support me in whatever [she wants] as far as what makes [her] happy and so [she’s] tried a bunch of different things and their all things that [she’s] always wanted to try and so [she] figured some of them [she loves] and some of them not so much.”

While is English is her first language, she learned to speak some french, some Spanish, some Farsi and a little Portuguese. She learned to speak French and Spanish in school while she learned Farsi from her husband’s family and online courses. In the times living with me and my mom, she caught a bit of the Portuguese language and with help from knowing a little spanish. She went to Culinary School, and studied Asian and French cuisine and she branched out and tried various different recipes from different cultures.

Then from her husband’s family she learned to cook Afghan food and from there, her friends and members of their family have taught her to cook foods from their cultures as well. This includes learning how to make Colombian food from her best friend’s mom and she then had a catering business where she planned parties, weddings, etc. Learning how to make all sorts of foods has especially helped her in her catering business because it was useful when trying to get a person’s specific request. Nichols also enjoys baking, specifically because she loves being so creative when decorating. She says “[she tries] new stuff all the time, [she’s] always trying new recipes and then if [she likes] them, [she] sometimes tweak them to what [she likes].”

Nichols was in a jazz band when she lived in Chicago. She was a vocalist and knows how to play the piano and guitar. They would record in a recording studio and got cds they would record and this was about 10 years ago. She still loves to play the piano and is still musically inclined by listening to all sorts of music from all over the world and once she and her husband get settled here, she wants to recreate her music studio in their house so she can “have fun with it.” Nichols loves ballroom dancing. She even competes in dances such as the waltz, tango and the foxtrot.

What’s great about it is that she can do something she enjoys, while getting a great amount of exercise with it.

Senior Jesse Bouley dressed as the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

Check out the rest of the photos from Halloween here. 

Dear Nedlam,

I’ve been super overwhelmed recently with tons of work! All my work keeps piling up and tests and quizzes keep coming up out of nowhere! Is there anything I can do to keep from being drowned in work?

Overwhelmed by Overload

Dear Overwhelmed by Overload,

Don’t worry! There are a lot of things you can do in order to handle all of the work that you’ve been given! For starters, write everything down. Everything you can possibly think of that you still have to do write it all down. Now take a look at that list, it’s probably incredibly long and intimidating, so now separate everything into categories. This can vary depending on the areas of your life; for example you could categorize everything by “home” “school” and “work”. After that, organize each item in each category by importance, whatever it is that immediately needs to be done.

Next, buy a calendar and utilize your agenda book! On your calendar, write down all the important things that are coming in the future. Games, tests, when projects are due, etc. Remember to check this everyday, so put it in a place where you are sure to see it. Now copy these same events into the calendar in your agenda that comes before every month. That way no matter what you know what is going on and you have multiple places to check in case you forget. Now go to the page in your agenda for this week and write down in the “Notes” section the important things you need to remember for the week like tests and after school activities. From this point on, write down all of your homework in your agenda in the form of a checklist, I recommend organized by class, that way when you finish you can check it off and be reminded if you already completed something. If your agenda is too small (or if you lost your agenda….) you can always buy an agenda (it doesn’t have to be expensive). In order to keep a handle on all of your work it’s important to be organized and know what needs to be handled as well as when.

Sometimes, however, even all of that isn’t enough. It can be easy to forget to check your agenda and while I suggest making a habit of it, I also think that setting reminders on your phone is also helpful. When we have a lot of things going on it can be easy to forget meetings or tests or whatever, so when you know you have a lot of important things to remember, set reminders on your phone to keep yourself accountable. Especially if it’s for a meeting or event, reminders can be really useful.

There of course, is also the possibility that it is a lack of motivation that is what led to everything catching up to you. It happens to everyone, and while I talked about it more in my last column, I will say that it’s important to remember why you are doing all this schoolwork. Think about your future goals, and remember that no matter how many other people you know are procrastinating, that doesn’t make it justifiable. If you really want to achieve the things you hope for in the future, or even to just feel less stressed now, you need to realize the importance of getting things done and give yourself a sense of urgency.

I hope some of my tips help! I know that it might seem like a lot, but the more you can break things down the easier things will be. Just keep in mind how good you’ll feel once you’re on top of everything and, I don’t want to sound crazy, you might actually get some sleep! Good Luck!!!!

Malden High School soccer coach and English teacher Jeremiah Smith has been passionate about the sports his whole life.

Smith has been coaching high school soccer for 17 years and this is his thirteenth season as a head coach. Smith’s father, who was a high school and college football coach, is his greatest role model and biggest inspiration.

So far, Smith describes the season as “not too bad. [The team] certainly [has] had some ups and downs in the beginning, but we dramatically won against Medford, Melrose, and Peabody to help us to get back in track.” 

Around 24 players have graduated during the last two years, which resulted in a bunch of new players on the team that have to become accustomed to each others skills. Smith mentioned that it is a lot easier when the soccer team has had the same player for a couple of years, but “integrating so many new players onto the team has been a little challenging as kids come from different athletic backgrounds.”

Jeremiah Smith posing for a photo. Photo taken by Ryan Hames.

For a team to prosper, it is vital that they put their individual success at a side and work for team goals. Smith believes that “dedication is really important to [their] craft.”

“It depends on the opponent” says Smith. The defensive and offensive team tends to lean more towards using their defensive skills while playing with a strong opponent. They wait for the opportunity, whereas the team is offensive when they find their opponent’s back line weak. According to the Smith, Somerville, Medford, and Everett are to face off against.

Besides soccer, Smith is also interested in wrestling. Being the head coach of the MHS wrestling coach, Smith finds the “absolute difference in coaching soccer and wrestling.” He explained that “soccer is a team oriented sport in which 11 people work together for success, whereas wrestling is the ultimate individual sport.”   

Smith’s favorite part of coaching the boys soccer team is being able to interact with the players. He mentions the bus rides, practices, and games which goes “far beyond wins and losses.”

An unforgettable game for Smith was the one against Medford, which they won in the last few minutes of playing time. 

The team has had a distinguished and exceptional season, and will continue to make history for the boys soccer team here at MHS.

BY STEFANY FOLEY & EMRAUDE BONNET 

The Interact Club is a nationwide club that reaches out to local volunteer organizations to see if they need any assistance with upcoming events.

The club also is connected with the rotary club in Malden, which is a club that’s purpose is to develop communities through fundraising and volunteer work.  Caitlin Quinn, the club’s current advisor said, “the interact club is like the high school version of the rotary club.”

Quinn also explained that at the end of the year, they pick a charity that they donate funds to as a club. According to Quinn, fundraising is a big part of the interact club.

Interact Club poster. Photo taken by Stefany Foley.

There are also many benefits for being a part of the club. Quinn stated, “you realize the needs in your community and you find a way to kind of fill those needs through hours of volunteer service.” She also stated that the club is “beneficial for those you are helping but beneficial for the students themselves who are doing the volunteering.”

There are two presidents of the club, Carl Foming and  Jimmy Em. The club used to be run by Shannon Alexis, but is now ran by Caitlin Quinn. Quinn came in terms of advising last year.

Foming said that the interact club is “an important part of [his] high school career.” Foming also stated that, “[he] [finds] interacting with the community an important aspect of being a student.”

He feels that “there is no other more gratifying feeling than helping make people’s lives a little bit easier.” Foming also added that “the more members the better we can do at community service events.”

On saturday, October 29th, 2016, residents of Malden were invited to a tour of the new and improved Malden Police Station on 800 Eastern Avenue.

The huge location change is leading up to the new development of Malden Square, including the demolition of the current City Hall building which will start up in the month of February 2017.

Previously, Mayor Christenson noted that the police station was the main component of this project since moving the inmates to a temporary locations wasn’t easy. The old police department on Pleasant Street is in the process of being torn down also. Construction started around in August and ended in the month of October.

The state of Massachusetts provided about 9 million dollars for aid with the MassWorks Infrastructure Program funds. An approximate worth of 120 million dollars was invested by Jefferson Apartment Group for the new development on Pleasant Street. Many sections such as the Patrol, Criminal Investigation,and Traffic division are included in the department.

A benefit to this new addition is the community function hall that will be opened to the residents of Malden, which was not offered at the old police station. 

Malden continues to grow and expand and hopefully will continue to do so and help benefit the whole community.

How long were you on the team for?

I jumped on the bandwagon a little later than most people on the team and joined the cross country team my junior year. Before making the transition into running all three seasons, I was a member of the indoor and outdoor track team since my freshman year.

What made you want to join Cross Country?

I’ve been a member of the indoor and outdoor track team since my freshman year, running the longer-distance races. I never considered running cross country until a few of my teammates persuaded me to join, telling me my endurance would improve and that the training would benefit me in the track seasons. Their persuasion worked; junior year I made the decision to give cross country a shot and became a three season runner — which quickly becoming one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

How is the season going so far?

The season has been great! The girls team won all of their meets, carrying out their undefeated record, becoming GBL champions for the sixth year in a row. Everyone on the girls team really stepped up and did their part to make those wins possible. Also, for the first time in ten years there was an individual GBL champion on the girls side, which done by Jasmine Gray. To finish the season off we have a few girls who will be competing at the state meet on November 12th where we hope to see those individuals perform well.

What are your goals for the season?

My goals for this season is to improve my time and help the team maintain their undefeated record. It being my last cross country season, I’ve been feeling very nostalgic — really wanting to make the most out of the season and leave with no regrets. That being said I’ll also be running at the state meet where I hope to run hard and end the season with a big personal best.

What are you most excited for this season?

I’m most excited for all the individual accomplishment the team will have throughout the season; the girls have the possibility of having an individual GBL champion for the first time in ten years, which would be a great milestone for the team. The team has been training hard and it will be great to see their hard work be rewarded. Also this is the last cross country season where Malden will be in the Greater Boston League so i’m really excited to finish it off as the last cross country GBL champions ever.

What are you most nervous about?

In the recent years competition in the GBL has improved and with that the cross country team has had to improve with them. We lost a few key seniors from last year’s team so we needed to members this year to step and take on their role and place in meets. However despite the tough competition and the lose of the seniors I am confident that the girl team will come out on top.

What are your goals academic wise?

It’s my senior year, which means I’m going through the college process now. The main focus this year is to keep up my grade, get into the schools I’m applying to and finish the school year on a good note.

What do you want to improve on?

My time –always; that’s what’s so great about cross country there’s always room for improvement. You’re constantly pushing yourself, racing against not only other people but the clock as well. We’ve had really productive practices and great workouts throughout the season so I only expect to see my time get better.

Do you want to continue running after high school?

I don’t plan on running at on a collegiate team after high school; that being said, I do plan to continue to run on my own. After spending four year dedicating so much of my time to running it would feel wrong to just to stop. Being a member of both the cross country and track team I fell in love with running; I don’t run simply because i’m on a team, I run because I genuinely enjoy doing it.

What do you love about cross country?

I would need an entire week to answer this question properly. Cross country isn’t just “running for a long time” as I once believed. It’s running in the trails with the leaves crunching beneath your feet feeling nothing but content with life, it’s a sport that teaches you to push yourself to accomplish something you didn’t think you were capable of –and do even better, it’s a place which creates a memorable bonds between people who enjoy the sport just as much as you do. Joining the cross country team made me truly understand what it’s like to be on a team and fall in love with a sport.

What are your accomplishments so far in Cross Country?

Comparing this season to those in the past i’m amazed by how much my running has improved; I have better endurance, my times are faster and I physically feel stronger — all which has lead to a very rewarding season. I was able to contribute in the team scoring and medal fifth overall at the GBL close meet; now all that is left to finish the season is the state meet on November 12th.

Adela Dzaferagic. Photo taken by Sara Zakaria.

BY REBECCA OLIVEIRA & FALYN KELLEY 

On friday, October 28, 2016, the Fine Arts Club held a game of zombie tag in the halls of Malden High School to show their Halloween spirit.

Tickets were being sold outside Cafe B during lunch block throughout the week, and after school on Friday in front of Cafe B, where students were lining up to get in on the fun. The Fine Arts club was able to raise $234 on Friday.

Cafe B was packed with the people playing lined up against the wall, waiting to receive their headband that will determine if they’ll be a zombie or human in the game. There were a total of 78 people playing in the game, and people were huddling together in teams making alliances and plans on the best way to stay alive without getting infected by the zombies.

The rules of the game were simple, humans had to wear a yellow headband around their arms to identify their humanity, while the zombies had to wear their yellow headbands wrapped around their necks. The goal of the game was to try to stay away from the zombies, and throwing socks at them to freeze the zombies, which would buy them 30 seconds to escape capture.

Students playing zombie tag. Photo by Falyn Kelley.

Students playing the game were only allowed to run around on the second and third floors from Holland house to Jenkins house and finally to Boyle house. No one could hide in the classrooms, nor the bathrooms. Some members of the Fine Arts club were monitoring the students on the cameras in the main office to oversee that no one was breaking any rules, while some of the others monitored the hallways.

After club advisor and MHS art teacher Joseph Luongo and the Fine Arts club officials explained the rules to everyone in front of the cafeteria and everyone got their headbands, the masses raced around the school trying to hide from the zombies whose identities were unknown.

People were sprinting to hide behind corners, doors, stairwells, and just about any nook and cranny they could find with their ammunition of multicolored sock balls. Socks went flying left and right as the air was filled with the sound of fierce battle cries.

All in all, the event was a great success as always with all the students having fun. MHS looks forward to the future zombie tag events that are held.