~ Excellence in the Malden Public Schools ~

Malden High School names newest ‘Let’s Make it Happen’ students

By Steve Freker

As part of a schoolwide campaign to promote and maintain a positive and nurturing school culture at Malden High School, Principal Chris Mastrangelo and his team have come up with a number of ideas and initiatives to further those goals. One of the top initiatives was a new theme for the 2024-2025 school year: “Let’s Make it Happen.” As part of the overall theme and goal-setting, a related move was the establishment of a recognition on a regular basis of students at MHS who are “Making it Happen.”

There is no exact definition of this trait, Mastrangelo explained. “It could be an act of kindness toward a fellow student or a staff member that is noticed by someone. Or, maybe the student worked extra hard and well in the classroom that week,” the MHS principal said. “It could even be the student simply being herself or himself and just showing her or his great personality, humor, and overall positive vibes. We have so many of those students!

“The ‘Making it Happen’ shoutouts are announced on our student announcements weekly, in the morning before our first class,” Mastrangelo noted. “We have gotten fantastic feedback and our students really want to get on the list or see their classmates get this recognition. ‘Let’s Make it Happen’ has already made a big impact on our goals to maintain our positive and thriving school culture.”

  Following are the students who were selected for “Making it Happen” for the week of December 9: Jean Victor, Hannah Coggswell, Allvens Sael, Neichka Guyllaume, Thomas Pham, Madison Nash, Sebastian Zapata, Juan Caballero, Renato Serrao.

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‘Pippin’ production delights audiences at Malden High School

Play Production class performs two shows and draws rave reviews

By Chouaib Saidi and Jacob Fuentes

MHS Blue and Gold

After two months full of memorization, vocal training and acrobatic practice, Malden High School’s Play-Pro cast, led by Todd Cole and various staff members, such as Technical Director Ariana Messana and Band Director Lauren Foley, was ready to perform “Pippin”: a story full of love, betrayal, and discovery of self-identity. On Friday, November 22, students and their families gathered in the Jenkins Auditorium as they prepared to witness the result of all the hard work the Play-Pro cast has been putting into this show for the past two months.

The show started with “Magic to Do”, the song in which the narrator Leading Player (senior Natalie Keating) introduces herself and her circus ensemble. Keating has performed in 21 shows to date, with this being her last musical performance with Malden High School’s Play Production.

Throughout this number, the circus sings to the audience and claims they have “magic to do just for you. We’ve got miracle plays to play. We’ve got parts to perform, hearts to warm, kings, and things to take by storm as we go along.” This number sets the stage for how the story of Pippin will be told. At the end of the opening number, the Leading Player is joined by her ensemble as they pose and are surrounded by roaring applause from the audience.

This play goes over the complexities of love, emotion and identity in which the main character Pippin undergoes adversity to find his true identity. The play starts with an introduction of Pippin played by Heitor Soares and then introduces his stepmother Fastrada, who was played by Sophie Leblanc. His protege brother, Lewis, who is a talented, ideal warrior, is played by Matt Jason Chan. Pippin’s father, King Charlemagne, is played by Liam Gallagher, and Catherine is played by Addison McWayne.

“I love performing more than anything else in the world. I don’t get stage fright anymore; in fact, being on stage in front of an audience makes me feel really confident and comfortable,” described Keating. “I love being able to connect with an audience.”

Other prominent characters, such as Lewis, King Charlemagne and Catherine, were impressively played by cast members who helped lead up the play to give it the class and talent it needed from beginning to end.

Play Production President Addison McWayne plays Catherine, Pippin’s star-crossed lover, in which she serenades him with the tune “I Guess I’ll Miss the Man” by Rachel Bay Jones. “It went even better than I expected. We have been working on this show for a long time,” McWayne said. “It only took a few rehearsals to get the show on its feet but it turned out even better than I could’ve imagined. Everything down to who loves which stool on and off stage was planned and executed perfectly.

“I am genuinely so proud of every person on that stage and behind it because we all worked so hard for this and it shows,” McWayne said.

Soares, who played the main role of Pippin, shared similar words about the show. While he had positive thoughts about the show itself, he said he also liked how the audience impacted his performance. “It’s always nice to see the turnout especially when it was an amazing turnout like we got for both nights. It makes me feel nervous when I see people I know in the crowd,” he said.

Soares also noted that this was his last musical with the Play Production team: “It was the best two nights of my life and still was very upsetting at the same time. It’s my very last musical and it hit closing night.”

“It is going to be incredibly hard to see them go. However, in theatre, people don’t ever really leave,” Play Production co-teacher Ariana Messana said. “We had so many alumni visit to come see the show this weekend. So even after students leave, they still come back to support us and their community.”

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Malden High seniors are awarded John and Abigail Adams Scholarship for excellence in MCAS testing results

MHS hosts breakfast to honor over 50 recipients who are eligible for free tuition at Mass. colleges & universities

By Steve Freker

This was an honor worth waiting for and Malden High School’s administration was there to host the festivities for some of its top students. Over 50 members of the MHS Class of 2025 were the guests of honor at a celebratory breakfast held at the school to honor the recently announced recipients of the 2024-2025 John and Abigail Adams Scholarships.

“We are very proud of our newest group of Adams Scholarship awardees,” said Malden High School eighth-year Principal Chris Mastrangelo. “Through their academic excellence, they have earned this generous scholarship which will assist them and their families when they are trying to pay college expenses should they attend a state school.”

The Adams Scholarship is provided by the Office of Student Financial Assistance / Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. It provides a free, full tuition scholarship award for up to eight semesters at any and all state colleges, universities or community colleges. To qualify for the Adams Scholarship students must excel in the 10th grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS):

—Score in the Advanced category on one of three high school state assessment tests in English Language Arts, Mathematics, or STE (Biology, Chemistry, Introductory Physics or Technology/Engineering)

—Score in the Proficient or Advanced category on the remaining two high school state assessment tests

—Have a combined MCAS score on these assessments that ranks in the top 25% in their school district.

According to the Massachusetts Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA), The purpose of the award is to reward and inspire student achievement, help attract more high-performing students to Massachusetts public higher education and provide families of college-bound students with financial assistance.

The OFSA website reports, “Recipients of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship are eligible for an award of a merit-based credit toward tuition. Individual student awards at State Universities and Community Colleges shall be no more than the resident undergraduate tuition rate at the participating institutions. Individual student awards at the University of Massachusetts shall be valued at $1,714 [per semester] at Amherst, $1,714 at Boston, $1,417 at Dartmouth, and $1,454 at Lowell.”