After a long wait, Malden High’s Class of 2024 finally has its class advisors. This would mean that they are now able to hold elections for their student council. This will then kick off the beginning of their preparations for JVs and Prom, which are two of the biggest parts of the MHS experience.
Though mostly uncommon, as the Class of ‘25, ‘23, and ‘22 all have one advisor, the Class of 2024 has three. Jessica Webber, Shannon Votaw and Kristen Kirby are all members of the science department, who agreed to take on the role of assisting the Class of 2024 with their preparations for senior year.
Webber explained that she and the others decided to step up as advisors because “we want to help the sophomore class really have the high school experience that they deserve.” Webber elaborated that she had been asked multiple times, but finally decided it was time to give the Class of 2024 the help they needed.
However, many students have mixed feelings about how long it took to get elections started and to have one or more advisors instated. Some believe that the amount of time it took to get our advisors was reasonable. Giselle Dessert, who is currently running for President of the Class of 2024, said that “due to COVID, all the classes felt the impact of being cut short of the whole high school experience.” Dessert knows that this will be difficult for the current classes, but she knows the school is doing its best to help.
Meklit Abel, another student running for Class of 2024 President, was a bit surprised by how long it took to get the advisors but is just thankful to have some now. “Being an advisor is a very hard job and very time-consuming.” So she understands why so many staff members were not as open to the idea of becoming an advisor.
Though many people have similar opinions and even more that differ, they are all thankful to see some sort of update and movement in the process of building up their Student Council. Larissa Granja, who is running for Treasurer of the Class of 2024, expressed that she feels that “we have less time to fundraise for things that we should have had more time for.”
Principal Chris Mastrangelo explained that when it comes to “the class advisor role, people are always very reluctant to do it because it’s a lot of work and they don’t get paid a ton of money,” but he explained they always end up loving it. So it was all just a matter of picking who was most willing to sit through the tough beginning and develop a relationship that would last with their class.
Mastrangelo mentioned that at first, they had many close calls with many different teachers, but for different reasons, they ended up not being able to go through. So Mastrangelo is thankful that eventually, a few teachers made the decision to help out.
As many people know, the school year is coming to an end. With that next year kicks off preparations for JVs at the end of the Class of ‘24’s junior year. JVs is an annual talent show, held by the junior class each year, and has been running for 60+ years. JVs tend to bring in the most money towards prom but are also known as the most difficult fundraiser to plan, as it is held in high regard at MHS.
Since the Class of ‘24 is currently behind, Mastrangelo mentioned that they would be allowing the 9th and 10th-grade classes to split the profits of the water and slush booths at graduation to ensure they both get a good headstart on fundraising next school year.
Votaw explained that in the end, she knows that she and the advisors “want to try to hit the ground running to… make up for lost time.” With the campaigning time coming to an end on May 5th, the voting will also take place on said day. And with that, good luck to all those who are running. May the Class of ‘24 receive the best student council possible.
If you wish to view the candidates for each position, they can be seen here.
