For the longest time, it has been a tradition at Malden High for students to participate in Spirit Week, a series of days leading up to Pep Rally where students get the opportunity to dress up and show off their school spirit. In the past, every student that participated would earn points for their class, but this year was not like all the ones that came before it. The Step Team did not perform at Pep Rally, student council members did not sell t-shirts, there was no tug-of-war.
In early November, Beth Horwitz, a Business Teacher and the co-adviser to the Maldonian, was speaking to art teacher Mary Ann Seager about their disappointment, because for them, Spirit Week “represents a sense of community and Malden High School Pride.”
This was when they decided to take matters into their own hands and set up a meeting with Principal Christopher Mastrangelo to see if there was any way to host Spirit Week virtually this year. Mastrangelo was excited to hear that Horwitz and Seager were taking initiative and said, “if [they] thought [they] had enough time to plan it, then absolutely, go for it.”
The following week, an email was sent out to Malden High staff to ask for any volunteers to help with the planning. James Valente, Kristy Hardy, Kristy Magras, Jeanne Marquardo, Tim Lane, Todd Cole, and Paul Marques were all staff members that responded.
As a team, they decided that Monday, November 23rd would be Sports Day, Tuesday would be Bad Hair Day, and Wednesday would be Blue & Gold Day. They asked students to take a picture of themselves and upload it to them through a Google Form, where they put together all the submissions into a video montage at the end of the day. Valente took up the task of creating all the videos, which are also available on the Malden High School website. Horwitz thought that he “did a fantastic job,” knowing that it was not easy and “time-consuming at times.”
For Sports Day, students were instructed to “rock [their] favorite team’s colors and attire,” many of the participants chose to wear their Malden High sports merchandise. There was no shortage of participation from the staff members either. Principal Mastrangelo wore a Celtics sweatshirt and Boyle House Principal Stephanie Sibley showed her support for the Dallas Cowboys.
Students and staff did not come to disappoint on Bad Hair Day. While some people looked like they just rolled out of bed, others put in effort to braid their hair in a funky way or put on a wig.
Usually Blue & Gold Day coincides with Pep Rally, but that did not stop people from repping their class! Some students wore their class shirt, others wore clothes showing off their sports or clubs.
Horwitz’s favorite part about Spirit Week this year was “seeing the smiles on the students’ faces… each day.” As a former graduate of Malden High, Blue & Gold day was “especially meaningful” to her because the photos and videos helped her remember all the happiness that she got from these traditions. She did not want the seniors to graduate from Malden High without having the same.
Horwitz and Seager felt that having a Virtual Spirit Week would serve as a nice reminder that “we are always together at Malden High School, showing Malden Pride whether we are in school or distance learning.”
