Feature Student: Francesca Rizzo

One of this month's featured student is senior Francesca Rizzo, who has been named President of this year's MHS Drama Club. Including the achievement of President, Rizzo had a life changing opportunity to volunteer with the organization Habitat for Humanity this past summer. This organization helps people who do not have homes by recruiting a number of volunteers who will participate in building houses for those in need. Rizzo had the opportunity to make a difference by traveling to Lafayette, Louisiana to do just that. Once in New Orleans, she was joined with a group of 15 other students from around the world and NCCC and AmeriCorps members.  Together they traveled 3 hours from New Orleans to their work site in Lafayette, Louisiana.

"From 8:00am until 3:30pm we were on the worksite. By the end of my trip we finished framing, raising all of the walls, and getting the house ready for a roof," says Francesca.

Although the work was hard and the Southern heat was tiring, the result was rewarding.

"As cliche as it may be, Habitat really did change my life. When I met the family that would be moving into the house we were building, I really understood why I was there."

She recalls a 17 year old boy she met, who would be moving into the home she was building.

"He has been working at a fast food restaurant since he was fourteen to help contribute to the family's bills. When we asked if he planned on attending college, he said that he wasn't sure because he might have to stay home and work. We don't realize how lucky we are. I never take anything for granted anymore."

Along with the work of building the home, the volunteers took educational trips as well.

"We went on a bayou tour, went to traditional Cajun restaurants, made endless amounts of trips to Super Walmart (there were at least four in the town we were in), attended a baseball game, and went to a homeowner's ceremony," Rizzo says.

Her trip to Louisiana a success and a reward. Rizzo, who wants to major in Philosophy and minor in Peace Studies, is passionate about the work she has done for Habitat for Humanity. .

"I want to keep programs like this going. I want to work for a nonprofit... perhaps even Habitat for Humanity!"


Now back at home and in her senior year at MHS, Rizzo has been  appointed the President of the Drama Club.

"I am thrilled to be the President of the Drama Club this year! Being the President is being the face of the Drama Club; one of the spokespeople for the program. The President has to embody the program,"she says of the title.

Anticipating an exciting year for productions, with Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" as the fall production, an original production for winter's METG Drama Festival, and "Beauty and the Beast" for the spring musical.

If you don't want to audition, why come see the shows!

"The drama club has some seriously fierce actors and actresses as well as a killer crew this year, you don't want to miss it!"

With the amazing experience working alongside Habitat for Humanity and an exciting year ahead as President of Drama, Rizzo has begun her final year at MHS on a high note.

If you, a friend, or family member are interested in experiencing and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity,   Rizzo says that she would "strongly encourage them to check out Habitat's website for volunteer opportunities!"

By: Thea Burke

Melrose High Junior Elizabeth Hirsch qualifies for All States

Melrose — Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hirsch is known at Melrose High School as one of the school's top notch athletes, as well as for her kindness and academic achievements. In 7th grade, after playing basketball and soccer, two sports that she says she was "very mediocre" at, Lizzie found her passion when she joined the middle school cross country team. Now, as a valued teammate on the Melrose High Cross Country team, Lizzie has qualified to participate in the All State Championships. How exactly does one do this?
"I qualified for the race by finishing 15th at the [Eastern Mass division] race last weekend," says Lizzie.
"The top four teams and top ten individuals from each division go to All States, and I was one of the top ten individuals. It will basically be a huge race with lots of really fast runners from all over the state, held at Franklin Park."
For Lizzie, this is not a first time State Championship; it is her third year in a row that she has achieved qualification. Even if it is her third year the excitement an nerves of the race still run high.
"I am nervous, but also excited because I've had a good season and hopefully this will be a really good race."
As a member of the Melrose Cross Country team, it seems as though Lizzie will receive a lot of support from her teammates.
"I love my team; it is made up of some of the best people at our school and everyone is supportive of each other," she says fondly.
As well as having a team aspect, running also has personal rewards.
"Running still excites me now because every race is a different experience and a challenge. It is exciting to push myself to my limits and to see how the hard work of training can pay off. Another is the stress relief that running provides. If I am frustrated with school or angry at someone, I just run, and I feel a lot better afterwards."
As for her plans after high school, Lizzie is sure that she will incorporate running into her life. She hopes to run on a college team, and "after college I will definitely find a way to fit running into my life, even if I'm not on a team, since it is such an important part of my life and I really enjoy it."
As a prominent member of the cross country team and a kind person to all who know her, there is no one more deserving of the qualification for the All States than Lizzie Hirsch. In the next coming weeks, hopefully all of her hard work, training, and excitement will pay off once again as Lizzie prepares to take on the All State Championships at full speed.

By: Thea Burke

Melrose Masters "Safe Streets, Smart Trips"!

Melrose High School’s Andrew Dell Isola and Christian Poutre won the recent Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s PSA competition, a contest that included sixteen Massachusetts high schools.

“[Poutre and Dell Isola] had to promote pedestrian, driving and bicycle safety in sixty seconds or less, which is kind of ridiculous,” said Anthony DiBenedetto, the MHS Television Production teacher.

The Safe Streets PSA contest is one of many programs the school has participated in. Similar contests organized by the Middlesex District Attorney and State Fire Marshall are among the others. Poutre and Dell Isola walked away with first place and Paris Peterson, winner of last year’s fire safety PSA contest, took home an honorable mention.

“I try to alternate between kind of fun and goofy projects and things that are a little more serious,” DiBenedetto explained about TV production class. Public service announcements are only a portion of the fun projects they complete throughout the year.

“All of the music they composed themselves,” DiBenedetto said about his students’ video. With this particular project, Dell Isola and Poutre spent a week working in class as well as some time on their own. They even completed an original jingle which happily closes the video, “Safe Streets, smart tips, keeping you safe.”

“I’m a musician, a music producer,” said Dell Isola, who wrote and performed the video’s music and jingle. “I used their slogan, which they liked.”

“I love the ability to produce a video exactly how I imagine it in my head” Poutre said when explaining why he loves his TV Production class. “Video production is something I will keep in mind for a career,” he added.

Dell Isola described his affection for the class, “I’ve always loved making videos and I’m also an actor.” He later stated, “I want to do music production and film production, so, having won that contest for both of those two things is pretty good.”

“It gives validity to what we’re doing,” DiBenedetto said about the award and his classes will continue the year in with competitive spirit.

By: Devin Castaño

Feature Student: Amanda Sampson

Attention class of 2015, you have a new President: Amanda Sampson. Though preparing to take on her new role as Senior Class President, there is a lot more to Sampson than winning elections and public speaking.

            “Whenever I have the time I like to knit, draw, and watch multiple seasons of Netflix shows.” states Sampson who otherwise has quite the busy schedule. Student Government, which she has participated in, since Freshman year keeps her involved with the school year round. Additionally, Sampson also is on the Cross Country team and the Tennis team, “I would say that I love running, but that would be a lie-- I really enjoy being on a team.” Sampson does not rest even on the weekends, on Sundays she teaches CCD to 3rd graders.

            Last year, Sampson served as Vice President for the class of 2015. She has also been a School Committee Representative for two years. This year she decided to run for President. “I wanted to run for Class President because I felt like after being on student government for three years, I had the ability and experience needed to guide us in the right direction.” Sampson said when asked about her decision to run. With Senior Prom, the Halloween Dance, and Senior week to plan, the next year won’t carry any sort of a lighter load for the new Senior Class President.

            Being a Senior in the up and coming school year brings more with it than just extra-curriculars. College is also on the mind of many members of the Class of 2015. Sampson says she plans to either stay in the New England area or head to Washington D.C. for college.

            For next years Freshman, Sampson has some words of wisdom to pass down. “(don’t) be scared of the upperclassmen! We were all in the same boat at one point. And also, get involved, MHS has something for everyone and it’s a good way to make new friendships with people from all different grades and friend groups.”

by: Madison Forsberg

Ms. Mochi ran the Marathon!

On April 21^st, Marathon Monday, runners ran with the “Boston Strong” mind set.  These people were there to represent the victims of the marathon bombings last year, and among those runners was Melrose High special education teacher, Ms. Mochi. 

            

            “I’m running for my mom,” Mochi says, who ran with the Mass Eye and Ear team.  Mochi’s mom is deaf and has to use a copular implant to help with her hearing.  But the implant had some complications and now gives her headaches and dizziness.  Her mom is unable to travel so Mochi says the Boston Marathon was the “first time she saw me run.”

            

            This is Mochi’s fourth marathon; she has run marathons in Chicago, Disney World, and Marine corps in D.C.  The Boston Marathon has been the hardest one she had done.  And applying for this year’s marathon took more time than past ones.  Mochi signed up with Team Mass Eye and Ear which had a “very lengthy application, which took me an hour to fill out.”  The application consisted of questions and mini essays.  Mochi said “out of the blue they [Team Mass Eye and Ear] called me at the high school and asked if I could do a conference call.  Then during the call they offered me the spot right then and there.”

Part of running for this team Mochi had to raise $6500. “I was really anxious,” Mochi says about raising the money, “but I hit my goal in early march.” Mochi said she “did a lot of social media” to raise the money, and had the help of friends and colleagues who donated.   

Now that the marathon is over Mochi says, "I felt really great and so happy to be done, because it was very hot that day." Ms. Mochi got the chance to run with a girl on her team that didn't get to finish the marathon last year.  Mochi said, "it was really nice, we cried the whole way down boylston street."   

Ms. Mochi's next race will be a ten miler in October.  She hopes to run another marathon in the near future.   

By: Anna Garofalo

Featured Student: Paris Peterson

Paris Peterson is a junior at Melrose High who has recently entered a short film contest with a three minute film about the common fire hazards which happen in everyone's households. The video includes acting from his friends and some easy steps anyone should take to prevent house fires. Paris entered this contest after his TV teacher made it an assignment to make a fire safety video, and encouraged the students to enter the contest held by the State Department of Fire Services. Prizes for the contest include gift cards and other benefits for the high school's TV production. Even before entering the contest, Paris always had an interest in film making. "It's definitely something I've been looking into ever since I started acting in student films. There's a lot of freedom in the field. Something I'm attracted to," Paris says.

His involvement with film making started when he was a kid living in South Boston, improvising skits with his siblings and filming them. Paris also enjoyed acting in the skits, so he began theatre. When he moved to Melrose in third grade, him and his brother, Dakota, started making skate videos. Paris's involvement with theatre and film making has had a huge influence on working on his own material. Not only does Paris enjoy film making, he also enjoys acting in his friends' films. Acting in these films for colleges led Paris to begin making films himself. Paris says that "taking the knowledge from that and TV class have driven me in a new direction of thinking cinematically. Experience can only lead to improvement." In addition to his brother Dakota, who is currently in college for ion, Paris's uncle and cousins are in the filmmaking business. After the competition is over, Paris is going to Iceland with friends this summer and hopes to make a short film while there. "Regardless of me winning, bringing audiences something meaningful through film is what I plan to do for quite some time."

By: Megan Wolley

Mock Trial

            For over fifteen years Mock Trial has been a club at Melrose High. Recently, this nation-wide competition in which students argue real-life cases in front of a judge in a courthouse has increased in popularity.

            Melrose High’s mock trial team is competing in region nine of the Mock Trial competition. They play against neighboring districts and 140 cities and towns in Massachusetts. In these competitions Melrose competed against Everett High, Lynn Classical, Lynn English, Lynn Vocational, Malden Catholic, Malden High, Medford High, Revere High, and Winthrop High. “It’s like March Madness: broken up into brackets,” says Mr. Alperen, a Melrose High English teacher and the coach of Melrose High’s mock trial team.

            The trials are created by real lawyers and officials, and were real cases at one point. The cases presented by the mock trial teams are heard in front of real judges.

            Mr. Alperen explained how this year is a “civil case” and the “burden of proof lies on the plaintiff. These cases are tougher to prove.”

            Mr. Alperen described how television gives the audiences the illusion that cases are solved easily. “However, it’s very complicated with a lot of procedures.” Mr. Alperen claims that it is very rewarding when “your team wins a case because you’ve worked so hard.”

            There are thirteen students at Melrose High on the mock trial team this year: Matt Cornelius, Jack Eccles, Marco Garofalo, Claire Halderman, Olivia Izzi, Emma Leyne, Connor Locke, Connor Meade, Antonia Penta, Mike Polcari, Aidan Swan, Ian Swan, and Lily Tucci. Ian Swan and Jack Eccles are the captains. The students practice their parts at least two hours a week.

            The Melrose High mock trial team had a scrimmage at BC High Saturday, December 14^th. There was no official scoring, but Mr. Alperen believes BC High outscored Melrose High.

            “We found our strengths and we definitely have stars in the making.” Mr. Alperen said.

            Melrose’s first meet against Everett on January 23rd at the Lynn courthouse ended in a loss, but the team claimed a victory against Revere on January 27^th. The team faced Winthrop on February 3^rd, but lost after the judge gave Winthrop the win.

            “That’s called ‘subjective ruling,’ and the judge felt [Winthrop] went more smoothly.” Mr. Alperen said.

            The reason the judge felt this way was mainly because Melrose had a last minute change in position due to an illness. Connor Locke took over for Emma Leyne. Mr. Alperen said the case was exceptional because the meet resulted in a tie even with the last minute changes.

             “Most of these trials seem to favor one side over the other and this year they favored the side of the plaintiff.” Mr. Alperen said, explaining how Melrose beat Revere. “Not only did we win on points, but we argued a better case.”

            Melrose completed the preliminary round with a score of 1-2, and Melrose did not advance into the next round.

            “We definitely established ourselves as an affordable ‘firm’.” Mr. Alperen said.

             By: Christian Hashem

MHS Virtual Battle of The Bands

These are all the videos that have entered and are in round one of the competition. 

The two videos with the highest view count on Youtube move on to the finals!

The winner will be chosen by students at MHS.

Keep watching your favorite videos to help get them to the finals!

Anthony Naslas

Colin and Zac

Jared LeBlanc

Jump The Ship

Lilah Drafts-Johnson

Madretsma

Pat OConnor

Unnamed Band

Melrose Blood Drive

On November 7th, I became a first time blood donor for the American Red Cross. I have always wanted to donate blood and needles don’t affect me, so it made sense.  However before the 7^th, I did not know where I could donate blood.

The Melrose High school blood drive was the perfect solution for me. Being able to leave my class in order to donate, I headed to the Marcoux Gym to be one of the first blood donors of the day. After reading up about what I was getting myself into, a nurse checked some of my vitals and made sure it was safe for me to donate. Although lying on a table in the middle of the gym was odd, it only took 15 minutes.  Throughout the process extremely kind, presumably qualified, nurses took care of me, and making sure I was as comfortable as possible.

After donating, Student Council members took care of me and the rest of the donors, making sure we ate drank enough so that we wouldn't pass out. Even though I wasn't the least bit hungry, student council made sure I ate from the array of foods they had. After consuming a copious amount of  brownies, cookies, gummies and pretzels, I went back to class feeling healthy and proud.

Each donation can save about three lives, and it only takes about an hour. I understand that for some people needles are not an option, and others have medical restrictions, but I encourage anyone who may be physically and mentally able to donate to such an amazing cause. I’m proud to call myself a donor, and plan on donating again at Melrose High’s Spring blood drive.

By Olivia Terranova

Deep thoughts with Duncan, Vol. I

Mr. Girard and Geoff Rowe

Hello, readers of the Imprint blog. I, Duncan McLeod, have taken it upon myself to ask the hard questions to various teachers and students, these questions being of course, ones of deep philosophical nature.  For this article, my five questions focus around the concept of perfection, such as utopia, and my interviewees were the esteemed Mr. Girard, Physics and Chemistry teacher extraordinaire, and Geoff Rowe, snare drummer and student beyond compare.  So follows here the five questions and ten answers provided to your unhumble philosopher, Duncan McLeod.

Mr. Girard was asked: “Do you believe that a utopia or its opposite, a dystopia, could truly exist in this world?” His reply: “No, the way the world has been structured so far, it seems to me to be something we cannot actually achieve.”  I then asked if we are closer to, a dystopia or utopia, and his opinion on this was varied, stating we are closer to a “dystopia, but on some levels of society closer to a utopia.”  I proceeded to ask if a permanent world peace could exist, and he replied in a manner shadowing his answer to the first question. “Based on human history,” he said, “I don’t think that could ever happen.”  The fourth of the questions asked was “Can a perfect being exist?”  To this, he replied “an individual, yeah. It is rare, but possible.”  And the fifth and final questions asked was that of “If such a form of perfection can be achieved, how many paths in life lead there, is there only one path?” and he responded stating that it was “definitely not one path … It would be a long path.” He ended on the bittersweet optimistic statement of “we gotta live life hoping.”

To the student Geoff Rowe the same questions were asked, and his answers were recorded just the same.  When asked if he believed if a utopia or a dystopia could exist, he responded claiming “yes, though it would be unlikely to last particularly long,” and in answer to the second of the queries, he responded that he does believe we are closer to a dystopic society, and did not elaborate further.  When he was asked if he felt that a permanent world peace could exist under any circumstances, he claimed that “perhaps a long lasting peace, but it would eventually come to an end.”  As to the possibility of a perfect being, he believes strongly that it is possible, though whether he feels that there has been such a person he refused to say.  And as to the paths by which one might achieve world peace, utopia, or perfection, he states that if it is possible, there is an infinite number of paths.

Glossary of potentially confusing terms and words used above:

1. utopia: a perfect society, a paradise
2. dystopia: a flawed society, a horrible place
3. extraordinaire: a person of great regard within a field (term of respect and admiration)
4. shadowing: used here to mean resembling, or alike to
5. bittersweet optimistic statement: something positive with some negative interpretations
6. queries: questions

Twelve Years Later

Twelve years ago, many families lost a member in that tragic attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and in Pennsylvania. One man, my uncle, will live forever in so many hearts.

Peter Hashem was a resident of Tewksbury, Massachusetts. He was happily married to Rita Hashem, with two children, Christopher and Patrick, who were—at the time—eleven and nine years old. My uncle was a Senior Software Engineering Manager and was flying out of Logan Airport on Flight 11 on a business trip to Los Angeles. He left his family, friends, and coworkers the loving memories of all the fun, exciting, and happy times they had shared with him.

Every year, in Tewksbury, MA, there is a memorial ceremony in honor of my uncle and Peter Gay, another resident of Tewksbury who, like my uncle, vanished from his family’s lives – though not their hearts – that tragic day. The memorial is held at Tewksbury Public Library. Almost all of Peter Hashem’s family members attend each year. Though most of them do not enjoy attending, such as his children and mother, because it brings back the memory of that horrific Tuesday morning, they still do appear at his memorial service each year to pay respects. They also go to the service to see their beloved relative one more time; even if it is in a plaque form.

Peter Hashem's plaque

The founder of this memorial, President Robert Fowler, and his Board of Directors made speeches of how our loved ones are always with us and that they would never leave our hearts. He then begins to explain the history of this memorial. “Our motto—since the beginning—is ‘Never Forget.’” President Fowler told me in an interview. “Freedom is what is keeping America, well, America. And in order to stay free, we must use September eleventh as our motive.”

Afterwards, Laurissa Gay, daughter of Peter Gay, spoke to the audience. “Each year, September eleventh moves further into existence.” She said. “I cannot believe that there were twelve year olds that weren't alive during that tragic day. I just can’t believe it.” She then proceeds to read a few poems. When I looked around, I could tell people were trying not to cry. It was truly a sad moment for everyone.

When the Fire Department and Police Department read off the 93 Massachusetts residents who lost their lives twelve years ago, everyone in the audience lit candles in memory and respect of the fallen. Everyone in the audience sang along with the Tewksbury Memorial High School Marching Band to “Let There Be Peace On Earth,” and for a moment we were all united as one.

The memorial building

After the memorial, relatives and friends took the time walk up to the memorial building. There were already two plaques; one of my uncle, Peter Hashem, and one of Peter Gay. Recently, the foundation of this memorial added two new plaques. One plaque is about never forgetting 9/11, and the other is a short biography of the attacks. Around the building, bricks are cemented into the ground. Each has a different name of every victim of the tragedy.

My great aunt, Peter Hashem’s mother, walked up to the plaque of her late son just to see his face and touch it one more time. My uncle is gone from our lives, but he has not left our hearts nor our thoughts. The same goes to Peter Gay and his family who misses him dearly. My uncle has touched many people; family, friends, coworkers, and complete strangers. He—and every other victim—will never be forgotten.

By: Christian Hashem

Feature Faculty: Jim Applegate

          While this year has brought countless new teachers to the faculty, it has also brought Resource Officer Jim Applegate of the Melrose Police Department. Applegate has been in Massachusetts his whole life; he was born in Charleston and lived there for a few years before moving to Melrose when he was 8 years-old. As a kid, Applegate went to the Horace Mann Elementary School, then to the old middle school, and his high school class was the first to graduate from the then new high school in 1976. After high school, he continued his education, earning a degree in criminal justice from Curry College.

               Before he became a police officer, Applegate worked at the Red Coach Grill and Marshall’s warehouse, but influenced by a family history of police officers, he decided to continue in the tradition and was sworn in as a Melrose Police officer in 1983 where he has been ever since. Thirty years later, he admits “I can’t see myself doing anything else. I love this job.”

          Before beginning to work as the MHS resource officer in December, 2012, he worked as a patrol officer. Now, Applegate can usually be found at the main desk area of the first floor, or in his office adjacent to the main office. He loves to guide students with any problems they may have and he encourages students to come to him for advice. There are a wide variety of tasks he does for Melrose, and because he is the only resource officer for Melrose he not only helps at MHS, but also at all of the schools in the district. Not only does he help students, he also helps faculty resolve any issues that may arise between teachers and students.

  Officer Applegate loves working and living here; he finds it to be a great town and place to raise children as he has raised three, two of whom are in college and the other is a student at MHS. His favorite part of his job is helping the many kids of Melrose. He hopes to be around for a long time, and the town certainly hopes he sticks around also.

By Alden Bedsole

IRaider Robotics Season Recap

The IRaiders Robotics team wound down from their season at their last competition on May 31st at Northeastern University. It ended a long and trying season for the team, who has been attempting to recover from the loss of six of their most experienced members as departing seniors last year. The team persevered, however, and moved forward despite their relative inexperience, building a working robot in the six weeks allotted by the FIRST Program (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), the organization that runs the competitions that the IRaiders  participate in. The team’s first official competition was at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, where the regionals are held to decide which teams advance to the national competition held later in the year. The IRaiders competed against teams from as far away as Connecticut, New York, Maine, and Canada, along with dozens of other teams from across Massachusetts. The team’s inexperience hurt them though, and they were unable to make the elimination rounds at the end of the competition. However, the team was eligible and competing for the Chairman’s Award, the highest and most prestigious award the FIRST Program has to offer, contending with about a dozen other teams at the competition for the honor. While they ultimately didn’t get the award, they have expressed interest in attempting to win it next year. “We put a lot of effort into that award application,” said Co-Captain Andrew Claxton. “So what if we didn’t get it this year? There’s always next time, and we’ll keep trying until we succeed.”

The team’s poor luck continued at their competition at Worchester Polytechnic Institute in May though, losing multiple matches due to various failures in the robot’s code and shooting mechanism (this year’s game involves shooting Frisbees form dispenser stations into goals on the other side of the field).  They also experienced difficulties at Northeastern, losing badly after the robot was damaged during the competition. Despite the difficult year the team remains in high spirits. “We had a tough year, but we’ll come back and learn something from this experience,” said Captain Claxton. “It’s not going to always be easy, but we’re not a team that does giving up.” 

By Andy Griscom

Feature Student: Dan Eichenberger

       Dan Eichenberger has become an idol among his classmates within his four years of a student at Melrose High School. Although he is a more soft-spoken eighteen-year old, Dan has been known to entertain his peers, through both his words and actions.

            Dan has been on three school trips within four years at MHS. He traveled to Georgia as a sophomore with Ms. Williams and then ventured to Costa Rica twice -- once his junior year and then again his senior year. During these three school trips, Dan’s fellow peers began to realize what an interesting and unique boy he really was. Dan recalls that it was on his school trip to Georgia that he earned his infamous nickname ‘Beige.’ He and his friends were fooling around on a bus ride in Georgia when suddenly one friend began singing ‘Ba Ba Black Sheep.’ The friends all joined in on the song, and finally decided that they wanted to integrate Dan into the song. Alex Foley, who accompanied Dan in Georgia, remembers that “he still had his ‘fro,” so the friends changed the song to “ba ba beige Dan have you any hair? Yes sir, yes sir, enough for a bear.” And history was made. During this school trip to Georgia, Dan forevermore earned the nickname Beige. When asked if he enjoyed the nickname, Dan admitted “It’s not my favorite…I’d much rather prefer to be called Dan.”

            The fame of Dan has lived on, especially on his following trips to Costa Rica. During his time in Costa Rica, Dan was able to make even more friends, as they soon realized his amusing character. Dan remembers that on his trip junior year, he even “got really sunburned at the beach and there was one square on [his] back that didn’t get sunburnt.” He laughed along with his friends as they applied intense amounts of Aloe Vera to his sunburnt back.

            Dan is not only interesting when on school trips. In fact, despite having forgotten to put on enough sunblock in the Costa Rican sun, Dan Eichenberger is very smart, among the top students in the Class of 2013. He is enrolled in some of the toughest courses at MHS – AP Psychology, AP Latin, AP Statistics, AP Environmental Science, Honors English, and Media Literature. His favorite of these classes is AP Statistics, since he has always been interested in math, and “it is the kind of math [he’s] good at.” He also partakes in a plethora of extracurricular activities, like Varsity Lacrosse, Student Government, Peer Mediation, and Latin Club. He has been a member of all of these activities for four years.

            When Dan is not travelling the world, completing schoolwork, or playing lacrosse, he enjoys hanging out with friends and “listening to all sorts of music.” He also has four birds – an eclectus parrot named Clover, a scarlet macaw named Bo, a sun conure named Pedro, and a blue and gold macaw named Trixie. Because of the birds, the Eichenberger household is a toasty 80 degrees year-round. He does not like talking to these birds, because “usually they yell… they don’t yell words, they just yell loud.”

            Dan’s life in Melrose these past eighteen years has sure been colorful and unique. Still, however, he seems excited to start a new chapter in his life. Dan has not chosen his college yet, but is trying to decide between Ithaca College, University of California- Riverside, University of Albany, and Quinnipiac University. He “would like to study something math or science related, but is unsure what [he] specifically wants to study.”  

By Betty Anne Richardson 

Feature Class: Legal Issues

          Legal issues is a favorite history elective among the seniors here at Melrose High School.  It runs as a College Prep and as an Honors class and has been available for students to take for multiple years.  The class focuses on the court systems and government in the United States, specifically those in Massachusetts.  Mr. Gerard Tannetta is the only teacher of the class this year.  He is a new teacher here at MHS, but used to teach in the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School.  He says, "I like [the class].  It is an interesting class because we look at controversial topics on whether people are guilty or if someone is liable to sue or not."  In class, the students practice how the court system works by performing some mock trial cases.  In these mock cases, the students take on the role of a lawyer, a judge or a witness and together they act out their assigned parts.  The class then decides whether the convicted person would be presumed innocent or guilty.  Senior Adam Elmore says “The class is actually really interesting; it’s cool to see how our court system works and to learn what rights I have." 

By Alyssa McFarland