COVER PHOTO TAKEN FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
If you were given 40 million dollars to renovate a school, what would you do? At 50 Crystal Street, in Malden, Massachusetts, you can view the 70,000-square-foot expansion, Malden Catholic’s response to this question.
Malden Catholic’s renovation included a 35,000-square-foot athletic facility with an indoor turf field and a new athletic building. The remaining 35,000 square feet houses 17 classrooms and specialized labs for biomedical engineering, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship.
The cherry on top, however, is the addition of Seventh and Eighth-grade programs to the school. This program allows 200 students to commit to Malden Catholic in middle school, allowing them to find their place in the building and academics before undergoing the challenging transition into high school.
Junior Dante Bell of Malden High School highlighted the importance of reaching out to younger generations, as he felt “it’s really cool how they are giving younger kids an opportunity to get into their school.” This statement emphasizes the importance of fostering kids in an educational environment, by engaging with them at a young age. This increases access and availability for younger students to attend the private school, which was Malden Catholic’s goal.
This question, paired with Malden Catholic’s answer, sparked the minds of Malden High students who felt Malden Catholic’s renovations were “really cool.” With this, students began to imagine what Malden High could do with money like this.
Senior Daniel De Olivera explained many ways Malden High could have used the money, such as towards “parking lots” or “better lunches,” while freshman Arthur Sewell proclaimed Malden could “expand on equipment” for “academics and athletics,” which in turn would build a stronger community for the school.
Malden High has not experienced a renovation in the past 15 years, the last being a $77 million project to reform classrooms, gym, and repaint.
Bell believes Malden could use the money to better expand sports facilities and gain equipment for teams such as the swim team, which often goes unnoticed. “They do a lot of winning, they could use a lot of equipment.”
Overall, the consensus among the student body is that MHS needs to do more when it comes to upgrading the school both educationally and athletically; to shine a light on hard-working communities that may not receive proper funding, which would help build a community where equality is prioritized.
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