Chouaib Saidi also contributed to this article.
On May 8th, seniors Hannah Agbonogieva, Matt Jason Chan, Ismail Elbahlawan, Moisha Howse, Nicholas Li, David Parada, Anas Tiahi, Leica Naceus, and Editor-in-Chief of Web and Mobile Apps for the Blue and Gold, Jacob Fuentes, put on a night to remember in the first Senior Spotlight show in over five years. Senior hosts Billy Gavin and Gino Spadafora, and “MC” James Valente helped organize a night full of applause and laughs for the community of Malden High School.
The night began with humorous remarks from Valente that set the scene for the rest of night, while also showing gratitude for all attendees who made the tradition possible once again. Before the performances kicked off, Valente assured that everyone was informed of the rules and circumstances of each act, highlighting to the audience that every act was essentially a surprise as “we know what event happens after this, but we don’t know what’s going to happen when that event is on stage,” stated Valente.
Upon the beginning of the first act, all the participants were called to the stage, and they performed an iconic dance performed by the Malden High School Cheer team titled, “Jump on It.” The crowd went ecstatic, and they were even more excited for the upcoming mysterious performances. Hannah Agbonogieva, escorted by senior Sorin Mamouzette, kicked off the night with a display of her impressive talent and passion for design, which she demonstrated with three fellow Malden High School seniors, Aaliyah Lopes-Teixeira, Sorin Mamouzette, (last senior), who served as her models for her hand-made knitted outfits that stunned every audience member.
Matt Jason Chan, escorted by a senior, followed with a beautiful reaction of Bruno Mars’s song “Die with a Smile.” Chan’s dances were accompanied by Thalia, who played the electric guitar beautifully. Chan is a member of play-pro and the choir; he is someone who is very familiar with the MHS Auditorium due to all his performances. He found the Senior Spotlight emotional for him as it was one of his last performances at the school. Near the end, he dramatically throws a flower for the last time to symbolize how his time making an impact on MHS performances is nearing its end.
Following Chan was Ismail Elbahlawan, escorted by Lead reporter for the Blue and Gold Haset Tesfaw, who Valente introduced as “overqualified” in reference to his specific act. Elbawlawan’s act was giving the audience a course on self-defence. Elbahlawan demonstrated his act by utilizing hosts Spadafora, Gavin, and Valente as potential threats, showing the audience what to do in case of an emergency or if someone is trying to harm you. Though it was demonstrated through a community, the act brought tons of laughs among the crowd. Sideline participants Johnny Mei and Evan Ruan participated in the act by essentially jumping him towards the end to challenge the validity of Valente’s statement of Elbawlawan’s “strength” while also maintaining the comedic environment. “I was really stressed during the whole thing because whenever I got my name called on, I had to go. But honestly, that also could have just added to the thrill of it, so I’m not really sure,” Mei explained upon reflecting on his crucial role as a sideline actor.
The night carried on with beautiful performances back-to-back, including Fuentes’s singing with beautiful piano work, Moisha’s beautiful song performance accompanied by his stage presence and execution that provided a lot of audience interaction through his body language, and Li’s demonstration of echolocation and super hearing which sparked a lot of laughter among the audience as he chased crew members around the stage with a go-noodle in hand in attempt to hit one of them and prove his echolocation, all while blindfolded.
Following that was a memory performance by Leica Naceus, in which she presented her skills of recollection by being able to spell various words backwards on a giant whiteboard for the audience to see.
“If a teacher says do it, do it. Because, like, that’s really why I did it, and I didn’t know I would have this much fun, this much experience, matter of fact, when? Like, you never know what will happen,“ Naceus remarked.
Parada was not a let-down either, as he sparked the audience’s attention by wearing singer Michael Jackson’s signature glove as well as remarkable dance moves to hook the audience.
“It was a very fun experience,” Parada said. He said he didn’t intend on participating, but his teacher, Mr. Valente suggested so. “I was very nervous to do it, but when I actually got on stage and I practiced for a little bit, it was very fun,” he added.
Tiahi’s act and task was to eat as many pizza slices in a minute as he could. Through his entertaining adversity, he managed to make the audience laugh at his attempts to eat a whole box of pizza, in which he ultimately failed, but succeeded in getting the audience roaring in laughter for the entirety of his act.
The night concluded when Mr. Valente turned it over to the judges, Mayor Gary Christenson, Barbara Scibelli, Jeanne Marquado, Michaela Ilebode and Michael Jackson, all MHS staff members and Malden representatives.
The judges voted Parada as a 3rd place winner with his impeccable Michael Jackson dance moves, in which he received a piece of MHS clothing, Jacob Fuentes as a 2nd place winner with his eloquent pianist and vocal skills and received a Pisa Pizza gift card worth $50, and Leica Naceus as a 1st place winner, as well as the recipient of Red Sox tickets!
“It felt amazing. Like, literally, like to win anything in general, you feel like, hey, yeah, you did that.” Naceus concluded.
The night turned out to be like no other; the 2026 Maldonian class coordinated this event without any preparation, highlighting how authenticity played a pivotal role in this beautiful, inclusive performance. Tune in next year to see the 2027 Maldonian class coordinate Senior Spotlight once again to show how a tight-knit community can coalesce and make what’s supposed to be a single shining light into many in one night.
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