Masterman Voices

Dante Daniel Senior Spotlight

Mariacristina Calcagno '25

What has been a highlight of your experience at Masterman?

I really enjoyed the Baltimore trip we had in 10th grade where we went to the National Aquarium. It was just a nice experience to have with friends where we walked all over the pier, ate at a small nearby cafe, and even played Pokemon GO, catching Pokemon that you didn’t usually find back in Philly. The trip was a great way to kind of decompress after a tough year, where everyone had to transition back to in-person learning. Overall, the trip was a time when I felt a sense of fun and belonging that I hadn’t felt in a while beforehand, so I will always look back fondly on that trip.

How has being a member of Voices influenced you?

I like writing in Voices because it is a chance for me to get closer to the community. I can do it by interviewing seniors and by getting to learn about all the events and drama that happen in the school.

Do you have a favorite article you’ve written for Voices?

Two years ago, I worked with Kethan Shirodkar to write a satirical article about the roof opening [this was during a period in which the roof was closed]. I had so much fun helping dreaming of absurd stuff that the roof would have at the time. I know some kids who read the article and got annoyed because they thought the roof was actually opening at that time.

Any other clubs you want to talk about?

The ASL club was kind of a way for me to spread a language that barely anybody here knows. It was intended for me to kind of make this entire community closer to home. Like my old school..there were a lot of hearing people and there were also a lot of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. At that school, I was able to be comfortable just being myself since I didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. All the hearing people saw multiple deaf people every day and some knew sign language. That was kind of the ideal community for me. I wanted to bring some of that to Masterman by teaching deaf culture and signs at my club.

Do you have a favorite class that you’ve taken here in high school?

I’m going to say HUSH (Honors US History), with Ms. Elana. I enjoyed history class, and I enjoyed hers. History is so interesting, there’s so much stuff in the past that we just don’t know about. I like to know a lot of stuff, and history just satisfies my thirst for knowledge and information. Ms. Elana…made the class so much. I remember she did the Scrapbook project, where we just talked about our history.

You like to frequent Dunkin Donuts a lot. What do you like to order there?

I like to get coffee…I like to get the cheap one for some reason, with just milk, sugar, and cream. I don’t like the lattes, the big old lattes and stuff. I’m a cheap person when it comes to food. Like in general, I will take a greasy burger and fries over, say, spaghetti with spices dripped over it and parmesan. I like to grab their croissant with eggs and cheese with sausage.

Favorite place in the school?

The library is just really quiet, and friendly. It just feels peaceful. Whenever I’m not working on a project or homework, I love to spend time at the library typing up short stories or working on the next big novel idea.

Favorite TV show?

The Good Place. The Good Place is a show about a woman named Eleanor who is a bad person and then gets sent to heaven…by accident. And she has to try to earn her way into heaven, or else she will get sent back to the bad place. So much craziness happens after that. It's a sitcom… but your typical one. After Season 1 the plot drastically changes, and it becomes surprisingly philosophical and poignant. I would highly recommend the show.

Favorite pokemon? What do you like about Pokemon?

Greninja…I have a Greninja phone case; I have a plushy of it. I just really like the idea of collecting a lot of cool unique monsters and training them up from babies to big, strong…or just bonding with them. Like pets, kind of … if you forced your pets to fight other people’s pets.

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