Marisa Maisano Senior Spotlight

You are the founder of Masterman Queens, a club dedicated to teaching girls how to play chess. What have been some of your favorite memories or milestones?

I think one of my favorite things has been to see the girls’ growth over time. A lot of them come in having never played chess before—not knowing how the pieces move or knowing anything about the game. By the end of the year, they’re playing in a tournament game and strengthening their skills. Humble brag: we’re the three time champions of the Philly Girls Play Chess Tournament. It’s very exciting to see how fast the girls can pick up the game and get to master it.

You ran a full marathon last year with Students Run Philly Style. What are some songs that kept you going during practices or during the race?

During the marathon, I spent 15 minutes with Mr. Gilligan teaching him how “Look What You Made Me Do” goes. “Speed Drive” by Charlie XCX, too. That song gets me going. Also, “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna because I did it for lip sync one year so I know all the words. I never really ran with music before training for the marathon, but Ms. Fox told me there would be a point that I would really need it. I couldn’t have done the marathon without Ms. Fox.

What are some events or traditions at Masterman that you’ll miss when you leave?

Lip sync. I love lip sync so much. Lip sync is my absolute favorite thing in the entire school. We finished lip sync for Spirit Week and then weeks later I’m like, “wait I have the best idea for lip sync next year.” I have at least ten notes in my phone of lip sync ideas I want to do. I danced from when I was two all the way until 5th grade and I really love to dance and lip sync helped bring that back to me. 

You’ve spent a lot of time with Mr. Gilligan over the years. What’s something people don’t know about him?

His favorite Taylor Swift song is “Picture to Burn.” He also hates polar bears because of something about climate change and he thinks polar bears aren’t cute. 

After being in SGA for all of highschool, what has been your proudest moment throughout the years?

I think our work to get the eight period schedule back. It was a lot of Zoom meetings and a lot of really awkward, tense meetings. [I was really glad] to help out our community in such an impactful way that's going to make a difference for so many students both in middle and highschool. I was really glad that it passed and was actually able to happen. I think our schedule now is much better than what the seven period schedule was. I think having a unique schedule like that is what makes Masterman so unique and helps Masterman flourish [with the] community that it [has]. We are different from other schools because we are a middle and high school, so we have to be different in the way that we accommodate being a middle and school. I feel the eight period day is a big part of that. 

Describe college applications in one word.

New-beginnings.

Best afterschool snack?

I’m not a big snacker. My house doesn’t have a lot of snacks, it’s really lame. I’m an only child, so if I don’t ask for specific snacks, we’ll have nothing. Whenever I’m free after school I really like hitting up the Halal cart on 17th and Spring Garden or Stockyard.