Greatnews.life Student Voices: Marquette Catholic gets the groove going

What’s recently happened?

Marquette Catholic High School (MQT) is back with yet another exciting event: Catholic Schools Week. This week will consist of many competitive and fun activities like “Family Feud,” “Name That Tune”, a talent show, mass with the bishop and all the schools in the diocese and finally to end it off, a mini Armageddon game. 

Students will decorate their assigned hallways to match the theme they voted on in the previous semester. Freshman have chosen the Winter Olympics, sophomores have chosen “By the Beach,” juniors selected sports, and seniors chose “A night in Rio.” 

The week is very chaotic. Students will have the chance to dress down in PJs on Monday, dress like your favorite character on Tuesday, dress like their hallway on Wednesday, formal day for mass on Thursday, and the Blazers conclude with wearing their class shirt on Friday.

“Catholic Schools week is so much fun. It is a blast, and you never know what is coming,” Senior Della Wittrop said. 

The juniors won “Name That Tune” while seniors won “Family Feud.” Juniors also won musical chairs with a twist, and Senior Ivan Moda won solo music and vocal performance, Sophomore Maeve McKee won dance and other activities performance, Junior Marissa Pleasant and the Girls Basketball team won group musical and vocal performance and a group of juniors won overall with gloving at the talent show.

The sophomores won the hallway decorating with their “By the Beach” theme. The juniors came out with the Catholic Schools Week win.

What’s coming up?

MQT will host its Homecoming dance called “Snowcoe” this month. A lot of Blazers are looking forward to the Homecoming game where the Boys Basketball team will play John Glenn High School and the Homecoming Court will be displayed. The dance will be held later that night. 

Many are looking forward to the fun night with a lot of laughter, dancing, singing, and good memories. A big thank you goes to the Spirit Club for planning this amazing night, and an even bigger thank you to Leanna Smith who leads the Spirit Club. 

“Homecoming is great. I love seeing everyone have fun and enjoy themselves,” Senior Oliviah Kereszturi said. 

Staff spotlight:

Anne Larkin is an amazing teacher at MQT. She teaches world religions, Catholic social thought, psychology, sociology, and she used to teach world history. 

Larkin describes herself as an understanding person. She strives to be understanding of the students and an eternal optimist. She also enjoys students’ creativity. 

Now, Larkin is in her third year of teaching at MQT, but she has taught for 11 years total. She took a break from teaching and she missed it, so she came back. 

“I wanted to become a teacher after having kids; I wanted to be a good mentor because teenagers need good mentors in their life,” Larkin said. 

Larkin likes that she is able to have interesting classes, not just the basics. She loves the small class sizes because she gets to connect with the students. 

Larkin attended Saint Mary’s College and earned her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science. She later attended Indiana University of South Bend and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education with minors in history and sociology. 

In high school, Larkin participated in swimming and track. In college, she was the sophomore class treasurer. 

Besides teaching many classes, Larkin is also the head of the Girls Club and the freshman class sponsor. Larkin focuses on students loving more people at the end of their semester than they did at the beginning of the semester. 

Outside of the classroom, Larkin likes to spend time at the beach in the summer. She also likes to workout and do yoga. Another thing she likes to do is keep up with peace movements. Larkin wants to create peace in the world. 

Larkin encourages students to come into high school and befriend everyone you can. She encourages respect and appreciation for everyone trying to help you as a student. 

For the graduating seniors, Larkin strives for them to spend time alone and in silence to be able to listen to your inner creativity and inner divine spirit. By doing this, she hopes it will help people to get to know themselves. 

Student spotlight:

Addison Penziol is a senior at MQT who excels not only in the classroom but also on the basketball court. Penziol transferred in from La Lumeire High School last year and has adapted quickly to the community. 

“There are a lot of fun activities to work for and look forward to,” Penziol said. 

Penziol is a high academic student, with her taking many dual enrollment (DE) classes where she earns college credits, including World History, Public Speaking, Biology, Entrepreneurship, Government, U.S. History, Economics, Principles of Management, Business Law, Honors English, Honors Geometry, and Pre-Calculus.

Penziol loves her DE Entrepreneurship class. For her, it is a very relaxed class where everyone is there to learn the same things. 

“I want to have my own company one day. Even if I don’t start my own company, I can grow into owning one,” Penziol said. 

Penziol encourages students to take DE Entrepreneurship. She believes to enjoy the class, it’s important to pay attention to the little details and make sure to take the skills with you and be creative. 

“I really like how the teachers here are able to be open to conversation with the students,” Penziol said. 

Besides participating in college-level courses, Penziol involves herself in other extracurricular activities like Girls Basketball, playing for the Blazers as well as AAU with City Elite. She also participates in National Honor Society, Yearbook Club as a photographer, Blazer Spirit Club, Peer Ministry, and a lot of community service. 

Penziol has played basketball since she was in second grade. Eventually, she joined City Elite and her love of the game came from her coach. She leads the MQT Girls Basketball team in assists and serves as their captain.

“I like being a leader. I don’t just want to score; I want my teammates to score,” Penziol said. 

Outside of school, Penziol loves to keep up her basketball skills by playing and training in the gym or at home. Penziol loves to stay moving no matter if it is walking, running, stretching or lifting.

Penziol is an elite athlete who will attend Holy Cross College to continue her academic and athletic career. She will study business and entrepreneurship.

“I am very excited and ecstatic, because I’ve wanted to play in college my whole life. I am very grateful to have this opportunity,” Penziol said. 

Penziol has an older sister who attends Indiana University and a twin brother who attends La Porte High School. 

“It’s nice having a twin. He will always work out with me, and he can always be there for me,” Penziol said. 

Penziol advises future attendees to live each moment; eventually they will become memories, but there is a time that you lived it so don’t forget that. 

“Know that failures are just opportunities to grow. Trust God throughout the process because he will always be there,” Penziol said.

Penziol will continue to inspire her community and help her peers. She’s a bright light that will continue to shine beyond MQT and inspire people everywhere.