More than four thousand miles away from Revere High School in the middle of Europe is the country Hungary. The country has residents and tourists, including a junior from Revere, who has been traveling there her whole life and became bilingual in Hungarian and English. With this skill, she decides to help others through volunteering. 

Szilvia Wiksell spends her free time playing volleyball and volunteering in different ways including through Active Minds, the mentoring program and teaching English in Hungary. 

Wiksell first went to Hungary when she was only one year old, and she has been going back every year for a month during summer break. Her grandparents live in the country, and they also come and visit the United States once a year. Because of the connection with the country, Wiksell picked up Hungarian and is fluent in the language. Along with going to Hungary to visit her grandparents, Wiksell was also offered to play national volleyball for a year her seventh and eighth grade year. Although she had to decline the offer, it led her to a new experience to meet friends and later teach English to students during her stay in the country. 

“The school [in Hungary] was still going until [the] middle of June, so I talked to some of the kids and their English teacher said, ‘we’d love to have you come in and just talk about your experiences and what you do and how America is different than here and they think it’d be a great opportunity,’” Wiksell said. 

Wiksell shared her experiences in the US in seventh grade, and the English teacher asked her to continue to educate the students. Wiksell shared how she continued to help. 

“[The students] kept asking me to come back, and then I started helping teach English; so I helped pronounce words and telling them certain diction, and I brought some books in. It kind of escalated to a daily basis that I started teaching English,” Wiksell said. 

Wiksell taught all of her seventh and eighth grade trip in Hungary, but due to COVID has not been to Hungary for the past couple of years. Her family plans to go this June, and Wiksell will also go back to the school for her third year. Wiksell expressed her excitement when she got to come back in eighth grade. 

“I actually met my same friends, and it was so awesome to see them for a second year; all the people I taught, they really missed me; I was really excited,” Wiksell said. 

Wiksell explained her plans for next year and what she does now to stay in contact. 

“The teacher’s name is Ediki Neni, so I’m probably going to see Ediki Neni when I go back in the summer and give her some tips and tell her what’s been going on and help her with her lesson plans. I also help sometimes during the school year; I would email Ediki Neni about different things we’re learning about in English to keep her parents updated, it was a cool experience,” Wiksell said. 

Along with volunteering in Hungary, Wiksell keeps busy at school with different clubs including Active Minds, Red Cross and a mentoring program. In ninth grade Wiksell joined the mentoring program as a mentee with now sophomore college student Julia Lutman as her mentor. Because she loved the experience her freshman year, she decided to become a mentor her sophomore year. Wiksell spoke on how she became a mentor. 

“I was the first sophomore that was given the role as a mentor because Mrs. Simonelli really trusted me and she wanted to have faith because she knew what I went through and that I was mentored that she thought that I could become a good mentor,” Wiksell said. 

Wiksell will serve as president of the program next year. Bonnie Simonelli, the adviser of the program, chose Wiksell to be president for her senior year. Simonelli explained the characteristics of the junior and why she is fit to be president. 

“She’s giving in [and] of herself and to other students. She wants to be a support to all the students no matter where they’re from- Richfield Elementary, middle school, high school. . . Szilvia just goes out of her way to help people and wants to make things better for people. People don’t even know how much she helps,” Simonelli said. 

In the program mentors meet with students every other Friday to talk about anything the mentee likes to discuss. Wiksell discusses what her and her mentee usually talk about. 

“I have a girl that I meet with, if she has any school problems, not really like homework, but like family issues or friend problems, I help talk her through them; I ask her questions and ask her how she’s doing because a lot of the kids that are coming up, they want to feel loved by someone because they don’t feel loved by someone at home so they want to feel like they have someone they can go to,” Wiksell said. 

Wiksell also participates in Active Minds and will be Co-President with rising Junior Lilly Hoza for the 2022-2023 school year. The club speaks on mental health, which Wiksell advocates for. Wiksell elaborated on why mental health is so important to the club and to her. 

“We’re just really for spreading mental health because I think that’s the biggest and most important thing that anyone can contribute is making sure that someone has good mental health,” Wiksell said. 

Senior Anna Freeman is one of the presidents of Active Minds this year and introduced Wiksell to the club. The two met in volleyball and became friends through the sport. Freeman and other Co-President Paige Hudnall were in charge of picking the co-presidents for next year. Freeman talked about why she chose Wiksell to lead. 

“She [Wiksell] is just very awesome and genuinely a caring person, and at all of our meetings, she consistently stepped up and did extra work and stayed after to talk and always showed interest in mental health and everything. . .if I ever need anything, she’s not afraid to talk about anything. She hits basically all the points,” Freeman said. 

The program spreads mental health awareness in many ways, including monthly themes. Wiksell explained how she wanted to focus on getting the whole school involved during the months and help out during finals week. She and Hoza are already planning for next year and are excited to take the role on. 

Along with volunteering through clubs and culture, Wiksell occupies her time with volleyball. She has played the sport since fourth grade and joined the Revere team when the program started in seventh grade. Wiksell found peace in the sport and explained how it helped her when she was struggling.    

“Volleyball has been the glue that kept me together. I was really struggling in middle school to make friends and I was always in a bad mental state, but [with] volleyball I lost myself in the sport, and it helped me forget about all my troubles; mentally it just set me in the right mindset, it made me so happy knowing that I was good at the sport so I kept going,” Wiksell said.

This year Wiksell was supposed to play Varsity in volleyball, but because of an ankle injury during the summer, she did not get to play as much as possible. Even with a spot on the bench for most games and practices, Wiksell showed up and cheered on her teammates no matter what state she was in. Freeman spoke on what Wiksell adds to the team. 

“I think volleyball is such a team sport, so she’s very reassuring like, ‘you’ve got the next one,’ or, ‘good job,’ so her positive reinforcement, she’s not a very negative person, she’s not one to yell, so she definitely brings a lot of positivity to the team and a lot of laughter,” Freeman said. 

Wiksell is part of both school volleyball and her club team AVC outside of school. Although she probably will not play for the club team next year, she hopes to make Varsity for her senior year in the sport. Wiksell explained the main reason she is in the sport is for the relationships she builds and the energy it brings her. 

“Volleyball is a team sport, and when you’re on the court, you have to play as a team. I just loved the relationships that it brought, I loved the energy it brought, I thought it was a very good sport and it really helped me mentally when I was struggling, and that’s why I always go back to it,” Wiksell said. 

Wiksell keeps busy during school and the summer with volunteering and volleyball, and she spoke on why she felt volunteering was so important to her and why she values it. 

“I really find joy in volunteering because I felt like in middle school, no one really helped me until eighth grade, and because of that, I always find joy in giving to other people because if I see they’re struggling, I know what it’s like and I don’t want anyone to struggle like how I struggled,” Wiksell said.  

Wiksell is excited for another volunteering opportunity this summer when she will travel to Mexico for a week with her church, and also she will go back to Hungary to teach English once again.