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SLAMedia is a publication of the news for the Science Leadership Academy community. Writers come from the student body in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. We work in unison to create a functioning paper with biweekly postings on a variety of events.

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Avi Cantor

Column: The ‘Twin’ Sisters

October 26, 2018 by Avi Cantor Leave a Comment

Sukainah Hasan

Staff Writer

Photo Courtesy of Sukainah Hasan

September 5, 2017. When my sister, Kawthar, and I first walked into SLA, people were immediately staring.

One of Kawthar’s friends came up to us and said, “Omg! Are y’all twins?”

“We’re not twins; we’re sisters,” Kawthar said, trying not to get angry with this person.

During the one year, that we overlapped at SLA (2017-18), this happened all the time. Everyone just assumed that we were twins, even though Kawthar is 2 years older than me.

This was not surprising. We’ve heard so many people tell us that we look so much alike. People also assumed that I was the oldest since I was taller than Kawthar.  

But there is only one problem; Kawthar and I DO NOT look alike AT ALL.

There are many similarities between Kawthar and me: We have the same parents. We are STILL growing up in the same household because she goes back and forth to college and home. We’re both Muslim. Our favorite color is pink. We take our education very seriously, and we are both very social with people.

However, There are also many differences between Kawthar and me:

  • I’m more organized than the Kawthar. For example, when it comes to time management, she has a hard time with that, while it’s opposite for me.
  • We have different opinion about certain topics, such as music and who we think is better.
  • We have different styles when it comes to clothing: I prefer more colorful clothing, while she sticks with black and navy blue.
  • Kawthar is loud, while I’m quieter.
  • Have different goals in life. Right now, Kawthar is in majoring in business, and I know that I want to be an executive assistant.

When people didn’t take the time to get to know me on my own, that made me feel annoyed, because people were already “comparing” my sister and me, but didn’t really know who I was, to begin with. I think one of the reasons for this was because we decided to go to the same high school, so people probably think I have the same goals as my sister, but that’s not true.

Overall, even though lots of people might think that we look alike, we’re still two different people who happen to be sisters. We both want two different things in the future, and we deserve to be represented for our individual selves. I love my sister, but I will always argue the fact that WE AREN’T TWINS AND WE DO NOT LOOK ALIKE!

Being compared to my sister was the most challenging thing I had to go through in SLA, because the people, that my sister was close with, represented me as “Kay’s little sister,” instead of representing me as my individual self.

I know I’m not the only student to go through this challenge of getting out from under the shadow of their older sibling. For those of you who are in the same situation: Remember what makes you who you are, because if you allow yourself to be in your sibling shadow, then you will never know what YOU want to do with anything. Also, don’t be afraid to tell people who you are and how you don’t want to be compared to your sibling about everything. Lastly, just be yourself; the more you show your personality, people will tell the difference between yourself and your sibling.

Filed Under: Op/Ed

Perceptions of SLA at other Middle Schools

October 26, 2018 by Avi Cantor Leave a Comment

Lauren Nicolella

Staff Writer

Photo Courtesy of Lauren Nicolella

Frantically finishing essays, attending open houses, and reading statistics given in a booklet are some of the staples of the overwhelming high school application process. Families prepare to attend SLA so they can get a feel of the atmosphere and learning environment.

By the time they are accepted to SLA, prospective students understand that the school is different. But what are their impressions before freshman year? What ideas — both true and false — are floating around Philadelphia? That’s where Program Coordinator Jeremy Spry comes in.

In order to personalize their connection to prospective students, high schools gauge interest by visiting middle schools. Most of the staff members go out to schools to present information about the school, but Spry is typically the person who explains all things SLA. However, SLA can only do so much to inform prospective applicants about the school.

Based on interviews with current 8th and 9th graders, students’ perceptions depend on what their middle school is like. Teachers, counselors, and fellow students tend to inform others of what they hear, especially when it comes to interest in a high school.  

Science Leadership Academy is already a part of the minority, being a smaller project-based school with a large community, and it is one of the few high schools in Philadelphia to require an interview.

Current freshman Guy Bayan came from Stratford Friends School, which is located in  Newtown Square, PA. Given that Stratford Friends is about half the size of SLA, Bayan had to acclimate himself to a school that is much larger and more diverse than he was used to.

“I already knew that SLA was very racially diverse. Also, it was close to my home and because it is a science-oriented, project-based high school, it spiked my interest,” said Bayan.

He expanded further on what interested him, and how that influenced his decision.

“Some of the positive things I heard were SLA’s ninety-something college acceptance rate,” Bayan explained.

The active artist was pleasantly surprised by the teaching style of the SLA staff. He enjoys the way every teacher is able to engage everyone in the class, especially English teacher–among other things–Matt Kay. However, not everything he heard about SLA was flattering.

“The negatives I heard is that students did drugs,” Bayan stated.

He heard about this while attending camp, amongst the talk of Philly high schools.

Although the opinions of students who have already gone through the process were important, it was crucial to get the stance of a current prospective student.

Eighth-grader Lilly Squillaciotti is currently in the process of applying to high schools and has been considering SLA as one of her choices. She attends William M. Meredith Elementary School. Her teachers and counselors provided her with some basic knowledge about SLA.

“I’ve heard it’s a really great school if you’re creative and work well with others, but I’ve also heard it’s in an inconvenient spot and harder to get into,” Squillaciotti explained.

Squillaciotti also mentioned that Meredith tells the students that Center City is the better campus, but did not elaborate further beyond the expectations and criteria she’s heard about.  

Another student who ended up deciding on SLA Center City was freshman Yohanna Heyer. Heyer attended Masterman Middle School and described how it was a different scene compared to her old one.

“[SLA] felt more welcoming and relaxed than my previous [school],” she explained. “But I also heard it was easy. That stays true for certain things, but benchmarks do take up a lot of work.”

It’s always important to seek out your own opinions and ideas about somewhere, because it may turn out to be something completely unexpected. There are a lot of students who did not expect to attend SLA, figured out that it was one of the best choices they could have made for themselves.

Filed Under: Features

New Student Profile: Wanda Cobb

October 25, 2018 by Avi Cantor Leave a Comment

Sukainah Hasan  

Staff Writer

Photo Courtesy of Sukainah Hasan

It’s a regular day in SLA. Everyone is going to class. Wanda goes to her seat, grabs her hairbrush, and starts to brush her hair.

Going into a new school can always be a nervous feeling. For example, when you’re a freshman, you don’t know what to expect. Every year, SLA welcomes someone new in each grade. Junior Wanda Cobb is one of the newest additions to the SLA community.

Before SLA

Wanda Cobb was born and raised in West Philadelphia. Growing up, Wanda was a foster child, going back and forth to different foster homes until Wanda’s aunt received full custody of Cobb and her sister. At the beginning of 2018, Wanda’s aunt passed away, and Cobb had to live with her older sister. Now that Cobb’s aunt is gone, Cobb has to get everything she wants on her own.

Before transferring to SLA, Wanda attended Motivation High School in West Philadelphia. According to college simply, Motivation’s overall rating is a 5 out of 10 and is the 294th Pennsylvania high school rank. SLA’s overall rating is an 8 out of 10 and is the 90th Pennsylvania high school rank.

“When I applied to Motivation, I had to really work hard to get in,” Wanda explained.

Once she was there, however, Wanda didn’t get the impression that Motivation was helping her with what she wanted in life. She had a cousin at SLA who got her interested in the school.

“When I heard about SLA, it seemed that I would have more opportunities as a student since I’m going to college soon,” Wanda explained.

“When I first applied to SLA, I thought I didn’t have enough potential to get in, because I knew that I  had to work hard to get in, especially if I wanted to get accepted so late in my high school years,” Wanda said.

Adjusting to SLA

When Cobb first walked into her first-period class, it put a smile right on her face.

“Everyone was clapping, and welcoming me to SLA,” Wanda explained.

Even though SLA so far is good for Wanda, she realized that there are differences between SLA and Motivation. For example, at Motivation, you have to wear a uniform, while in SLA there isn’t a uniform policy.

“I like that there isn’t no uniform policy at SLA because wearing a uniform doesn’t allow you to express yourself.”

Another difference between SLA and Motivation is learning techniques. SLA’s method of learning is moving to different classes at different times.

“When I was in Motivation, I didn’t really move around to my different classes, so I like that SLA does that.” She also appreciates that SLA has a more diverse student body, whereas Motivation was overwhelmingly African-American.

In the future, Cobb wants to pursue a nursing career. With this being her goal, Cobb knows that she must work hard in school so that she can go to the best college to equal with success. Since Wanda has a cousin that goes to SLA, Wanda decided that the best thing for her future was to apply to SLA.

Impressions from Others

One of her supporters will be her advisor, Victor Hernandez.

When Wanda first came to SLA, Mr. Hernandez was very excited.

“When I first met Wanda, I thought she was very friendly, and honest about her opinions,” Mr. Hernandez said.

One of the main things that Wanda is trying to focus on is getting as many opportunities as she can so that she can be successful in her nursing career.

“Something that I think Wanda will gain from SLA is experiencing things she’s never encountered before, and meeting new people,” Mr. Hernandez explained.

Even though it is 2 months into the school year, Wanda is still trying to get used to her new schedule, but she enjoys being in SLA. As for the brushing her hair, Cobb says it’s a habit.

Filed Under: Features

Philadelphia School District introduces a “Slang Handbook” for New Teachers

October 25, 2018 by Avi Cantor Leave a Comment

Brendan Hall

Staff Writer

Photo Courtesy of KYW Radio

Language is an essential element of communication. An environment of language can create slang words that are unexplainable to those outside of the environment. What happens when someone tries to explain these words?

On August 17, 2018, first-year teachers in the Philadelphia School District received a handbook to understand Philadelphia slang. It was created by Philadelphia Virtual School student Khalid Abogourin, SLA junior Horace Ryans III, and Masterman student Alfredo Pratico within the Philadelphia District. This handbook created controversy within the teacher and students within the school district.

The handbook got a lot of media attention when it was first published sources such as CBS Local and 6ABC picked up on the story.

Junior Horace Ryans explained that students interning for the School District were assigned to create a new teacher handbook with full creative control, as long as it reflected Philadelphia teachers and students.

“The controversy behind it was that it was a book solely on Philadelphia slang. And a lot of people, many administrators in the school district, principals, and teachers had a problem with it because they thought it was dumbing down education and they thought the book was created to have teachers talk like their student,” Ryans stated.

Ryans further elaborated that their intention was to bridge a gap between teachers and students than to have using slang words in class.

However, not everybody at SLA thinks the handbook is especially helpful.

History teacher Daniel Symonds argued against the handbook because he believed that only a certain demographic knowing slang is what keeps language nuanced.

“Horace and whoever wrote this list is giving away magic tricks… What’s been done is we just read the epitaph for the word “jawn.”If every old-head in Philly knows what the word jawn is, it’s dying,” he explained.

“If I know what a word means then it’s not cool anymore,”

Similarly to Mr. Symonds, SLA senior Ameer Johnson argues against the usage of a handbook.

“I think it’s unnecessary… I don’t think most language in the handbook Philly teachers are gonna need,” he stated.“Unless they’re overhearing a conversation that kids are having outside of the classroom. Most students don’t usually talk like that when they raise their hands in class.”

Could the handbook help bridge the gap between students and teachers?

“I don’t think you need to have it in writing… I feel like it’s kind of forced if you’re putting jawn or cheesesteak on a piece of paper,” Johnson continued.

“A better way to make a community is just asking kids ‘oh what does this mean’ it’s more real like that instead of teachers trying to start a conversation with jawn.”

Filed Under: Features

SLA Ventures to Poland for the second year in a row

October 25, 2018 by Avi Cantor Leave a Comment

Taylor Green

Staff Writer

Photo Courtesy of Eric Valenti

From September 29th to October 8th, me and eight other SLAmbassadors had the wonderful experience of going to Torun, Poland to participate in a Model United Nations. This being my first time in Europe, made me excited but also nervous.

We spent our first day in Poland at a tourist town called Gdansk. It’s a city located near the Baltic Sea of Poland. The architecture of the city was beautiful because most of it had been destroyed during the war.

While in Gdansk, we also went to the European Solidarity Centre. The museum had only been open for 4 years and it gave a lot of insight on the Polish trade union and resistance movements in Communist Eastern Europe.

Later that evening, we got on a three-hour bus ride to meet up with our host families. My host was a 17-year-old girl named Sara. She lived with her mom, dad, and a pair of brothers. When I first arrived, her family greeted me with open arms and a traditional Poland meal: Apple and cream cheese stuffed pierogies.

I spent most of my time with my host family watching movies (with Polish subtitles of course), bowling and going to the mall as well. For some reason, I was expecting their activities to be different from the things that we do in America. However, doing all of these things made me feel right at home.

One issue that I faced in Poland the most was the language barrier within the family. Sometimes it was difficult trying to communicate with my host parents, but my host would translate for us.

From Thursday to Saturday we did Model UN. Many different students from around the globe came as well to take part in the experience. There were students from Luxembourg, Germany, France, Finland etc. For Model UN there were 6 different councils that each had 3 different topics of discussion. Each student in the council represented a different country.

In Model UN we had to create amendments as a way to solve our three issues. However, there would be times when certain amendments would target specific countries. Whenever this happened, we had to debate.

Sometimes it was difficult because many delegations wouldn’t agree with each other and it would be like talking to a wall. The room would hit a complete standstill and we would have to divide the house, meaning that we would have to take a position on the

On the last day of Model UN, we had a ceremony. Everyone received participation certificates and there were a few honorable mentions.

Overall, the SLAmbassadors trip to Poland was an experience I’ll never forget. Over the seven day period, I not only learned more about the city of Torun and the Polish culture, but I made long lasting friendships with people from various different countries. Model UN was also an amazing experience because it showed me how education varies in each country and just because you’re from another country doesn’t mean that you can’t be well versed on the political and social issues on other countries.

Filed Under: Op/Ed

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