Kwan Hopkins

Autumn Lor

Staff Writer

Science Leadership Academy is known for their projects, but how much do you really know what goes on behind the scenes? Every student at SLA has been in a group project but has different stories with every project. Over time things can become easier but there are still challenges from time to time.

Teachers create the projects based on the subject in class what they think the students would like but the truth is, not everyone likes the project. Some teachers have more experience than others so they know what they should do. History Teacher Jason Todd creates multiple projects that keep the students busy but also presents the project in a fun way.

“Competition in projects is a perfect motivation to some students to get them to jump into the project,” Todd said with a passionate voice.

During my sophomore year, I’d have about 9 different projects in one class and none of them were the same to anyone else’s in my class. The reason for that is because teachers make their projects to be opened-ended and that allows projects to have different outcomes.

“Not only are projects opened-ended, they’re created to help students in the future,” Math Teacher Victor Hernandez reported.

Group projects aren’t always because of teachers, sometimes it’s about the partners. There are four types of students when it comes to group projects. The person who wants to control the group, the one who doesn’t do anything, the one who waits until the very last minute to do, and the one who gets everything done the first day.

In my experience, projects show a side of people that we may not like. Group projects had ripped apart some of my friendships because of two reasons; the need to be right and timing of the projects. For a group project to be great, everything has to have a layout and organized with ALL group members.

I’ve had projects where all my group members did was write their names, and I’ve been in projects where I felt like that too, it’s different because of how you group members cooperate with each other.

As for the stress — there are times where multiple teachers give projects the same day, but that doesn’t mean that they’re due the same day. I like how projects can be done with different due dates because then it’s less stressful to focus on all the projects at once. That’s something that not everyone realizes but it’s a good thing think about when doing projects. Another thing that everyone should do it not do it that last minute.

On the whole, I would prefer individual projects over group project. When you have individual projects, you can’t blame anyone but yourself, everything is done in your own way, and you don’t have to fight with everyone about how things should work. Group projects can be a good way to change up from time to time and students more creative ideas, but during my freshman year, I would have disagreed with this because I was lazy. I realize now that it’s better to be independent and learn to do things on your own.

Sarah Berg

Staff Writer

The race to replace ousted District Attorney Seth Williams is upon Philadelphia. While civil rights attorney and Democratic nominee for DA, Larry Krasner, is expected to win by a large margin, people were surprised when The Philadelphia Inquirer published their endorsement for Republican candidate Beth Grossman. Their reasoning for this endorsement: Krasner’s apparent lack of experience when compared to his GOP counterpart.

Grossman spent eight years running the Public Nuisance Task Force, which caused “people not even accused of a crime lost their houses and cars because of alleged actions by family members,”  admitted the Inquirer.

The article quickly brushes over this, stating that Grossman was “following the rules at that time and that now she would not take property unless the owner was convicted of a crime.” Grossman appears to do what most people of the time did rather than formulate new strategies or alternate punishments.

That’s where the line between her and Krasner becomes most apparent. Grossman’s job as a prosecutor clearly contrasts with Krasner’s career as a criminal defense lawyer (experiences some may consider unconventional for someone running for DA). And although Grossman says electing a Republican is likely to bring change to the city, the policies presented by both her party and the Democrats indicate something different.

Grossman’s positions focus on victims’ rights, protecting juveniles, the opioid crisis, and decreasing the amount of violent crime. Krasner’s positions focus on ending the death penalty, halting mass incarceration, bring an end to stop-and-frisk, protecting the environment, and resisting the negative policies of the Trump administration.

Interestingly enough, both have mentioned President Trump in interviews with Democracy Now! “I am running this race to be the district attorney of Philadelphia. So what my views are of the president are irrelevant to this race,” said Grossman. Krasner, on the other hand, sarcastically called Trump “the gift that just keeps on giving. So much wisdom.” Krasner also went farther into his views on the president in a campaign video: “You have a wannabe dictator as president… You have a guy who hates free speech because he can’t control it,” he said.

The two candidates also have very different views on the death penalty. Grossman says it doesn’t make sense economically, but would make exceptions in extreme cases, such as “if we have an example of terrorism and a first responder is killed, or the case like the individual went in and shot 9 people in the church down south.” Krasner, on the other hand, is 100% against it. When asked if he would “ever pursue the death penalty in a case,” he responded with a simple “No,” before being prompted to explain why, citing morals as well as the economic consequences that are “destroying our public schools.”

If you haven’t figured out by now, I believe Larry Krasner is the better candidate. Although I’m not old enough to vote, knowing who can impact your life and the lives of those around you is important. I value knowing what is going on in the world, or in this case, the city. My opinion matters because, hopefully, someone who reads votes for the candidate I believe will change Philadelphia’s legal system for the better. And in the end, developing opinions about candidates such as Grossman and Krasner allows me to practice forming my own morals and beliefs.