SLA Media

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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Hallway Fashion-Bryanna Jones (Junior)

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1. Exactly what are you wearing today, and do you know where each item is from?

Ummmm well, black boots from eternity fashion. I had them since the 7th grade and they were only 10 dollars. Teal tights from some old lady store, they were $. THis dress was a gift from my cousin, it’s a dusty pink Asymmetrical cut dress. Bat winged black and white cardigan from F21. And this scarf is from some random street vendors My 3.

2.What are some of your favorite places to shop, or what are your favorite brands? Why?

THRIFT STORES, my family members closets, Macy’s, F21, Urban outfitters., Tjmaxx, and marshalls I don’t have a favorite brand, as long as it’s cute. These are my favorite places to shop because they’re cheap.

 

3. What does fashion mean to you?

Its an art form. Being able to pair different patterns and textiles well is an art form.

4. Do you consider yourself fashionable?

eh, no

5. How long does it usually take for you to pick out the outfit that you’re going to wear for the day and what’s your thought process as you pick out these clothes?

20 minutes , I always go for comfort! Since I have uber sensitive skin I hate wearing jeans or tight clothes. So skirts and dresses are my life. When I’m getting ready I think what’s the weather like? Oh its chilly? big stuff so I can layer. then I find something warm, then I keep layering.

 

6. Who/What do you get your fashion inspiration from?

Julia Sarr Jamois, Solange Knowles, my grand fathers. Sometimes when I’m out I see a color combo that I like, and try to mimic that pattern with clothing.

7. If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life what would it be?

Looooooong comfy dress, long slouchy cardigan (cotton), comfy boots, thick socks,arm full of bracelets, Big earrings, And a bunch of long necklaces.

 

8. What’s your 1 dream outfit?

Looooooong comfy dress, long slouchy cardigan (cotton), comfy boots, thick socks,arm full of bracelets, Big earrings, And a bunch of long necklaces.

 Interview By: Kenyatta Bundy Jr (Staff Writer)

Tragic Coverage of a Tragic Flight

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Will Amari

Staff Writer 

On Monday 24, Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, declared ‘all lives to be lost’ from Airline Flight 370. Flight 370 departed from Kuala Lumpur to get to Beijing. Over 230 passengers and crew members boarded the flight. It wasn’t until recently however, that researchers have suspected the missing flight to have actually crashed in the Indian Ocean.

Besides from several reports of possible debris of the airplane, found near the Australian coast, researchers haven’t been able to actually prove on where and why the plane crashed.

Naturally, friends and relatives of the lost passengers were devastated when they heard the news. Most of them sobbed in disbelief, blaming the Malaysian government, claiming that they’re “covering up something.”

When tragedies happen, conspiracies are made. We’ve seen this before with 911, the Kennedy Assassination, and even the Holocaust. It seems to me that people, understandably, can’t take bad news. They’re unable to accept that bad things happen, and that bad things happen by accident. By making stuff up, like a coverup theory involving their infamous government, they feel more secure and knowledgeable. But really they don’t know for sure.

There have been many conspiracies on the missing Malaysian flight. One included alien involvement, while another claimed the passengers to still be alive.

CNN, which has been on this story like butter on toast, is at the point now where they’re just scaring people because they have nothing else to talk about. They have been filling up most of their airtime with pointless discussions of black holes and the bermuda triangle, along with overly descriptive details of what the plane looks like. I find this ironic considering the fact that the majority of CNN viewers are watching their network from an actual airport.

The world may never know the true story on what happened to Flight 370, and to me, that’s okay. However, out of respect for the fallen passengers and their loved ones, I believe we should keep searching.

Still, there is no point in discussing anything else about the flight, until we know the truth. There is a difference between creating news and actual news. Making up stories only takes us farther away from the truth. I would expect this type of behavior from Fox news, but CNN? Come on, you should know better than that!

 

The New SAT

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In two years, the Scholastic aptitude test, or SAT that many high school kids take every year in order to get into college, will be changing. Meaning that this years ninth grade students will be the first students to take the new SAT.

 

The purpose of changing this standardized test is so that more students will want to take it instead of taking the ACT test, which is becoming more popular among high school students, because it pertains more to what they are taught in school in modern times. The SAT used to be more popular, but that changed in 2012 when 1,666,017 students took the ACT, but noyl 1,664,479 students took the SAT. Writing an essay for the new est will be optional, and it will include vocabulary words that todays high school students actually use. The point of changing the SAT is to make it more relevant for today’s students.

 

The goal of inplacing these changes to the SAT is to make the test more relevant to todays high school students. This may seem like the people in charge of the SAT are trying to help students, but there’s more to it than that. Students have the option of taking the ACT instead of the SAT. The SAT used to be the one that students usually took, but now the ACT is now taken by more students than the SAT. People wanted to increase the SAT’s popularity among students.

 

In many ways, the new SAT will be easier than the old one.Because the essay component is now optional, the test will be scored on a 1600 point scale, instead of a 2400 point one. To make the test even easier, students will not be penalized for wrong answers, whereas before wrong answers caused students to lose 1/4 of a point. Some students will also have the option of taking the test on the computer.

 

Some people think that the new SAT is easier, because there is no essay requirement , and it doesn’t take away points for wrong answers. Not penalising wrong answers gives students the ability to guess answers that don’t know without risk. This will lead to much better scores. Not having an essay requirement seems to imply that today’s students can’t write as well as they used to ,or at least don’t want to. Is this a new test for a less challenged generation, or is this helping the students of today?

 

Even if the new SAT is easier, it won’t make college admissions less competitive. If students get higher scores on this new test, than colleges will want to accept students with higher scores. The SAT score  bar will be raised. How good an SAT score is is based on how it compares to every other student in the country. SAT scores are judged on a national curve.

 

As individuals, high school students don’t have any say in how these standardized tests work. “You can’t fight the way that it’s done.” says SLA senior Dejah Harley. But Americas high school students as a whole managed to cause this change in the SAT to take effect by preferring to take the ACT, so as a whole, we do have some influence.

 

Many of us have mixed feelings about the SAT. We understand its importance, but it is a burden for high school kids to take, especially at a school like SLA where we don’t take that many tests. The SAT is just a part of the college admissions process that we just have to accept.

 

To many students, this new SAT sounds easier. Some wish that they could take the new test instead, but unfortunately for them it will not be in place until 2016. SLA junior Kenyatta Bundy says that he wishes that he could take the new test this year.

 

The new SAT is supposed to work better for a modern generation of students. The SAT is being changed to make it more popular. This will change the college acceptance process for high school students in America.

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A Beautiful Goodbye

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by Staff Writer Claudia Bonitatibus

The famed Japanese director and animator, Hayao Miyazaki, released what he claims will be the final film of his long and distinguished career on February 21st. Mostly known in this country for exquisite animated films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away that have a fantastical quality to appeal to children, this latest film, The Wind Rise, relies on more conventional storytelling techniques while revisiting themes that have appeared in many of his movies.

The Wind Rise is a biographical story set in Japan in the early 1920’s and tells the real life story of Jiro Horikoshi whose dream was to become a pilot, but since he is blind in one eye, he is not able to fly a plane. After reading about Giovanni Caproni, an Italian engineer who designed bomber planes and a transatlantic plane to carry passengers, Jiro discovers his true calling is to be an aeronautical engineer. It was inspired by the story of the Japanese aeronautical engineer of the same name, who designed the Japanese fighter bombers that were so effective in World War II.  Miyazaki’s family supplied parts for these fighters, so this interest in flying and explains why every Miyazaki film features flying in some way, but the artist is also using Jiro’s story to explain the his own passion for beauty and human creation.

Since the story takes place between the two great wars, The Wind Rises deals with many tough issues such as the Depression, the Kanto Earthquake, tuberculosis, and war, making the themes of this final movie a lot heavier than Miyazaki’s previous movies. But these are events that Miyazaki must have known about intimately and it feels that way.  While The Wind Rises may have a darker quality and is directed towards an older audience than his other films, it has a strong message. As his last movie Miyazaki is summing up his life’s work.

yoko_outA theme in the movie is that an artist only has a limited time to create his best works.  His hero Caproni tells Jiro in one of his dreams that he has ten years and that he should use them well.  Jiro certainly does and creates beautiful planes. Miyazaki’s life followed a similar trajectory and it is now time for him to stop.  He, too, has given us things of even greater beauty.

Filed Under: A&E