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Hallway Fashion- Ray Albarouki

December 16, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

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

My corduroy pants are from Gap, my tee is from Gap, my scarf is from H&M, and my sweater is from thrift store, and shoes are from Gaffies.

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

I don’t necessarily go for name brands, I look foor look and quality. I really like Gap, it works a lot for me. I really like small boutiques like Barneys. I love Marc Jacobs it’s one of my favorite name brands.

What does fashion mean to you?

Fashion for me is, the portal to yourself and what I mean when I say that is i like to express who I am inside through the fabrics that I have hanging in my closet. I praise fashion, I really bow down to what it is. I think it probably is the outlet for everything I do.

Do you consider yourself fashionable?

Yes.

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?

It depends, some days I… Like i care about how I look everyday, but some days I like pick things out and other days it takes me a while. Everything has a meaning. Each outfit is usually inspired by how I feel or something that I have, like today I have these really pretty christmas ornaments with a lot of orange, green and I just put them together into an outfit.

Who/What do you get your fashion inspiration from?

My step mom, and Lady Gaga. Those would be my top 2.

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

My cobalt blue pants, because they can be transitioned from dressy to casual and from summer to winter. A cotton v-neck sweater that I could wear in the winter or in the summer. Light colored. A cardigan probably because I could take that off if I want. And some oxfords.

What’s your 1 dream outfit?

I don’t know if I have a dream outfit, but I do know that …… I don’t know…. I have no idea… it would probably be… Yeah I don’t have a dream outfit.

Interview By: Kenyatta Bundy Jr

Capstone Preview

December 16, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Capstone Preview

By Nicholas Murray

Capstones are the most important part of a senior’s year, college application excluded of course. For those who do not know, capstones are the the requirement for a senior to graduate.

Capstones can be any (school appropriate) project students can come up with. Many of these projects have a lot of thought and time put into them. This article will show three of these well thought out and impressive capstones created by seniors Daniel Varnis, Teige Douhgerty, and Owen Grzywinski.

Capoeira is a Brazilian dance that incorporates the art of fighting, music, and of course, dancing. Those who have ever seen, heard or performed this art know that it it is a skillful combination of speed, power, and leverage. It is not something that you can simply “mimic.” You need a skilled teacher to master this art.

This is exactly what Owen Grzywinski is attempting to do for his capstone. He wishes to to teach kids how to perform Capoeira because it is his “comfort zone.”

“I’ve been taking classes since I was 8. It’s the one thing I feel comfortable enough with to make a capstone out of and I think it would be a lot of fun to teach kids something that I’m passionate about.”

He is not completely sure where and when his capstone will start, he just hopes that it will start soon after winter break. More details concerning his capstone will be made public in future advisory memos.

One of the oldest and largest children’s hospitals in the world is Childrens’ Hospital of Philadelphia, which focuses its efforts on aiding children in need help. While medical help is important, the children also need someone to lift their spirits.

This is exactly what Teige Dougherty wants to accomplish with his capstone. He wants to have a series of musical concerts to make the children’s stay there more enjoyable. He felt as though this was the best option for his capstone because he himself has spent time at the hospital.

He already has one of the most crucial parts of the concerts underway. Gathering the musicians. . “I will be putting together groups of musicians through my connections in music all over the city.”

If all goes well he plans on having his capstone commence in late March or early April. If you want to aide in his noble cause, he says that’ “Any musician is welcome to participate in the concerts. Even if you aren’t a musician you can come and help out on the day of the concerts.”

Daniel Varnis is a student who has had issues with capstone choices before, so it is very fortunate that he now has a solid plan for what his capstone is. He worked with the representatives of Citizens Bank Park to have a fundraiser on Wednesday, April 16th, 2014 at 7:05 PM.

“The plan is, a link will go live around New Years where anyone can go online and purchase tickets to the Phillies vs. Braves game on that date. The tickets will cost $24.00 a piece, but $8.00 will be given back to SLA for each ticket bought!”

The representatives assured Daniel that there will be 100-200 seats available just for SLA and if that limit is passed, another section will be given to the school. Although this essentially a fundraiser, Daniel had this to say, “ Aside from the seriousness of raising money, it’s going to be a lot of fun! Be sure to get in with your friends, family, whoever and purchase tickets, there is plenty of time to do so.”

He finished by saying that more information shall be available and that if you have any questions, you should email him at any time. This is an amazing thing he is doing so you should help out by spreading the word.

SLA Goes Chrome

December 12, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

SLA Goes Chrome

by Jesse Shuter and Zoe Schwingel Sauer

Staff Writers

Photo courtesy of http://liliputing.com/2013/12/dell-launches-chromebook-11-for-education.html

After seven years of only using Apple computers, on December 11, 2013 it was announced that Science Leadership Academy (SLA), will be officially switching from the school classic of Macbooks and Macbook Pros to the Google Chromebooks. Is it for the better?

SLA Principal Christopher Lehmann says “Potential limitations are outweighed by possibilities” when talking about the switch.

There are a few reasons for the switch.

One is that most of the work students do is already through apps in Google Suite, like Drive and Gmail.

“We use the google apps for so much of what we do already… so much of what we do is already in the cloud,” Mr. Lehmann said. “I think that learning new systems, learning some programs that we have traditionally used, what is out there for the chromebook is going to be important.”

One of the things that makes SLA different from other high schools in Philadelphia, is it’s mandatory technology class freshman year. In the class students are prepared for a high school tenure with laptops. The class reviews both ethics for technology as well as a background of knowledge for the laptops and how they work.

When asked if her course would change at all with the new chromebooks instead of Macbooks, Technology teacher Marcie Hull had this to say, “I teach an ethics course more than a technology course, and that stuff isn’t going to change, that stuff is eternal.”

Another reason is economic. The new computers SLA will be receiving are just under $300 a piece, compared to an approximate $1500 for a MacBook.

In addition to this lower cost, the first few years of laptops will be free. “We are entering into a partnership with the Dell Foundation. They are making a $700,000 grant over three years.” Mr. Lehmann said.

This partnership offers a big financial relief to the school, which used to raise close to $180,000 dollars a year to buy a class set of MacBooks.

In the 2012-2013 school year, however, SLA faced a $220,000 deficit just for its regular budget. The money that had already been raised for laptops went to closing this gap and saving teachers’ jobs.

The partnership will provide money to purchase laptops for three years. This includes machines for both the original SLA campus and the new Beeber campus — about 250 laptop per year total.

Mr. Lehmann said. “That will pay for laptops for both campuses, a partnership coordinator for SLA-Main, a tech staffer to be shared across both campuses, and professional development.”

The school is also helping Dell in this partnership. “We are setting up a Center of Excellence for and with Dell, so that Dell can showcase the kind of teaching and learning here at SLA and show how Dell can work with schools and districts to create more innovative schools.”

Adam Garry a representative from Dell agreed that the mutual benefits of this partnership would help both parties. “The hope is that SLA will benefit from the exposure and conversations that will be generated through school visits from other educators and participation in events” Garry said.

“SLA should also benefit from the use of world class technologies and resources. The plan is to support the growth of the learning platform at SLA and engage teachers in collaborative conversations and resource building with educators around the country”.

Upperclassmen, who will have their original computers, don’t care much about the switch. Freshmen, however, have a lot to say about it.

However most freshman were a little disappointed at the news. Freshman Jared Bauer confirmed these feelings, “I was very disappointed. Even at family night they told us we had MacBooks. To be honest I was a little pissed off, because I’ve used a chromebook before and it’s just a web browser.”

The Laptop Model that is being given to SLA is a new model of Chromebook. SLA is one of the first places to experience the new model. It is the first ever Dell Chromebook to be released, it will be around $300. The partnership with Dell is occurring largely because of the excitement over the new laptop and the recognition that Dell will receive.

Because these Chromebooks are new and are coming to SLA fresh off the production line, they took an extended period for the laptops to arrive here. Therefore yet another deal was reached and right before Thanksgiving the freshman of SLA were given the choice of either a Dell laptop or tablet to help them with their schoolwork in the interim.

When given the decision many freshman were excited, yet confused. When making his decision Bauer said, “Tablet, because of portability. We’re only going to be able to use google chrome anyway. I regret [the decision] because it has lagging issues, and limited websites. We had to make a rushed decision, since we only had 2 minutes”.

The partnership is hoping that the Chromebooks will be released in early 2014 although no official date has been set, up to this point in time.

This transition is also notable because Apple named SLA a “distinguished school” five years in a row. Now the the school is switching to Dell products, obviously they do not expect to be honored by Apple this way in the future.

“We probably won’t be receiving those anymore,” Ms. Hull says laughing.

The Real Reason Black Comediennes are Not on SNL

December 12, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

DeShawn McLeod

Staff Writer

Since the departure of Maya Rudolph, on SNL, in 2007, the show hasn’t had a black female actress since. In the past 6 years, they’ve picked up 7 females (6 white and 1 Iranian-American) and 10 males (9 white and 1 black).

Many have been taken aback by Kenan Thompson’s, SNL actor, comment on black comediennes, saying, “[SNL] just never finds the ones that are ready.” Dungey and Amani Starnes decided to make a vlog confronting his idea.

Azie Mira Dungey, writer and main actress, of Ask a Slave, a comedy web series about a housemaid of George Washington, commented on black female comediennes. In particular, she pointed out that many aren’t being represented on television.

She talked about the certain stereotypes that are portrayed of black women in media. “Ghetto and angry ghetto, sassy ghetto, loud ghetto.”

In Kerry Washington’s appearance on SNL, she played Michelle Obama, Beyonce, a ghetto assistant, a “incompetent” Nigerian Princess, and a Brooklyn school teacher.

Although used as a laugh tactic, SNL admitted, “The producers at ‘Saturday Night Life’ would like to apologize to Kerry Washington for the number of black women she will be asked to play tonight. We made these requests both because Ms. Washington is an actress of considerable talent,” they continued, “and also because ‘SNL’ does not does not have a black woman in the cast… As for the latter reason, we agree that this is not an ideal situation and look forward to rectifying it in the near future… unless of course we fall in love with another white guy first.”

After a bit of dialogue, they have Al Sharpton walk out and say, “… What have we learned from this sketch? As usual: nothing,” and he continues to open the show.

I had a conversation with an SLAMedia writer, Dejah Harley, and we extrapolated the idea of the typical black woman compared to us. We’ve concluded that we are “properly” talking black girls always considered “white”, unable to efficiently speak “Black” English, and cannot dance like the black girls on the internet.

Olivia Pope, the main character is Scandal, is a total 180 in terms of how African American women are portrayed in media. She’s involved in interracial relationships, she holds some type of stronghold of power and influence, and she is in demand of clients.

Because there are so few women of color in media, Dungey and Starnes talked about their role models: Mary Tyler Moore, Lucille Ball, Dawn French, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

When SNL scouts, they go to the well known comedy schools, that are expensive to attend. Because comedy and acting have a very low rates of success, the argument could be that the few of African Americans who do go to college would not invest in something with no probable future of return, considering there isn’t a variety of characters women of color can represent.

Another side could be, it’s not an attractive field because those who are not represented as actresses or writers, do not want to be involved.

“If you say that women can’t be funny, or black women can’t be funny, clearly you haven’t done your homework. You’re not looking. And obviously people like SNL are not putting those women in front of you.” Starnes said.

SLA Mysteries: Don’t Go Down There!

December 12, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Will Amari

What lurks in the dark recesses of Science Leadership Academy? Students often walk right by the basement, completely unaware of its existence. The fact is SLA has an underworld and its left us guessing. What’s down there? Why all the secrecy? The answer may surprise you.

The stairs that lead down to the SLA basement are near the elevators facing the Arch Street side of the building. The light is dim and the stairs are blocked off by a bold, bright red sign clearly stating, “Not an exit.”

Most students however, are unaware of it even though they pass by it numerous times a day on their way to class.

“It’s (the basement) not really talked about,” says Junior Nikki Adeli. “Not unless it comes up in conversation. It’s like an SLA mystery!”

Adeli has been attending SLA for three years and she said that she hadn’t heard of a basement until she was interviewed about it. When asked what was down there, she believed that it was just another dark room cluttered with old clocks that are no longer in use.

Other students, such as Junior Melanie Harrington believed the basement was filled with, “dust and junk we don’t use.”

The students at SLA appeared to be on the right track but no one was absolutely positive. Only Program Coordinator Jeremy Spry seemed to know the answer. He described it perfectly saying, “It’s dark and damp and scary down there. It’s not a fun place to be.”

According to Mr. Spry, SLA used to have full access to the basement but when the fourth floor apartments were built SLA lost access. “It is part of the lease,” explained Mr. Spry. “I do know it’s absolutely terrifying. We stored paint and other cleaning supplies. It is also where the freight elevator lives.”

The SLA basement may not be as ghostly as we want it to be and most students won’t be surprised by Mr. Spry’s answers. However, it will remain one of the creepier areas of SLA. It is safe to say that except for its mystery the basement has no appeal.

SLA has lost both the right to access it and the desire to use it. Who can blame the teachers for blocking it off? If it’s a dungeon filled with rats and junk, then the apartments and their residents can have it.