What Are Your Symptoms Of Senioritis?
Interviews by Emilisa Lopez, Deshawn Mcleod & Alex Ringgold
Pictures by Emilisa Lopez
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.
By Kristi Bezhani
Staff Writer
When SLA sophomores visited Drexel’s 22-foot wide, 80-foot tall Biowall, it inspired them to build their own.
The moment of entering a room with an immense wall covered in tons of greenery, has caused a lot of commotion amongst SLA sophomores.
“The biowall at Drexel looked so earthy and inconceivable,” said Sophomore Jalen Smith. I had never imagined the existence of an entire wall consisting of tropical plants. It was like a jungle stepping inside, the air was warm, there was lots of greenery, my class and I quickly got inspired by it.”
Another inspiring trip was to the Grunman Greenhouse. The Grunman Greenhouse, located at Broad and Arch streets, is a wrecked navy airplane which has been turned into a greenhouse to provide herbs and greens for local low-income families in Philadelphia.
“There were living plants inside of this artfully looking plane, that doesn’t happen everyday,” said sophomore Victoria Yarborough. “I wanted to make something like that.”
Another key part of the inspiration for the bio-walls was Earth Day, which reminded students of how they should nurture earth. This made it even more exciting for sophomores to make the bio-walls happen.
“When we visited the Grunman greenhouse, I was just like wow… How does this plane collect water because judging from how it is locked up, I don’t think that people open the plane and water plants daily.” said Sophomore Tsion Habtamu. “So then we learned that it collects rainwater from the top and flows down to the plants… that system was pretty cool.”
“I loved the science behind the bio-wall regardless from how cool it looked, I loved how it had a purpose other than being a decoration, it is such a functional way of purifying indoor air.” said Owen Grzywinski.
Both trips presented them with creative ways in which plants could be used against global warming. After gaining determination from experiencing the authentic development of a bio-wall, it was a perfect combination with the righteousness that each person felt towards improving this earth.
The students collaborated to create their own system of teams for a functional foundation.
“The building part of the process was the fun part.” Antonio Reveron commented. “Being creative in making the bio-wall with my teammates was sometimes difficult because there were so many different ideas on how to build it. In other words, to build one bio-wall that would suit everyone’s opinion was time-consuming.”
Ultimately, groups came up with different strategies for their final products.
“There was this one group who came up with such a creative idea where they used denim pockets as plant holders. It looked like a quilt, it was really cool.” Niyala Brownlee said. “ And the function of it was even better because the fabric would soak the water through the whole quilt providing water for all the plants inside the pockets.”
The completed bio-walls were featured at this year’s Science Festival, and are currently being displayed in front of SLA’s office.
By Mike Sanders
Staff Writer
Change is coming to the state of Pennsylvania. It won’t start until next year, but according to the current plans, it will have a major effect the incoming Freshmen.
The new Keystone State Exams are supposed to replace the PSSAs, which are currently given to 11th Graders.
There have been questions and speculations for weeks about this change. But now area schools are starting to get some answers. All of the information was obtained in a school district meeting by History Teacher Juan Gabriel Sanchez. Principal Lehmann was also briefed on the change at a Principal meeting earlier in the year.
The current plan is to switch from PSSAs to the Keystone exams starting next year. In a few years, they will also count as a graduation requirement. That is scheduled to start for the Class of 2017, who will be entering SLA this fall.
Students were pleased to hear this. “ Whew, that’s a relief,” said Junior Winston Wright. “I know everyone will be upset taking the SATs, ACTs, PSSAs and Keystones in the past 2 years.”
The Keystone state exams are a Standardized State test like the PSSAs, with a few key differences. Instead of Juniors taking them in March and April, the exams can be taken anytime when the three certain classes are complete. Those three classes are Algebra 1, English 2 and Biology.
Teachers at SLA feel that the tests are unknown, so they have yet to pass judgment on the exams.
“It is important to have multiple strategies to find out what students know.” said Science Teacher Gamal Sherif.
There are concerns as well, however.
“I’m worried that they will change the new set standard of teaching,” said Mr. Sherif.
One issue is with students who will finish Algebra 1 class in 7th or 8th grade. That means that those students will have to take the Keystone state exams for Algebra before they come to SLA. Their scores will affect their future high school’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) before they even get accepted into the school. Their scores will reflect on the school’s math performance are before SLA even knows who their students are.
As for the format, content, and scheduling of these tests, the details are still unknown.
“It’s disappointing that people who were educators are very theoretical, and they’re making decisions about the students’ future,” said Sanchez.
Though nobody knows exactly what the test will be like, everybody knows one thing. Change is coming.
By Isabela Supovitz-Aznar
Staff Writer
Junior Sam Lovett-Perkins was very surprised and excited to have received the first Jefferson award to be presented to a student at SLA.
The Jefferson Awards were co-founded by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and U.S. Senator Robert Taft. It is a program that aknowledges the importance of community service in student life, and applauds and awards teens who give back to their community.
The Award was presented during the most recent Junior Assembly by Sophomore Isabela Supovitz-Aznar and Senior Nikhail James, both of whom heped bring the first Jefferson team to SLA.
Lovett-Perkins has participated in multiple service projects through SLA and BuildOn, including an overseas trip to Mali during spring break.
He says the award was definitely unexpected. “I thought Amanda was going to get it,” Sam said, referring to Junior Amanda Millat, who also participates frequently in community service. When they called his name, “I started thinking, oh my God, what if I have to give a speech!”
Mrs. Siswick, SLA’s guidance counselor who helps manage The Jefferson Awards team, helped coordinate the award, along with Urszula Stankiewicz, who works for the program.
“When I was in high school, we did not have any service clubs, service requirements, nor anybody who taught us the importance of service. None of my peers ever talked about volunteering, nor do I think many of them even considered volunteering,” said Stankiewicz. “I only learned how rewarding volunteer work was when I was in college.”
“I cannot explain how thrilled I was to see such a strong culture of service in so many schools. It melted my heart to see so many students truly passionate about giving back, both locally and globally.”
The Junior Assembly also featured special guest Michael Cruz from the School District’s Office of Counseling and Promotion Standards. Michael gave a speech about college life, and what the Juniors could do to prepare for college admissions — including joining the Jefferson program.
We hope to see more students joining Jefferson Awards in the new school year!
Photos by Rebecca Rainis and Isabela Supovitz-Aznar, Written By Isabela Supovitz-Aznar.
English and History teacher Joshua Block teamed up with the Leah Stein Dance Company to teach 10th grade students how to interact with their environment in an innovative way ofdancing. Both Iron and Copper streams got to work directly with Leah Stein and three of her dancers. The program included introductory classes about dancing in peculiar environments and creating imaginative mindsets.
Two intensive weeks were spent with Stein learning, developing and creating dance pieces that were apart of the Art in the Open Festival.
Students had a choice to perform dance pieces at different locations the city, unlike previous years, where students were restricted to perform on the Schuykill River, where the bigger part of the festival is held. All performances were no more than a 5 minute walk from the school.
Students performed in alley ways, parking lots, and one group performed in the Mütter Museum garden.
Students who participated in the program experienced a different kind of learning: performing in different parts of the city and gaining a confidence in stage presence. – Deshawn McLeod, Staff Writer
Photos taken by Taylor Thomas, Douglas Herman and Isabela Supovitz-Aznar; Edited by Isabela Supovitz-Aznar