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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Kickin’ it on and off the field

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By Mike Sanders

Guest Writer

Sophomore Owen Grzywinski is not your average athlete.

A new student at SLA, Grzywinski made a serious impression when he used his superhuman physical skills during a soccer game to flip over an opponent and score a goal for the Rockets during a game.

“He basically flipped to avoid someone, rolled on the ground, and then kicked it into the goal,” said Sophomore Isabela Supovitz-Aznar. “The students were like “Woah, Owen!” Everybody started clapping.”

Students are impressed.

“Owen is awesome. He’s the only one I know who can do flips without hurting himself.” Said Sophmore Jeffery Schwertz. “ If I am ever in a fight, I would choose Owen to defend me.”

Where did Grzywinski learn this skill?

Every Saturday, Grzywinski attends classes at MaMas art studio in Mount Airy. There he practices Capoeira, a Brazilian-influenced martial arts style that involves fast-paced dancing and music.

This is where Grzywinski learned how to flip. But Owen has learned so much more from Capoeira than just flipping and fighting.

His mentor Mr. Raeutier taught Grzywinski not just the flips and moves to be a great martial artist, but also the discipline to achieve certain objectives.

“I don’t think I could do what I could do now without Mr. Raeutier,” Gryzwinski said.

This applies just to fighting but also in school work. Grzywinski is a home-schooled student, and this is his first year in a regular school.

Some students would fall in the first couple of months, but in his first 2 quarters he was able to discipline himself to become an A and B student.

Grzywinski is currently the starting right outside midfield in soccer. That is a position the requires a lot of stamina, becoming both an offense and defense. But that doesn’t stop Grzywinski.

Every month, he goes to a Martial Arts tournament with his classmates a MaMa’s arts studio. There he mentions that he always loves going to the tournaments to improve his skills even more.

But even though he is serious about martial arts, Grzywinski is still a fun, lovable guy. In fact, other than the tournaments, he has never been in a fight.

“But when ever I’m in trouble,” he said, “I can always flip my way out of it.”

SLA gains $15K from Lindback Award

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By Mike Dea

Staff Writer

Principal Lehmann is the recipient of the Lindback Award For Outstanding Principal Leadership, awarded to him on February 27th, 2012.

The Lindback Award is given as a recognition of principals within the School District of Philadelphia who have gone above and beyond their given responsibilities.

The school of each recipient of the Lindback award is given $15,000, which they can then use as they see would best benefit the school.

To receive the award, one must be nominated by two teachers, a parent, and a student.

Mr. Lehmann found it an honor to have been nominated. “It was unbelievably humbling that the community of SLA thought I deserved the award.”

During a time of budget cuts in the School District, the additional $15,000 that came with the award was an added benefit. Lehmann is going to use this addition to help pay for next year’s laptops.

“We spend about $180,000 on laptops, including teachers and students,” Lehmann noted. “The majority of which is for students.”

With such a large amount of funds to raise, and a reduction in aid from the School District, every bit of fundraising helps.

Mr. Lehmann appreciates his fellow principals that he’s relied on for guidance and aid.

“Within the community of the School District of Philadelphia, there’s an amazing group of principals who are amazing, successful, and who use our colleagues to bounce ideas off of and use as sounding boards,” he said.

“So when one of us wins the award, it is shared with all of the principals in this city who work in service of our city’s children.”

With this amount in place, SLA is now more than halfway to their fundraising goal for next year’s laptops.

New ‘10% Time Project’ Shakes Up Spring Courses

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Project Timeline for Ms. Echols' Physics Class

By Jenn Wright

Staff Writer

A new semester-long experiment started in February for juniors in Physics and seniors in Anatomy.

Running for a total of 13 weeks, juniors and seniors choose a medium to present their learning in a topic of choice.

The inspiration for the program comes from Google and their “20% time” method, where employees can spend one day a week working on anything they want to enhance the companies’ services.

Quite fittingly, SLA has adapted this idea into science classrooms.

“It gives kids the chance to be creative and recess their mind,” Senior Amber Altomare said, “while still being graded.”

Teachers employing the project, like Science Teacher Tim Best, say that its purpose is “to learn about something you want to know instead of something I want you to know.”

The 10% Time Project is a badge of just exactly how SLA has been operating under its unique teaching style since the day the doors opened.

Mr. Best speaks to the fact that while it requires a lot of work, the project is nothing like the senior year-long project. He says, “I want it to be worthwhile and educational, but not too much like school work.”

There are few guidelines about how this can be formatted. The project description states the only requirement is that the final project be made public. That variety of choice is not an obstacle for the average SLA student, rather a preference.

Junior Tenzin Ngawang appreciated that freedom. “The teacher is not on your back about it,” she said.

Coincidentally, the announcement by Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon from the school district about removing the mandated curriculum was announced around the same time the project was assigned.

Principal Chris Lehmann is a part of the School Autonomy Sub-Committee that took part in developing the idea of taking away the scripted curriculum.
Mr. Lehmann said he hopes the decision helps to “develop curricular programs that are more responsive to the communities they serve.”

So, does this mean that other schools will start adopting SLA innovations like 10% time?

““I hope so,” said Mr. Lehmann. “I don’t know that it will happen immediately, especially because it is already so late in the year.”

“I believe that in time you’ll see small scale experiments and implementation… that by school year ‘13 or ‘14 you’ll see schools really blow it out of the water. Some schools are eagerly awaiting this.”

Editorial: Open Your Curriculum

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On February 13, 2012, The school district of Philadelphia stated that they will not support a mandated scripted curricula for schools within the district. Before this, textbooks, along with preparation for the PSSA, were often the basis of a school’s entire curriculum.

What’s wrong with that?

For starters, the curriculum often focuses only on ensuring a proficient score or higher on the PSSA. This education was extremely narrow. There are many more concepts and forms of knowledge that could still be incorporated into a teacher’s everyday curriculum.

A static curriculum does not create a dynamic student body. With a more open curriculum, you create dynamic individuals capable of articulating themselves in creative ways.

One example of where a dynamic curriculum has benefited a school is here at Science Leadership Academy.

Here are the top things we think make the curriculum at SLA exceptional:

– Project-based learning allows students to integrate the skills they are learning in class more creatively. Projects that have been created by SLA students include a community organizing group, a mural on the JFK bridge, and many others.

– The core values of SLA — Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, Reflection —
allow the students to identify a question, understand it more through research, collaborate with other group members/classmates, present a final product, and then reflect on how to improve next time.

– Peer-editing is a crucial part of a student’s learning process. We learn how to learn from each other, not just our teachers.

– The school has a built-in sense of community. Teachers meet every week, everyone follows each other on Twitter, teachers have their doors open. This creates an environment of safety for the student, allowing them to more easily approach a teacher if he/she has a problem. Students are always sitting groups, which allows them to be in constant communication with other people, solving problems on their own.

– Students have real-world experience, from freshmen year at TFI to capstone projects in their senior year. These expose the students to a whole range of careers and information thus making them more well rounded individuals.

While these are things that make SLA a good school, this kind of process also prepares the students for the workplace. Whether it’s working in the field of education, law, politics, or something else, graduates will be collaborating with other people constantly, and and they need to able to communicate easily and effectively.

Here are next steps other schools can take to enhance their own curriculum:

– Its one thing for teachers to present a new idea to students; its another for students to receive it. A top down-curriculum causes a student to lose a sense of identity and opinion. Have a student-based inquiry system, where the students think of their own questions — and answer them.

– Get rid of the rows and put students in groups. This pushes them to be in constant communication with each other. If they’re answering questions on their own, they need help from their peers.

– Come visit. Have teachers observe SLA one day, have them see how our school acts on a daily basis.

If a school were to integrate any of these ideas, they will surely see an advancement within not only the student body and how they communicate but the whole school as a community.

Unsigned editorials are written and approved by the SLAMedia Editorial Staff. They do not reflect the opinion of Science Leadership Academy and its employees.