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School District Seems Indecisive With Plans To Shift the Schedule

May 26, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Leo Braveman

Staff Writer

Back in March I first heard talk about the school having a pushed back schedule for next year. Immediately when I heard this I was surprised and not really looking forward to any type of delayed schedule

As of now, our school officially starts at 8:15, making any unexcused arrival after that marked late. Next year, Philadelphia schools are scheduled to shift to a 9AM start time (the change does not affect any schedule changes such as no advisory, changed Wednesdays ETC, making for a simple schedule pushback). According to Principal Lehmann, our schedule will most likely begin at 9 AM.

When I first talked to friends about it I heard excitement about the plan. Many students were understandably excited to wake up much later, and liked the overall idea, feeling that it would allow for more sleep.

Although I agree that it will be nicer to wake up late, I see the overall effect of the plan to be awful for students and even teachers with any type of extracurriculars.

In terms of my own day, I enjoy going to the gym after school, maybe a couple days of the school week. But on days that I have advisory, it would cause me to get home anywhere from 7-730PM, making for a huge inconvenience for when I would normally have dinner, and force me to start homework later than 8PM!

But this significant day change of course does not only affect me, any students who wish to play a sport, or even spend time with friends after school will experience the same issue, with possibly having to commute much further than I do.

I see some of the logical reasoning on why the school district wants to push back the day, but I am concerned that with still not enough time for long activities before school, and students getting home much later the effects could be hurtful and inconvenient.

Hopefully, after a year of this crunched afternoon schedule students will find ways to manage, there is still a possibility that the plan can change but nothing points towards that being definitive.

As a final note, the day I planned to publish this article the school district abruptly canceled the plan. I do not know more on this but am looking forward to hopefully having the same schedule.

I Almost Went to Central

May 26, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Maya Smelser

Staff Writer

I always knew I wanted to go to SLA. When I heard there was a school that gave out projects instead of tests, I was sold. I have always been the type of student who thrives with hands-on learning.

And yet, I still strongly considered going to Central.

Why is that? Most people from my middle school, including every one of my friends, planned on heading to Central. Going to Central, a huge high school with over 2000 students, would have been scary. But going to a school where I knew basically no one would have been scarier.

My elementary and middle school held about 500 students, with only 41 in my grade at the end of 8th grade. So Central would have been a big jump, even though lots of friends were doing it.

And Central never appealed to me. It seemed crowded and like a lot of work. I had been to the building a few times to see my older sister’s concerts and found the place intimidating. I had also seen how my sister’s personal life had disappeared behind her textbooks, especially after she joined the school’s IB program.

I had also shadowed at Central in the beginning of my 8th grade year. My friends left even more excited than before, while I left confused. I had almost been trampled in the halls by people triple my size. The classes were full of students, sat in rows, but crammed in tiny classrooms. Few people seemed like they actually wanted to be there.

Even with all this compelling evidence to deter me from Central, the idea of going to a school entirely full of strangers was a million times worse. I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to make any friends. I was terrified to be all alone.

Then, the day before I was meant to shadow at SLA, the news of the asbestos broke. I was crushed. Was the school I hoped for even going to be open to me next year?

I still got to do my interview later that year. It was, to date, one the most nerve wracking days of my life. I hated talking in front of people, especially if I didn’t know them. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do a good job because I knew how important it was.

Then the big day came. One Friday in early January, at exactly 5:00 pm, alone in my room, I opened my computer and checked to see what highschools I had been accepted to. I applied to four schools, SLA Center City, SLA Bieber, Central, and Palumbo. I had gotten into all of them except SLA Bieber. I was hoping the decision would just be made for me. No luck.

I decided to shadow at SLA Center City, even though they were relocated to the School District Building at the time. I loved it. The classes were engaging and the environment seemed so welcoming. I’ve always been a creative person and I felt like this would be the place where I would thrive.

It was nothing like the version of high school my middle school teachers had warned me about, where the teachers would be harsh and the students unfriendly. Which was great, because that sounded terrible.

A week after that time in my room, I had decided. It was SLA. It was always SLA. I wasn’t going to go to Central just because I was afraid.

I had no idea what would happen next — none of us did. But the fact that I overcame my fear about a big transition helped me when COVID hit. I knew it would all work out.

Now, I’m almost a junior and I am very happy with that decision. SLA was the perfect fit I expected. I’m glad I didn’t let fear make my decision for me.

Wage Cuts, And Inflation

May 26, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Andre Doyle

Staff Writer

I have a confession to make: when I started writing this column, I thought that I make too much money at my job.

How could that be, you ask? Well, I currently make $25 an hour employed at Footlocker as a junior. I started at $12 an hour two years ago. Compared to others at my age, and younger this may seem like a lot compared to $8, or $12 an hour. My friends tease me all the time about my wages, saying I’m lucky.

So do I really make too much money?

I did the research, and here are a few reasons I think my wages are reasonable:

One is inflation, which is where “ the increased cost of consumer goods, and services such as gas, food, and housing.” In President Biden’s recent speech he claims there will be food shortages, wage cuts and increased inflation rates stating “ Inflation rates have noticeably increased, and wage cuts have been set in place which is helping ukranians to defend our democracy.”

Biden also uses the Ukrainian war as a major result of food shortages in the US stating “ feeding those who are left hungry around the world because Russian atrocities exist, the American farmers understand Putin’s War has cut off critical sources.”

Another is the taxes I pay. In the US, there are already taxes in place for people over the age of 16 and over with the tax rate being 3.07% in Pennsylvania . Me specifically, in the summer I work forty hours in a week that’s $1,000 but not minus taxes. Minus taxes I would make $970.30, which is still a good amount, now subtracting Bidens wage cuts I now would have $920 which is way less.”

And with prices increasing due to inflation that’ll mean things being less in demand, at a higher price due to a “ lack of resources.” Inflation has risen to 8.5% over the course of 12 months with it being at its peak today.

Lastly, I think my wages are fair because it’s not as though lowering my wages would increase them for teens in other jobs.

College, A Tough Topic

May 26, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Valeria Escobar Staff Writer

College is one of the most frustrating topics to think and talk about, at least for me. Most of the time I try to ignore this topic completely. “I’ll think about it when the time comes” I always tell myself. But every day that passes, that time when I actually have to start thinking about is getting closer, and I have even more options to consider.

In middle school I thought I had a pretty concrete college plan for the future. Even though in middle school I didn’t know what I wanted to study in the future, I had an idea of where I would like to study. The “where” part now became one of the most difficult aspects to keep in mind– and for me, that’s a much bigger question than just whether I want to stay in Philadelphia.

The majority of my family lives in Colombia, so for the longest time I thought I would just go to college there, so I could maintain a close relationship with my family. This seemed like a simple option, and basically the only option I had in mind, but now the “college talk” has been happening a lot more frequently, more options come up.

Even though I still like the idea of studying in Colombia, now I understand the difficulties of living there, such as the political problems happening right now, the economic struggles I would most likely go through, and the quality of education there is not as good as in other places.

My parents play a huge role in where I finally end up in college, so their approval is necessary for me. Currently, they are leaning towards me studying abroad in Germany, since it’s mostly free and the quality of education is also really good. Even though this seems like the best option for them, this is the option that scares me the most. College in Germany would be the opposite of what I had originally planned. It would be extremely far from my family, I also have to think about learning the language, and that I would basically have to reset my whole life there because I don’t know anybody, or their culture.

Obviously another option for me would be to stay in the U.S. and go to college here, but unlike my other options, this would be the most expensive, If I wanted to go to a good college.

The college I go to will ultimately depend on what I want to pursue in life, but since I have no idea what that is, geography and money are the biggest factors influencing my decision.

Hopefully inspiration or my passion will strike between now and senior year, which will make choosing a college, and where exactly that college is gonna be in, a little less complicated.

Trash Day At SLA

May 23, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

The amount of trash in the commons is absurd. People really should begin to clean up after themselves because this is our school and we should definitely keep it clean because our school is a reflection of who we are.

As the first quarter comes to an end people are realizing the mess that is left in the commons and they really don’t like it.

I’ve talked to a few students who don’t like the fact that during their independent study period they have to clean up after the other students. Some wonder why the students are “irresponsible to clean up the mess they made during their lunch”

infact me and a couple of friends stopped sitting in the commons during lunch periods because of the amount of chaos and trash all over.

On top of that, the students that have to clean up others feel unsafe and think that there is a possibility that they will get sick and don’t think that it is safe at all. So I have thought about writing an article on it so we can make a change and create a way for students to dispose of their trash and not have to leave.

Over the two, one hour long lunch periods we have plenty of students who eat school lunch, bring their own lunches and buy things from the school store.

People sit in their friend groups and can talk until the end of their lunch band and the crazy thing is is that when the invisible bell rings all students run to their next class leaving the trash of candy wrappers, sandwich bags, noodle cups, etc. lying around and the janitors are left to clean up after them this is not ok and we need to put a stop to this before it gets any worse.

I wouldn’t say that it is the kids fault. I think that the fact students only have two trash cans in the commons is the reason there’s so much trash because there’s nowhere to put it.

The amount of waste begins to stink up the commons and we are left with food particles everywhere on the floor in my now 4th year at SLA. I wonder how we get like this and before it was never like this and what can we do to change it.

Having only 2 trash cans in the commons is a problem and there is an easy solution. I think that we should get some designated trash cans that stay in one area so that people can find them easily. I think that there should be a recycle bin, and another trash bin for just plain trash like forks, bags etc.

If we were to put three of these connected trash cans in the commons in three different locations I think that we would be able to keep our school clean and this will keep us in the position we need to be this will always make it an easier job on the janitors, the trash would be disposed of correctly and it would help the world in a way because things (trash) would be going to the right location.