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Three Teachers Say Goodbye to SLA

May 19, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Over the years, you form bonds with the people that teach you and help you grow into a better, more educated person. This year, the graduating class of 2016 is not only saying goodbye to the senior class, but a few of the much loved teachers that have helped us get where we are today.

To acknowledge them leaving, we at SLAMedia have interviewed 2016’s departing teachers, to see what they’d like to leave as a legacy, and what they’ll never forget about their time with us.

Math Teacher Caitlin Thompson

What are you doing after you leave SLA?

I’m hoping to work part time for both Inquiry Schools and Little Bellas (national mountain bike camp organization for young girls, littlebellas.com). I’m also hoping to spend more time with my daughter who will be 1 at the end of the summer.

What’s a favorite SLA memory?

I have a lot of fond memories but my favorites have all been traveling with students both to Liverpool in 2010 and on the river trip in 2011, ’12, ’13, and ’14.

What do you hope your legacy is at this school?

I hope that more students will get to travel and do Outward Bound field trips.

Math Teacher Mark Miles

What are you doing after you leave SLA?

I will be the media specialist for a private high school in Minnesota. I will help the school modernize the library into a media space, help the teachers integrate technology into their curriculum, and help the school transition to a one-to-one laptop program.

What’s a favorite SLA memory?

My favorite SLA memory was the class of 2014 graduation. I was so proud of my advisees for their accomplishment, and I was so happy to be sharing the stage with them in that moment.

What do you hope your legacy is at this school?

Having created three electives (2-day and 4-day computer science engineering and creative writing) that will live on next year is a pretty neat feeling (maybe one day Theater Arts will make a comeback). One of my favorite things about teaching at SLA has been being able to teach students the things that I loved. I’m excited to see these classes continue after I leave and see what the new teachers bring to them.

Math Teacher Mark Bey

What are you doing after you leave SLA?

I am moving to New York city to teach at a small high school in Harlem. There I will be teaching a couple Spanish classes but will also serve as a Dean of students; helping the new school grow school culture and I will be working with the 1st 12th grade class.

What’s a favorite SLA memory?

I guess my most vivid and strong memory of SLA happened in December 2010, when I found out my niece passed away. My advisee saw me devastated in the hall crying and he just gave me a big hug and support. At that moment I realized that I was more than just a teacher to my advisory but we were a family that cared about one another.

What do you hope your legacy is at this school?
I hope students remember me as a teacher who in class I was consistent, fair and supportive. Outside the classroom I hope they remember how much I enjoyed planning prom, graduation and other social events for the school that I think added to the school culture. That I was a teacher that you could talk to, laugh with and be yourself.

Phuture Phillies Team in 2018.

May 19, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Aaron Watson-Sharer

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Phillies 2016 Current Depth Chart. This team on paper looks like it would be bad. Especially with players like Darin Ruf, Ryan Howard and Peter Bourjos making common starts in the field.

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Phillies fans must be very excited, this season has been nothing short of a pleasant surprise, where we’ve actually been winning. This team’s success has been founded on pitching. A team near the bottom of the majors in runs scored wins by pitching their hearts out.

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On the offensive side, we have Maikel Franco. Franco is a future piece to this team due to his plus defensive value and great bat. He is only hitting .243 with 7 home runs on 23 runs batted in, but this isn’t who he is. His potential is insurmountable compared to any hitter on this tea. Odubel Herrera is another player to watch. He is top five in walk and has been hitting above .300.

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What makes the 2018 roster the contender? The Phillies will have developed their young talent by 2018. This means Aaron Nola, Maikel Franco and other will be feared on gameday. Along with being a big market team, the Phillies have ONE COMMITTED contracts to any past free agent on the team after 2017. That is to Matt Harrison, who is irrelevant. This means the entire team will be making pennies compared to other clubs.

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The Phillies have this year's top draft pick, which should be spent on South Jersey Lefty Jason Groome. He has the ability to be a frontline starter.

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- 1B Tommy Joseph - LF Nick Williams - SP Mark Appel - SS J.P. Crawford - RP Jimmy Cordero Are the 2016 notable promotions.

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The Phillies have money and need a power hitter and a left handed reliever. Moreland is a power hitter who in his time with the Rangers has never disappointed. Brian Matusz was a top five draft back in 2008. The 6'5 lefty has been a consistent bullpen arms besides in 2016. I expect a bounceback after being unfortunate to pitch for the O's his entire career. - Mitch Moreland 3 Years/48MM - Brian Matusz 2 Years/10MM

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-OF Dylan Cozens - C Jorge Alfaro - C Andrew Knapp - RP Zach Eflin - OF Roman Quinn - UT Darnell Sweeney Are the 2017 notable promotions.

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Phillies have the money to get an elite batter. J.D. Martinez in 320 games with the Tigers has 69 homers with a .292 batting average and 198 runs batted in. In 2018., he he'll cost us $168MM/7 Years.

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This is my most bold move. Why this works? The Phillies will need a staff ace, who's young and get strikeouts. That's Archer. In his past two seasons he has had a 3.23 and 4.38 earned run average, respectively. His strikeouts per nine are above eleven. He is the ace we need to push in October. In this trade, we'd give up C Andrew Knapp, RHP Ricardo Pinto, 1B Jhailyn Ortiz and RHP Nick Pivetta. The Philles would pay a hefty price, especially in Andrew Knapp but we have the depth to absorbs these losses. This is a move that winners make.

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This is a winnign team with all the moves made to beat the best. This 2018 club is well rounded and there's enough money that the Phillies could still improve a lot off this. In a few years, we'll be World Series ready.

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Primary Roundup: Kentucky and Oregon

May 19, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Tuesday, May 17th Primaries: Kentucky and Oregon

Bernie Sanders continues in his success as news get back that the Democratic hopeful won by 58% in Oregon and tied 49.3% to 49.7% with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders supporters are celebrating this victory, which follows a 51% win in West Virginia, but are wary of the “Super Tuesday pt. 2” to come on June 7th. South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and California- with a whopping 475 delegates at stake- all vote on that day, and their votes could make or break the election for candidates this closely tied. Currently, Clinton leads by 274 unpledged delegates. Like Sanders, she needs the June 7th primaries to work in her favor, especially considering that she has lost to or tied with Sanders in the last 5 primaries (except for the Guam primary, in which she won 4:3).
As the race heats up, every vote begins to matter (unless you’re a Republican, in which case Donald Trump has pretty much sealed the nomination). Send this out to your friends and/or family in any of the 6 states to vote on June 7th, and encourage them to vote!

Donald Trump: The Last One Standing

May 19, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Staff Writer

Chiara Nemati

This election season has been an interesting one. I’m not going to lie, I have been more informed than ever before and the only reason is because of the lovely republican candidate, Donald J. Trump. I have watched every debate and the contrast between the Republican Party and Democratic Parties is drastic. Instead of thinking of these candidates as possible presidents of the country, I’ve looked at them as students running for president of their school. Each month we’ve seen candidates dropping out, lots of them voicing their support for Trump. This shocked me; they went from fighting to keep Trump low in the polls to rallying behind him. Throughout the early primaries it was clear that Trump got most of the delegates. Now everyone besides Trump supporters are faced with a huge problem, Trump is the only Republican candidate.

For a while there was talk about a contested convention where Ted Cruz and John Kasich would run together and hopefully win the nomination. However, after Ted Cruz’s loss in Indiana he dropped out of the race, but not without a fight. He tried many things to insure that Trump would not become the nominee, but none worked. He began by making a pact with Kasich, which would allow Cruz to focus on India and Kasich to work on the later states. Cruz also gained support from former runner Carly Fiorina. This, however, was also a bust. The Republican Party’s worst fear was coming to light, an outsider would be heading their party in the fall elections.

The most memorable part of the republicans primary race has been the fire between Cruz and Trump. There has been a lot of heat and back-and-forth fighting. Now it is all over; we no longer have to listen to debates or speeches by the candidates attacking one another. Trump took a moment to acknowledge Cruz and appreciate his former running mate but quickly switched gears to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. America is left with a big problem, the man we all thought would fizzle out and be looked at as a joke is the republican nominee and there is no one that can step in his way.

Primary Roundup: West Virginia

May 17, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Kiamesso DaSilva

Unsurprisingly, Trump won both the Nebraska and West Virginia primaries, but there was an interesting turn of events for democrats as self-professed “democratic socialist” candidate Bernie Sanders took the majority of delegates in West Virginia. Senator Sanders, of Vermont, has faced an uphill battle competing against established former secretary of state Hillary Clinton; the media has written him off as a lost cause since Super Tuesday and the constituents among which Sanders is popular are the largely unpredictable American youth. However, following a victory in Indiana two weeks ago, Sanders has once again triumphed in West Virginia- proof to his supporters that all is not lost.

While Clinton has the clear lead in total delegates (which include unpledged “Superdelegates”), these votes, though historically casted for establishment candidates, could sway either way depending on the popular vote. The role of superdelegates has never been so critical as in this election, and we have yet to see how they will react. For that reason, I have included only pledged delegates in the infographic below.

It’s clear that Clinton is winning, but by how much? Not a substantial enough amount to guarantee candidacy. In fact, the Huffington Post calculated that if Sanders does well in the remaining primaries (much as Barack Obama did back in 2008), he has a legitimate shot at swaying superdelegates and becoming the democratic party nominee.

Something that voters will have to consider in such a close race is whether or not they truly believe their candidate has what it takes to be not only a successful president, but successful in the general election. Democrats (along with many Republicans and Independents) have agreed that one of the priorities for this election is to defeat eventual Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Whether Sanders or Clinton is the right choice depends on you. If you’re a democrat, comment your thoughts!