Features

By Maya Smelser & Anouk Ghosh-Poulshock

Staff Writers

Everyone remembers their first concert. But when the pandemic hit, many tours were canceled or rescheduled. There was a hiatus from live music as people adjusted to their new lives– so many teens missed out on their early concert experiences.. 

In the past few months, however, concerts have made a comeback and people have returned to see their favorite artists. But how has the experience changed with COVID still present? 

In an anonymous form, students were asked how events before and during COVID are different. Many claimed there wasn’t a big difference, saying, “the only real difference obviously were the masks and proof of vaccination, but the atmosphere felt somewhat happier during the pandemic than before,” and, “the crowd was slightly smaller but apart from that there was no big difference.” 

“Going before the pandemic, you don’t really think about the events you are going to in the moment because you are taking them for granted,” another wrote. “You can never imagine not being able to go to these events.” 

Before the pandemic started, there were no mask mandates, no vaccination or testing requirements, and no limited capacity. During the pandemic, there were still many virtual events, but none were the same. Some recall virtual plays and meet and greets, which were popular but nowhere near as much as live music. 

Now, concerts are getting back to a pre-pandemic point. Most concerts have a mask requirement, but it is rarely followed, and mask mandates are being lifted gradually. Additionally some concert venues require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. Though this isn’t exactly what pre-pandemic concerts were like, it is very close to it. 

“During the pandemic you are much more conscious of everything. Who is wearing a mask, how close people are to each other, who is coughing and sneezing,” said another student respondent. “But, you do appreciate everything more than before the pandemic.”

Another respondent said concerns are still “Fun but they felt a little less lively.”

“People were just wearing masks and I had to get my temperature taken before going in where the concert was happening but otherwise the experience didn’t change much,” wrote another.

Concerts themselves haven’t changed drastically, and it is almost the same with a few new rules. 

The biggest concert in Philadelphia is Made in America, which was founded by Jay-Z and the first show was in 2012. The festival takes place every year, over Labor Day weekend, and is located on the Ben Franklin Parkway. In 2020 however, the festival was canceled due to the pandemic. In 2021, it was brought back, except there were a few differences. Masks and proof of vaccination was required upon entry, but it was not enforced. The concert said they would require proof of vaccination, but they didn’t check and masks were not worn after people entered the grounds of the festival. In 2021 alone, there were over 50,000 events. The first in-person school year since the pandemic began had just started, but COVID cases were still at a high. In September of 2021, when Made in America took place, there were double the cases then there were at that point the year prior. 

As well as concerts, live sports have gotten more popular again as well. People have started going to baseball, football, and hockey games at in person venues. 

One student noted that the change is more psychological than anything else. 

“The biggest difference for me is the mentality. You appreciate being able to do things more because it might be the last time you can for two years.”

One student shared their experience seeing Harry Styles in concert. They seemed happy with how COVID precautions were handled.

“The event met my expectations specifically for its urge on health safety,” they wrote. “Everyone was required to be both fully vaccinated with the physical vaccination card, your ID, as well as adorning a mask for the remainder of the night.”

“Personally, I am not bothered or uncomfortable wearing a mask for long periods of time but some people around me tended to complain and it dampened the positivity of my experience in New York. Overall it was a great time.” 

Leticia Desouza

Staff Writer

After a long yet quick year at SLA, students from different grades have experienced many new things they weren’t able to experience during the 2020-2021 online academic year.

After almost 10 months of being back in school, students have encountered difficulties and new experiences that further molded how the rest of their academic year would be.

Currently SLA students are going through their fourth quarter before the end of the school year and the beginning of the long awaited summer break. With this being the last quarter before summer break, students are experiencing ups and downs with their motivation and productivity towards their final major assignments.

Overall Experience

After returning to in person schooling, students from all grades reported both highs and lows from the transition. 

Sophomore Rae Alexander had some mixed feelings about her overall experience, which were heavily influenced by what happened last year, during Zoom school.

“My academic year has been good but it is not as good as it can be. But it is also not as bad as it has been in the past,” said Alexander. “Last year was unusually easy for me, so when I came into this year, I expected the same experience. In the future I’ll try to come into the new academic year expecting more to furthermore prepare myself for the challenges of the new year.”

Freshman Eleanor Palmer, another SLA student who came back after being online for almost two years explains her experience during this year.

“I think this year academic wise, it has been a little bit rocky at times because of getting back into the whole in person school situation after being in online school for two years, so it was kinda hard to get into the groove but after a while, I fell into a routine and it felt more easier.” Said Palmer.

Students had their fair shares of experiences, though, throughout this academic year, attendance has had its share of ups and downs, which has impacted the student experience.

“Attendance in January was very poor since we had an increase in covid cases, so a lot of students were not coming to school,” said  SLA Climate Manager Tara Ryans.  “ A trend now is that before the start of spring break, there were quite a bit of absences since many students’ families went on vacation.”

Experiences During Recent Quarters-

“First quarter was horrible, I had no friends, and I wasn’t prepared for the work being given out,” said Alexander about the start of this year. Second quarter was better because I decided to do things differently. Third quarter was alright, I spent too much time with friends and not doing work.” 

“I’ve been more motivated during the second quarter as we talked about our careers,” she added about the flow of the year. “That influenced me to come up with new ideas and know the structure of where I want to go with my life.” 

Though these recent quarters have been balanced, Alexander fears that the last quarter will be tougher. 

“Last year’s fourth quarter was light. Everyone was chill at the end. But for this year, I feel like it will be more overwhelming with more work.” Explained Alexander.

A big factor of motivation and productivity decrease has been the change of weather and load of work.

“I think it is very typical for students to lose their motivation as the warmer weather comes along with the end of the school year,” added Ms. Ryans. “I wouldn’t say I see students who aren’t motivated, I see more exhaustion. I think people, including students and staff, are becoming kinda split during this time of the year.” 

As Ms. Ryans believes that the upcoming warmer weather and end of school year is affecting students’ workflow, there are others like freshman Palmer that believes that the colder winter affects students’ workflow.

Palmer added how different seasons affected her workflow and experience during quarters.

“The first two quarters were pretty steady, but the third quarter was during winter and it was a lot to deal with. Winter is usually just hard for me so that was my biggest difficulty. I do think this quarter has been going pretty well so far.” Said Palmer

“Some of my errors have been to not actually try to do the work. I changed my work setting. This helped me with my workflow.” Said Palmer

How to Improve-

Everyone interviewed for this article had advice on how to beat the challenge of a hard year. 

“Write down the work you have to do. Make sure to try and keep yourself on task even if it is hard,” said Palmer. “I think setting short goals and tasks you can complete pretty easily will help you feel successful.” 

To be able to look at the final picture Ms. Ryans, shared her thoughts on how to achieve this.

“Sometimes you lose motivation because you become overwhelmed with everything that needs to happen or assignments that need to be completed,” said Ms. Ryans. But, if you look at the bigger picture, I think you can be more successful and that can help you become more motivated.” 

But of course, working for long periods of time can become exhausting. Having time off for yourself and your interests can help with your overall maintenance during the academic year.

“I would also suggest spending time doing things you enjoy, and making a point to include fun things.” Added Ms. Ryans

And when nothing else works, there’s always the short-term rewards.

“During past quarters, I was able to set this system that I would reward myself after doing specific tasks with snacks,” said Alexander. “Basically food motivation.”

Lia Dunakin

Staff Writer

The School District of Philadelphia recently announced that all Philly high schools will start their instructional day at 9AM beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. 

The reason given for this huge change is simply, sleep. Teenagers tend to get tired later  at night, and starting school at early hours can be potentially unhealthy. 

In the letter, Chief of Schools Evelyn Nunez wrote, “Research shows that later start times for high school students enable them to arrive at school more alert and ready to learn.”

Nationally, there is a sleep deprivation epidemic. Experts recommend at least 8 hours of sleep for teenagers every night. Many high school students get less sleep than is necessary for them to fully function throughout the day. The consequences include stress, less attention during school, and physical exhaustion. 

According to Dr. Lotte Dyrbye, who was interviewed by The New York Times, “ If you’ve noticed you’re unable to sleep at night, that could be a sign that you’re experiencing burnout, Dr. Dyrbye said — and your sleeplessness could exacerbate the problem.”

There are other factors that can cause stress as well as lack of sleep. Specifically for teenagers, these can include, after school activities, homework, looking at screens right before bed, and other personal issues. According to Christina Maslach, a social psychologist at the University of California Berkeley, “Our bodies were not designed for the kinds of stressors that we face today,”

Later start times may seem like a perfect solution to an important issue. However,  other unexpected concerns have become part of the discussion in Philadelphia. 

For one thing, the late start time can badly impact families. Families that rely on the income that their children earn during after school jobs. And later  starting times mean later dismissal times, which can mean less availability time to work. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer interviewed a public school teacher who preferred to stay anonymous. He said, “We’re going to be losing so many kids who are going to be forced to pick between school and supporting their families.”

In addition, there is parent anxiety revolving around traveling during later hours of the day. This shift may cause less student participation in after school activities. 

Because of these unintentional but ultimately negative outcomes, I do not like the idea of later school times. I think that for this particular issue, the negative outweighs the positive. While students may become more alert during school, there will be less time for taking time to be part of other activities, such as sports or work. For myself, it won’t affect me in the same way that it will affect other students, but my routine will change. On one hand, I prefer waking up later, but the later dismissal time will affect how much time I have after school. It will get darker sooner after school now, which personally means less time for after school activities and spending time with friends since I have a long commute home.

Andre Doyle, Cameron Booker, & Leticia Desouza

Staff Writers

SLA and Ben Franklin began their co-location in the Fall of 2019 — but only this year have the two schools started to truly operate in the same space. 

Not all of the facilities are used by both schools — most academic spaces are entirely separate. However, one of the stairwells as well as some of the common space  on the first floor., including the smaller personal use bathrooms 

The SLA side has two main stairwells, one is only used by the SLA student body and staff, and another one is used by both SLA and BFHS students. On the BFHS side similarly, they also have one individual stairway, and then the shared stairway. 

For the most part, students do not encounter each other in the building. However, many SLA students have been reporting some issues when using these shared facilities. 

SLAMedia spoke to multiple groups to get a complete picture of the situation. 

SLA Student Opinion

In an anonymous survey on their experiences in the school stairwells, SLA students shared a wide variety of opinions and experiences. 

As for which stairwell they prefer, there were mixed opinions: some students were fine with either, while others strictly preferred one stairwell over the other, for very different reasons.

Some problems that students have faced in the shared facility with BFHS students included being harassed, or catcalled in the shared stairway. 

“ Most of the time, Benjamin Franklin students just stare at me awkwardly and they frequently harass me about something that I have on,” one survey respondent wrote.

Another student wrote, “ There were a lot of BFHS kids in the shared stairwell that are just there and who stare at girls when they walk by, not only that but there have also been many kids who bother other girls from SLA, catcalling. ” 

However, there are also problems on the SLA-only side — the stairwell is frequently crowded or too warm.

“The heating there is really bad, it gets really hot in there,” one student wrote. 

Another student stated, “ I do have a preference, which is the up only [SLA side stairwell]. But I won’t say I like using it because it’s like Center City Traffic trying to enter it. Plus with everyone packed together, it’s really hot in that stairway.”

BFHS Perspective

Ben Franklin’s Assistant Principal Keith Pretlow described to SLAMedia that his school has the same setup as SLA — the shared stairwell, and one just for their students. He also described how the BFHS schedule sometimes leads to doubling up both schools on the stairs. 

“ Benjamin Franklin Students have four classes a day, known as AB days. For example, Monday & Wednesday are the same for all students, with the same for Tuesdays, and Thursdays but on Fridays, they alternate classes.”

“Another fact about the schedule of Benjamin Franklin High School students is that all students have lunch in the third period, then they have the fourth period then they go home.”

When presented with the SLA student survey results, Assistant Principal Pretlow had no comment. He explained that his own experience with students from both schools has been positive. He believes that the shared space is a good thing and that much more would come for the two schools as they continue to thrive.

“ I love the kids, daily I have 10 – 11 SLA kids come in to just say hi, and I don’t mind because I think we have mutual respect and that’s going to allow space for the two schools to continue to grow together.”

“I think that it is an extra opportunity for different schools to come around, and grow, and mature together.” 

He also states “All of the students are the same, and I believe that the students allow being around each other so we have to think of more ways of bringing both schools together in the shared space.”

When asked how can we improve the shared facility stated, he stated “ I believe that a lot of our students love the other side, and a lot of SLA students spend a lot of time in my office, even in the beginning kids have asked me who I was, and I said I was the campus principal.”

SLA Student Experience

“Basically I was in the hallways and I got stuck between the two doors, and this kid wouldn’t let me out of the doors because he kept asking me for my snap, until one of my friends came and opened the doors.”

SLA Perspective

If an SLA student is experiencing an issue, then the first person they report it to should be an SLA Administrator. So what is the system for dealing with harassment on school property? 

SLA Climate Manager Tara Ryans explained that the school follows all bullying and harassment guidelines provided by The School District Of Philadelphia. The School District Of Philadelphia guidelines 248-249, state that “bullying and harassment will not be tolerated and that it can result in suspension or even expulsion of any curricular, extracurricular activities that are in any way involved with the school district.” 

However, SLA doesn’t have any huge anti – bullying programs as of now, but despite that the behavior is still  not tolerated.

She explained that it can be “ difficult for students to be identified and found out when these types of situations occur, due to students not coming forward about the situation and not being able to identify the students who did it.” 

Ms. Ryans wanted to make it clear that any and all students who have had an encounter with other students can come to talk about the situation and receive full confidentiality. 

“Any Student can come to me if they feel uncomfortable about anything that happens in the stairwell or the school. We want our students to feel safe and comfortable while they are at science leadership academy. ”