Features

 

Keith Hodge

Staff Writer

SLA teachers have come from all over the U.S to teach here, bringing unique accents and phrases along with them. Among these teachers are Math and Study Skills teacher Jonathan Estey and Physics teacher BJ Enzweiler who are from vastly different places with many different ways of speaking.

Estey who is from the east side of Providence, Rhode Island, has lived in three cities in Oregon including Portland, Hood River, and Eugene, before moving to Philadelphia four years ago.

He credited what he thought was an “east coast” accent to his college experience, first encountering his different way of speaking from his Sophomore geometry.

Estey said his Sophomores last year noticed the way he pronounced “NASA” and “Box”. Estey also explained that he became conscious of certain New England slang that he was saying that didn’t make sense to others. He occasionally uses words such as “wicked”, “bubbler” and “sub” that are staples of the Rhode Island dialect.

Despite realizing how often he uses unintelligible New England slang, he holds onto an appreciation for his hometown.

“Rhode Island has a very rich dialect that people don’t always appreciate it and I would like to see people recognize the linguistic uniqueness”.

Another teacher who comes from outside of the Tri-State Area is Physics teacher BJ Enzweiler. Enzweiler is from Bloomington, Illinois which is located in the central part of Illinois. He has also lived in Chicago, Illinois and then Central Texas, before moving to Philadelphia, where he’s lived for four years.

“I would say I definitely have a midwestern accent itself, I think in Illinois there is mostly just a normal midwestern accent for most people who live outside the Chicago area”. He also said people who live in Chicago or people who have family there, definitely have a Chicago accent and lastly the Chicago accent is also broken down with racial lines, Enzweiler explained.     

Enzweiler first realized how different he spoke from those on the east coast when he first moved to Philadelphia. “I would say “Spring Garden and Broad” or I’m at “Spruce and 15th” when in reality any Philadelphian is going to say “15th and Spruce” or “Broad and Spring Garden”.

Enzweiler also realized that he used the phrase “Y’all” a lot more than most Philadelphians.

“Being from the Midwest you use a lot of terms so I use “you all”, “guys”, I will also say “Y’all”, and “everyone” or “folks”, “I would say either Soda or Pop I think it’s more common if you were to ask me this when I was younger I would probably more or likely say pop than I do now,” Enzweiler said.,

Both these SLA teachers Mr. Estey and Mr. Enzweiler have brought their unique phrases to SLA but both agreed that the word “Jawn” is very confusing and took some time to figure out what it meant, also Mr. Estey likes the word “but I half to help students not use it academically”. Mr. Enzweiler likes it as well and calls it “a fun little quirk for the city”.

In conclusion, no matter if they say a word differently their accents are fun and are unique in their own way and they both still have a special appreciation for their hometowns even though their teaching in Philadelphia.

Sarah Berg

Staff Writer

Over the past two months, the story around Facebook’s data leak has grown and along with it has the response from the site’s users. Everyone has heard about the leak, but few people know what actually happened between the social media platform, its users, and Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica is a political data firm hired by Trump’s election campaign in 2016, and their access to data on millions of Facebook users likely played a large role in Trump’s win. In fact, CEO Alexander Nix has been quoted saying that the company’s “revolutionary approach to data-driven communication has played such an integral part” in the win.

The firm collects data on potential voters to learn how to better influence them with political ads. The data from Facebook was made up of basic information; people’s “friends”, “likes”, and their locations. So, how did Cambridge Analytica come into possession of this data?

Facebook didn’t just give it out to them, in fact, the story really begins in 2014. In that year, Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, a psychology professor at Cambridge University, put out a personality survey that collected data on not only the respondents but their Facebook friends. There were 270,000 respondents to the survey, but Kogan was able to harvest information on over 87 million people.

This collection was allowed by Facebook because it was under the guise of “academic research.” Facebook often makes money from selling data to researchers, and this is legal and no breach as long as the purposes are academic. The real problem occurred when Dr. Kogan provided the data to Cambridge Analytica since the firm used the data for political reasons. Since the situation became public, Cambridge Analytica blames Kogan for violating Facebook’s rules and said they deleted the data, but copies are thought to still exist.

This series of events has gotten national attention, and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, testified before Congress for two days in April in order to answer questions about Facebook’s handling of data.

The hours were filled with awkward lines of questioning where Zuckerberg explained the basic workings of the platform to Congresspeople, which produced many memes focused on the topic. For example, Senator Orrin Hatch asked Zuckerberg how he sustains “a business model in which users don’t pay for your service?” to which the CEO responded, “Senator, we run ads.” There were also images circulated of Zuckerberg sitting on a booster seat, mechanically drinking water, and smiling seemingly on command.

This huge reception was definitely a contributor to awareness of the circumstances. In fact, both of the Facebook users who I interviewed directly referenced Zuckerberg’s testimony when asked what they knew about the Cambridge Analytica situation as a whole.

Junior Lucien Hearn spoke of the questioning, saying that the Congresspeople “are old people who don’t understand the internet, so they’re asking really dumb questions,” but that at the same time, “that was useful for anyone who needs to fully understand the conversation.”

Junior Ameer Johnson admitted, “I have no idea what Zuckerberg did. I just know he did something, I don’t know if it was illegal…I’ve heard about him testifying in front of Congress and about people’s information getting sold. I didn’t know what the company’s name was, who sold [the information].”

Along with the questioning, further pushback came from the Federal Trade Commision, which claims that Facebook may have violated the terms of an agreement made with them in 2011. The subject of the agreement was the safety of user information, and if it is found that there were violations, Facebook may have to pay millions to the FTC. Additionally, an investigation into the scandal has been taken on by the attorney generals from New York and Massachusetts.

As for users’ responses to the incident, a study done by Techpinions of 1000 Facebook users found that 9% of respondents had deleted their Facebook accounts. However, this whole thing may not even need be of concern to Facebook. Although stocks dropped rapidly following the initial exposure of the data leak, the company has made a swift recovery, which was aided by Zuckerberg’s responses to Congress’s questions. According to Forbes, during the first day of questioning, Facebook’s stock closed up 4.5%.

Johnson, who uses Facebook for about an hour total each day, says that the leak will not really affect the way he uses the site because, “I don’t put a lot of personal stuff on my Facebook, I haven’t really updated my profile since like 2015 maybe. So even though I’ve used it like every day since 2015, I just don’t post pictures of me, I don’t post a lot of information, I don’t even know if I put where I live on there.”

He added that “I’ve seen people’s profiles that have a lot of personal information in them, and I just don’t do any of that. I just go in there and look at news, at pictures, and memes. That’s really all I use it for.”

Part of Facebook’s appeal to Johnson is its convenience.

“I don’t have to use my internet browser to go on Fox News or something to look at stuff,” he said. “It’s surprising that I didn’t really know about this because Facebook’s how I learn a lot about the world issues that are happening. That’s funny- it’s one of the only things I didn’t know about…it’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re not putting that on here.’”

Hearn uses Facebook several times a week to connect with friends. He, like Johnson, doesn’t post anything personal, and said that the occurrences have strangely lent to him using it more because he has “actually remembered that it exists.”

He commented that although it is not inherently bad for all types information to be available online, “People should be aware of the information that is out there because if it is used, they should be aware of the implications of that.”

Kai Bradley-Gutierrez de Teran

Staff Writer

On April 12th Wawa will celebrate 54 years of business with various discounts and specials, such as free coffee. For most high schoolers in Philadelphia Wawa has a special place in their hearts. Now, why is this?

Of 20 people I asked it seems that on average people go to Wawa once a week. When you multiply that by the population of solely Philadelphia Wawa’s success becomes understandable. If you don’t know much about Wawa and how big they are you may not understand the buzz and how they could end up having 750+ stores between New Jersey and Florida.

Sophomore Dalnick Matos said that “Wawa is an easy way to get food when you lead a life of rush and sports,” and he also said, “Wawa is a place where you can find anything and everything from a simple coffee to a hoagie, and their locations are all over the city.”

When one hears this it becomes understandable how Forbes Magazine reported that Wawa has brought in 9.1 billion dollars in revenue, making it the 34 largest American private company.  

Sophomore Horace Ryans Jr. said that one of the reasons that Wawa appeals to him compared to other convenience stores is because “It seems safer, cleaner, and just a better overall environment.”

The general idea that there seems to be of Wawa is that it is just that what Ryans said.

Wawa has such an impact that even Junior exchange student Javier Chueca-Bosch from Barcelona, Spain even has come to feel what so many people feel for Wawa. He said that it is “A place for youth to socialize, something that there isn’t much of.”

Wawa without a doubt has a large impact on those who live on the East Coast, which is seen through there statistics of selling more than 60 million made-to-order hoagies annually and 195 million cups of coffee.

This April 12th take advantage of their various promotions such as any classic hoagie of any size for $4.99. And it has been discovered that if you want to try a birthday cake smoothie or milkshake click on the small goose logo on the bottom left of the order screen.

Autumn Lor

Staff Writer

In Pennsylvania, turning 16 means a person can get their driver’s permit. Some students consider driving as a milestone in their life because it leads to “freedom”. But there are a few steps that need to be taken before getting that freedom. There are two major steps: taking the written test and the driver’s road test.

Science Leadership Academy doesn’t have a program that teaches students to drive, so students would have to learn from family members or guardians. SLA doesn’t have a lot of students with their license. A quick poll of the Journalism elective showed that in a class of 20 students, only 1 has their driver’s license and 4 have their permit.  

For those who do have their license, they don’t drive to school because of the limited free parking spaces nearby.  

On your 16th birthday, you are eligible to take the written permit test at any PennDot’s location. Before the test is taken, students should know what is on the test. There is an online book that is available to anyone or a physical copy at any PennDot’s location. A couple of things that should be done is 1) read the Study Guide fully through at least one, 2) take a practice test online, and 3) make sure to take a different practice test.

The online practice test doesn’t give a random set of questions. There is a selection area that will only give you questions that relate to that topic. Be sure to take as many different practice test as possible. The questions that are in the practice are very similar to the real test.

Step one: The Written Test

On the written test, there are 18 questions. The first 15 questions that are answered correctly, will automatically shut down and say that you’ve passed. There is a skip button that will allow you to skip through each question only once. Only skip if you a really unsure. The system does not care what 15 questions are correct, as long as you get 15.

The system will also shut down if 4 questions are answered wrong. But if you have 4 answers wrong, you will not past the test. So be careful and know how many you got wrong.

If you fail the test, don’t fret! The test can be taken as many times as needed but only once a day.

Junior Cynthia To says, “When I was taking the test, my hand kept shaking that I hit the wrong button twice and got the answers wrong.”

Step Two: The Waiting Process

After the permit test, there is a log that says there needs to be 60 hours of driving time. That means a person that is over 21 with a license, is in the passenger seat watching how you drive and guide you. Most people don’t log their 60 hours, so they wait at least 6 months before taking the road test.

Unlike the written test, the road test cannot be taken once a day until you passed. It’s also not a walk-in test. You must schedule the test ahead of time by going on the PennDOT’s website. When scheduling the test, it’s best to do it on a Tuesday morning. The system restarts and shows the closest dates available. If you were to do it on Monday night, there’s a four-month wait but the next morning, it’s six-week wait.

Junior Mindy Saw signed up for her driver’s permit as soon as possible even before she knew everything.

“My brother taught me how to drive. I guess you can call it tough love because he pushed me to learn so quickly.”

Step 3: The Driving Test

The test will including the following: turning on the lights, signals, windshields, and brake lights, being able to parallel park, and driving on the road. Some instructors will let you drive in the parking lot but most will make you go on the road.

When parallel parking, there will be two cones to park between. The instructor will allow you to back up to a max imum of three times.

Senior Eli Block says that he failed twice before getting his license but the road test was easy.

“When I took my final test, they let me go on the streets for 5 seconds,” he exaggerated.

Senior Tamir Harper said that there were times where the driving instructor was intimidating. Harper tried to stay calm even though he was very nervous.

¨I was relieved that I passed to first time because I don’t have to take it again.”

Although, everyone experiences are different. Saw stated that her instructor was very easy going and made her comfortable to drive as she would with her brother.

“I made a few mistakes but luckily, my instructor was given that day.”

Don’t be scared to take the test and don’t be nervous while taking the test. A way to calm down is to pretend that the test examiner isn’t there. It’s just the driver and the road. Good luck!

 

Jeremiah Butler

Staff Writer

To many, Youtube has shared both hilarious and shocking moments in its 13-year tenure. At SLA, Youtube is relevant throughout personal use and projects in SLA. While Youtube has beneficially impacted the type of media that students watch, it has also been detrimental to many students’ lives. Youtube has made several attempts to keep its content safe for everyone, but the questions many ask is: Is Youtube doing enough to keep the content viewed safe or is it too much?

Sophomore Grace Conley voiced her dismay at how loose Youtube’s content rules are.

“I feel like Youtube is just a place where people are just kinda talking crap about each other and I wanna know when is it justifiable to report someone for harassment,” Conley explained.

Many incidents have occurred on Youtube that has altered the decision making of channels that viewers watch. One of these incidents involved Youtuber Logan Paul. Paul posted a video of himself and a group of friends in Japan’s Aokigahara forest or Suicide Forest. In this video, Paul was shown with the body of a suicide victim in the forest. This video infuriated millions including politicians, celebrities and many others, including Grace Conley.

“I don’t understand how you could go to a place where a lot of people go. It’s just a very sad environment there arere’s dead bodies and then make jokes about it. Then have a petty apology? I feel like he doesn’t see the consequences of what he does,” Conley explained passionately.

Conley went on to summarize the conversation between her friends about the Logan Paul video.

“We talk about, if we have a common video that we all watch the Logan Paul incident, about do you think this is wrong or not. But then it’s that thing again with harassment. Is that a joke, is it not a joke, where’s the line? Then we have that conversation of what’s taken seriously and what’s not,” said Conley.

However, in response to the Logan Paul video, among others, Youtube decided to strengthen their rules on inappropriate content. Sophomore Zeyah Gomez recognized Youtube’s effort and applauded it.

“ I see what [Youtube] is saying about not all Youtube videos that people put out are really age appropriate, so I think they just want to have clean videos up on their site,” Gomez said.

These rules and regulations have allowed Youtube to become a more safe and effective learning tool. SLA utilizes the platform in a fashion that isn’t as common in other schools.

“Some people in SLA post videos on youtube and there is a lot of people who are fans of them. Most science classes, instead of having a real curriculum, put on youtube videos to teach to kids,” Conley stated.

For projects concerning the production of a video, students are required to post their finished videos on Youtube and relinquish their finished products to anyone accessible to Youtube.

This is a way for the SLA community to be proud of their work and to post videos that make them look good on the world wide web.

Despite a murky past with inappropriate content, Youtube is doing a much better job making their platform a better place for people of all ages.