Features

Freshmen Adapt To SLA Life

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov 1 Comment

Samantha Beattie

Staff Writer

When coming to high school, it takes time to adjust. Most high schools reflect what the

community is, but with a school like Science Leadership Academy, being a diverse community of its own, has created a completely different way of adjusting.

Three students from Rosalind Echols’ freshman advisory felt that adapting to an environment such as SLA took a little time with the work, but found the people at SLA very outgoing and friendly.

Freshman My Troung had no trouble joining the SLA community, but her parents had a difficult understanding the use of laptops and benchmarks.

“My first stress was family because, as you know, sla is different from other schools especially 15 years ago, comparing it between both time periods”, stated Truong. “Help from the counselor and my advisor got through with school and working on laptops, including projects.”

She feels strong about how he’s adapting with school.

“I feel like i do adapt to school. I do have more work to do, at the same time i don’t learn taking tests, but I do research and learn with help from the teacher. I think that i adapted to the school in a really good way.”

Fellow freshman advisee Pierce Meier, agreed that the work was what took time getting used to.

“I was mostly used to writing things down and using text books, assignments being due after school, no nice kids, suspensions, and being on top of my work.” Meier said.

Compared to his previous schooling experiences, “here, it’s more friendly, more kind, less trouble.”

For Meier, a lot of stress had come from a medical condition hitting during benchmark season.

“Stress came with early October right when benchmark season started. I had to catch up. I was 3 days or 4 days behind. I had no work done and not a lot of sleep. I had to make a commitment.” (He ended up with As and Bs for his first quarter.)

He still feels like he might need more adjusting, but he’s doing good with adjusting.

“I still need more time. Its gonna take a little time to adapt. Writing is what I’m used to. I need to get used to using a computer, make more friends.”

Another Echols advisee, Kenyatta Bundy, felt like he adapted well with SLA and the people very well.

“Not much drama, just stress,” she said. “I have a lot of friends, participate in a lot of stuff, i do well in classes.. I think I do that well.”

Work or Call of Duty? Gaming at SLA

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Sophomores (Left to Right) Ryan Doyle, Ethan Reese, Daniel Tuveson, Antonio Reveron, and Jeffrey Schwartz. Taken by DeShawn McLeod

By Alex Ringgold

Staff Writer

As fall comes to a close, and all the big hit video games have been released for this season, it’s time for gamers to decide what to buy and what to play, but more importantly, when to play them.

Because of the laptop program, student gamers at Science Leadership Academy are abundant, especially in the freshmen and sophomore grades.

For some students, however, this occupation can become an addition. Is gaming on a school laptop a problem or a privilege? Does a student gamer life impede school life?

Every day during lunch, a cluster of students sit together outside the office with open laptops, all available outlets occupied, and whoops and hollers made out occasionally to one another. They’re all playing Call of Duty 4, a first-person shooter game set in modern era unlike its previous installments.

The objective of Call of Duty is simple: kill anyone that is not you. Sometimes it varies to team death match, where as you and a couple of teammates kill an opposing team, and which ever team gain a set number of kills wins.

For many students, this game is a great source of entertainment. Currently it’s more popular with boys, although there are girl gamers racking up kills during school hours as well. During lunch, it’s perfectly normal for a student to lollygag. But what about the other 23 hours of the day?

Some sophomores are confident that they are maintaining a healthy gamer life and school life.

“We play during lunch and sometimes over Wi-Fi when we’re at home, but it doesn’t get in the way of school work,” Sophomore Jeffery Schwartz said. “Since last year after getting the game we’ve played at least 48 hours total.”

This group of sophomores had a couple of variables that helped keep their gaming in check.

For one, only but one of them owned a console at home, leaving necessary time at home for homework.

They also enjoy Call of Duty mostly because it is a group activity, meaning they would not put gaming as a priority to work.

Not all students, however, are as responsible.

One sophomore, when asked if Call of Duty interferes with school worked, laughed as if it were obvious the amount of time he put into the game overlapped the amount of time he should be doing work.

“Does Call of Duty mess with school? Of course!”

The sophomore’s choice of game at home was Skyrim on the Xbox, which is a game that has an average 140 hours of gameplay since it’s release back in November.

For students like Sophomore Byshera Moore, who chooses not to get involved with video games, believing even spending a couple hours shooting people online seems crazy.

“Those guys during lunch are loud, crazy, and are clearly only paying attention to their game when they start playing.”

For upperclassmen, more schoolwork may mean less time for games, and many of them have worked hard to regulate how much time they play.

Senior Anthony Torrance, known letting his gaming habits get in the way of his focus school, acknowledges the challenge of balancing his hobby with his work. “I have to limit certain outlets if I am going to succeed.”

Senior Douglas Wallace used to partake in the children’s card game Yu-Gi-Oh and spend hours playing video games.

“I used to be addicted to video games,” he said. “You know what I did? I got a life, I got a girlfriend, and I had fun.”

Misguided Masterpiece: Student Street Art

December 7, 2011 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Ryan Harris

Staff Writer

Philadelphia is a vast city full of its fair share of attractions. Yet sometimes if you delve a bit deeper into the city you’ll find neighborhoods in disarray due to things such as poverty or gang violence. Things like that can make Philadelphia seem depressing.

Many citizens of Philadelphia have made it their mission to somehow breathe new life into Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. How? Through street art and organizations such as Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Senior Ian McClendon is one those people trying to revitalize Philadelphia thought his art.

McClendon like many other teenagers participate in stencil art, in which a person takes a piece paper or cardboard, cut it into a design, and then spray paint over it.

Although he has been creating street art for several years, McClendon does not consider himself a great natural artist. “I guess like a lot of us, we all say that we can’t draw, or I don’t know how to draw,” he stated. “I said that to myself but when I was introduced to graffiti by a willing friend to teach me. I took the opportunity to create work like his.”

Art teacher Marcie Hull is enthusiastic about this work. “I LOVE STREET ART! My neighborhood now, I see street art at the train station. On an electrical box across the tracks from my house is an awesome Darth Vader stencil. I love seeing it.”

While it has garnered lots of popularity amongst younger children, many adults tend to view stencil art as graffiti but it’s an issue that is often debated.

“I feel that street art and graffiti are two different subjects but can be represented in the same style,” McClendon said. “Graffiti is that stuff you see on a wall and it looks like large scribbles, incomprehensible, and placed in a area that it can’t be related to in a sense. But then again there is a time and a place for the misunderstood art.”

Many others forms of art have often been misunderstood or misinterpreted by the mass media. But then again, there always people who abuse it. “I love graffiti,” said McClendon, “but I hate the noobs who want to throw up some random word that no one can understand or even read.”

The type of graffiti McClendon mentioned is the very opposite approach to street art in Philadelphia. They’re trying to bring life to the least lively places of the cities. Hopefully more can do like Ian McClendon.

Locker Talk: Thanksgiving Traditions

November 27, 2011 by wpbo Leave a Comment

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Sophomore Jhonas Dunakin: "We have a 10K run. A turkey chase, it's really fun. But my favorite food is the stuffing and pumpkin pie."

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Senior Alaya White: "I make pie from scratch!"

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Science Teacher Mr. Best: "My family and my wife’s family are all coming over for Thanksgiving. This will be the second time this is happening. I make a mean carrot soup, and my father is famous for his brussels sprouts. But this year Echols is coming over, so dessert will be amazing. This year, because we have more people then usual, I had to go to Ikea to buy more plates and silverware."

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Freshman Estefan Carrillo: "My mom is a really good cook and for Thanksgiving my extended family and friends come over. But my favorite food is the cranberry sauce."

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Senior Rashaun Williams: "In my house you got aunts, uncles, cousins, about 20-27 people. There are three turkeys, buckets of different types of sides, and stacks of cornbread. Together we watch TV, play Wii, cards, and have discussions. This year I am inviting other people to my dinner who need to eat. But we also have leftovers that last about a week!"

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Interviews by Marina Stuart. Photos by Isabela Supovitz-Aznar.

Hallway Fashion: Halloween Edition

November 20, 2011 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

What were you for halloween and why?
I actually wasn’t anyone for Halloween this year. I kind of got this idea to be androgynous and dark and I went with it. Eventually, my idea evolved into what I wore on Halloween. I guess there wasn’t really a reason why I did it. I was inspired, and I followed my inspiration.

I notice you dress up a lot, is halloween your favorite holiday?

Halloween is, in fact, one of my favorite holidays. It is one day where I can dress up in all sorts of outlandish attire, and it is expected. Don’t get me wrong, I love to dress up on days where it isn’t exactly socially acceptable, because I enjoy the shock factor. Halloween is special to me because I get more looks of intrigue and appreciation from people, instead of looks of revulsion or ridicule.

You outfit was homemade, where and/or how did you come up with this piece?

Like I said before, I got this idea for my costume, and I went with it. I wanted to take a suit, which is traditionally a masculine symbol, and feminize it by binding the waist with a corset and using a neck scarf instead of a tie. Not to mention the five-inch stiletto lace-up boots that I wore over a set of dress pants. I saved the drama and flare of Halloween for the hat, which I draped polka dot fabric and tulle over to create a veil, as well as affixing a blank mask on the brim, which created an overall creepy aura. I was very proud of my creation, and it served its purpose well, which was to push gender boundaries.

You remind me of Lady Gaga a lot, what do you think of the artist?

I like Lady GaGa, but contrary to popular belief around SLA, She is not my idol and complete obsession. I really enjoy her music and eccentricity, but it has been done before. I think that people like Grace Jones, Kevin Aviance, and Acid Betty were, and are still a little more interesting that Lady GaGa. Nevertheless, I commend Lady GaGa for bringing the unusual and niche performance elements that were previously underground, to the mainstream.

Interview by Nia Berry.