News

The Fire Drill Plan Gets an Update

January 23, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Maya Smelser

Staff Writer

The fire drill is a standard part of school life. Like most schools, we have one every month. Although it might just seem like a nice break from class, there’s actually a lot of thought that goes into it.

After the first few drills of this school year, Engineering Teacher John Kamal realized that the school has consistently taken a dangerously long amount of time to exit the building. From that, he had an idea.

Back at the old SLA building, the senior engineers redid the fire drill plan, as the times did not meet the requirements of the Philadelphia Fire Department. When Mr. Kamal saw how poor our times were earlier in the year, he and his engineering team volunteered to do the same in this building.

The engineers worked hard to create the new plan. “They printed out blueprints of the building and surveyed every room,” stated Mr. Kamal, who coached them through it, “they also reviewed the existing signage, compared it to the original plan, and then optimized the plan to address its current shortcomings.”

The initial plan had many faults and issues. Too many students were sent down the middle staircase and it accounted for rooms that had no people in them. “We hope that by systematically addressing each problem, we should be able to reduce the egress time significantly,” Mr. Kamal said. The goal of the updated plan is to have all students and staff out of the building in at least 4 minutes.

“I expect that the work that the engineers are doing will balance our exit plan so that our fire drills will be much smoother,” Principal Chris Lehmann said.

Column: Encouragement and Struggles During Test-taking.

January 21, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Dinah Soloway Staff Writer

“Congrats on finishing Keystones! You’re the best.” I found this note hanging on my locker. A few days after having a couple of long days of testing in September.

As a public school, SLA is mandated to put students through the Keystone exams — and students who missed them last year due to being out of school had to take them this fall.. As someone coming into a new public school, these keystones were new to me. At my old school I still had taken tests like these, but now as a high schooler in a different setting more nervous feelings about the test came up.

Students were informed in emails of advisory memos of the plan. Multiple times I saw emails reminding me that keystones were just a few days away.

Teachers made a plan that made it easier for everyone to understand that taking the keystones was important. Despite this push on their part, many students decided to opt out of taking the test. It made sense at the time that I wouldn’t opt out of the testing, but I also desperately wanted a break from school testing and studying.

This year I decided to take them because I wanted to know what the testing was like in high school. My other thought while taking the keystones was if I take a couple of standardized tests this year I should really know what to do and what would help next year when I take the ACT or SAT. In the end, it was already decided by my parents after their word I couldn’t really argue.

When testing, students were assigned rooms by stream and grade to make the process easier and run more smoothly. When the test was over, Small group testing for kids who got extended time was separated from their big group to complete their testing.

Each room had an assigned teacher to guide students through the specific directions on the pamphlets. During the test-taking, there were many specific restrictions that the teacher would have to read even though kids had heard them before.. The structure of having an important test made me feel pressured as a student. Putting rules on how we take tests and show our work and learning. Even though tests do not always show how well of a student someone is, we all know the importance of taking them for our preparation for college and school life.

After a day of taking a test, SLA students went back to normal class periods. As most students had come to school to take a test that took almost half a day, my brain was almost fried and wouldn’t want to work. I know that a lot of people wanted to go home after this and sure I can admit I was one of them wanting to go back home, get into bed, and sleep.

After a long morning, I would have just liked to be sent back home to rejuvenate my brain from the hard test. Just imagining my bed back at home just sitting there with nobody using it was a pain.

As it was supposed to be a regular school day many kids came into school at 11 when later class periods started back up again. When I walked down the SLA stairs I was greeted by a bunch of students talking each nagging at each other about how well they did. Classes were purposely cut shorter than usual so that our school day would end at 3:05 is a very normal ending time.

When I found the note on my locker the next day, my first thought was: Why not give these encouraging notes before the important test? I read the note a few days after the testing and only then did my nerves go away. Everything felt so nerve-racking. Including the waiting for other tests, we would have to prepare for.

That being said, receiving the note after testing did help the nerves calm down for many students. Almost making it easier to get back to regular classwork.

I know that this is not the end of having to take standardized tests in high school. The next time I hear about any standardized test coming up I will definitely look at it a little differently than what I thought about the keystones. When I decide to take a test or have one coming up in school. I’m the kind of person who forgets about studying a couple days before and just wings it on the day off. Since next year I am heading into junior year I will need to plan out my studying more and get some support from my parents and others. I plan to head face on with any important test that comes my way.

Getting to school during the holidays

January 20, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

CAMERON BOOKER

Staff writer

Traveling to and from school hasn’t been easy lately, and here’s why. Leading up to the winter holidays, traffic has been picking up both on SEPTA and on the streets of Philadelphia. People are shopping all over the sitting and visiting as well so it’s to the point where it it overwhelming the commute to and from school during the busy times of the holiday and the just regular times driving and catching the train because during the holiday and these past few months traffic has been a lot heavier and there are a lot more accidents. It is also more hectic on the train being that a lot of people are traveling to different locations to shop and see family and with their being so much traffic most of the people will bring their bike motorcycle onto the train even bringing bags of items onto the trains taking up plenty of seats.

Strategies to getting to school on time and possibly finding alternate routes to get to school when the roads are hectic. Leaving at an earlier time depending on the distance you are from your destination, try to catch public transportation instead of driving, also try to find parking spots by leaving a little early because you aren’t going to be able to find parking spots that easily leaving last minute for where your going might even have to park blocks away from school. These are most of all of the things that you can do to prepare for leaving.

After talking to a few commuters i’ve come to the conclusion that riding the train is easier than diving because it is nearly impossible to find a parking spot and the only problem with the train is not having the comfort of finding a seat but if you can deal with that you can park your vehicle at one of the transportation center or even catch the bus and that defeats the traffic and having to find a parking spot. So I say that during these tough times you should try your best to catch the train because you will get a chance to get to your destination on time.

Why I Prefer In Person School

January 17, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lia Dunakin

Staff Writer

Students wearing masks while in school. Photo courtesy of BBC.

From the very first minute of the day, School this year is radically different from last year.

Last year, I would just get out of bed a few minutes before school started since there was no travel time. Sometimes I would eat my breakfast or have a snack. This year, I have to wake up at 6:30 instead of 8:30, I get out of bed, brush my teeth, eat breakfast, and leave the house. Take the bus. Take the subway. Walk to school.

Like many teenagers, I liked being able to wake up at a later time because of the lack of commuting, Not having to travel the 40 minutes from school to my house, I had more time to do my homework since I was at home all day. It was much easier to manage my time since I didn’t have any after school activities that I had to get to, because they were all online. Although, I do think online school affected my quality of work, since it tired me out more.

When you compare these two morning routines, , it may seem like I liked virtual learning better than in person school, but that is not true. Despite all the aspects I did like about doing school at home, being able to see my classmates in person is better.

Things have changed in our classes, too. . Last year was an exception from everything I was used to. It’s not usually just the teacher talking to you. There’s students waiting to ask or answer questions. The teacher isn’t just talking to you, now the classes are interactive again. Also, in breakout rooms there was usually minimal talking, now that we can see each other again face to face, it’s much easier to communicate in groups. This makes it easier to complete group assignments.

It was harder to focus in class last year, because all you would hear was the teacher’s voice. This year, you can do activities with your classmates that may help you better understand the topic. That learning environment of just hearing lectures and finishing your assignments was not the best for me, and I know I am not the only one with this opinion. I remember I would talk to my friends about shared experiences in break out rooms. Also having a sense of relief when you knew someone in your breakout room, and that it meant they would actually talk.

I am so glad that this year we got to go to the building this year and have the closest to normal we possibly could this year.

The biggest benefit to in-person school is communication. It’s not just being able to work in teams and talk to people, but also having spaces to just relax around the building while you’re not in class helps immensely. While at home, you don’t have places to just hang out.

I will take the social connections over sleeping late, any day.

This year is a lot better than last year and I hope it can continue being an in person school year!

Saying Goodbye to Ms. Diane

January 13, 2022 by Fatima Abashera Leave a Comment

Fatima Abashera

Staff Writer

Saying Goodbye
Late last school year, the Science Leadership Academy community found out that Ms. Diane the secretary would be retiring in the middle of this school year.

Photo courtesy of SLA Center City Instagram

Her Legacy

Ms. Diane was the first secretary of SLA since its opening and has made a legacy and impact on everyone in the community.

Vice Principal Ann Leaness and other colleagues explained that it was what made Ms. Diane special. She had the ability to be so welcoming to everyone and the ability to become so good at her job very quickly.

“She was always really welcoming to everyone,” explained Leaness.

These attributes of Ms. Diane would be the first thing people would notice when meeting her. Ms. Diane’s friendly demeanor also allowed students’ experiences at SLA to be easier.
Sophomore Jazmine Young described her experience at SLA as having “different opportunities to excel” because of everything that staff like Ms.Diane brought to work every day.

Outside the Main Office,
Something special about the colleagues Ms. Diane worked with within the main office was the personal relationship they had with her.
“We shared stories about our grandkids’ ‘, Ms. Leaness said, further explaining the friendship they had outside of the office. Ms. Diane has made a continuous impact on the lives of the people working at SLA.

Ms. Leaness also said “She was very helpful” when she was new to the environment and learning the ropes is never easy.

Principal Lehmann has worked with Secretary Diane for the longest and has grown to love what she brings to SLA every day.

“She taught me a lot that I carry with me in my life”, he explained.

The Next Generation,
When asked about possible new secretaries of SLA, Principal Lehmann was clear:

“There’s no replacing Ms. Diane.”

However, the office staff has made an effort to choose someone that would carry Ms. Diane’s legacy every day when working in the main office. Lehmann explained that there were so many excellent candidates for the new secretary.