• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

SLA Media

SLAMedia is a publication of the news for the Science Leadership Academy community. Writers come from the student body in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. We work in unison to create a functioning paper with biweekly postings on a variety of events.

  • News
  • Features
  • Sports
  • A&E
  • Op/Ed
  • Multimedia
  • About

News

Should Kim Kardashian Have Worn the Dress?

May 27, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lia Dunakin

Staff Writer

Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe dress on Met Gala red carpet. Photo courtesy of Artnet news.

The Met Gala is an annual event held as a fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s various costume exhibits. It has a reputation for being both extremely exclusive and glamorous, but from its beginnings in 1948, the Gala has not always been like this. 

The gala supports the annual costume exhibit, which is the only one in the museum that has to attain its own funding. As a result, this benefit is held every year for the purpose of raising money. In its early years, New York’s rich elites and socialites received the invites — the locals who had a direct connection to the museum — instead of the celebrities that attend now. 

The new focus on who the gala invites instead of what the invitees are wearing defeats the purpose of The Met Gala. Fashion lovers from all around the world can go the Metropolitan Museum of Art and admire the preserved historical clothing in each exhibit. 

Along with the higher profile in guests came the tradition of dressing in honor of the exhibit’s annual theme. This year, the exhibit’s focus is “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” with clothing from  the famous time in the United States, ‘The Gilded Age.’ Usually, designers stick to the ever changing  theme picked every year by the committee — but with liberal interpretation. 

When I first heard that Kim Kardashian was going to be wearing Marilyn Monroe’s famous dress, the one that she wore in 1962 to sing happy birthday to President Kennedy, the only problem I could think of was not sticking to the theme. After further investigation, I realized the bigger issues involved.

Many fashion historians have always been frustrated with their line of work not being taken seriously, and this is one of those times. These professionals believe that this dress is an important piece from American history, and should therefore be carefully preserved in a museum just like any other historic garment.

As Bob Mackie, the designer for the original dress said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “I thought it was a big mistake, [Marily] was a goddess… And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress.” 

This dress is actually owned by Ripley’s Believe it or Not, which is not a real museum, and by allowing Kim Kardashian to wear the dress, has broken rules from the museum code of conduct. I believe this was a strategic advertisement to let the public know where this dress is being shown. 

Lots of things could and did go wrong. Just Kim Kardashian walking around in it, even for a few minutes, ruined the integrity of the material. Other ways that the dress could have been partially ruined was by it being touched with improper gloves or even bare handed. Mackey also stated in his interview with Entertainment Weekly, that wearing the gown “ was undoubtedly damaging to its preservation and structural integrity.”

I agree with fashion historians that recognize the unethical side of this situation. I don’t think that anyone else other than Marilyn Monroe should have worn this dress. I also don’t agree with an illegitimate museum like Ripley’s Believe it or not owning an extremely expensive and valued part of history like this dress. It should be in a proper museum handled by experts that know what they’re doing.

Filed Under: News

School District Seems Indecisive With Plans To Shift the Schedule

May 26, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Leo Braveman

Staff Writer

Image By Leo Braveman

Back in March I first heard talk about the school having a pushed back schedule for next year. Immediately when I heard this I was surprised and not really looking forward to any type of delayed schedule

As of now, our school officially starts at 8:15, making any unexcused arrival after that marked late. Next year, Philadelphia schools are scheduled to shift to a 9AM start time (the change does not affect any schedule changes such as no advisory, changed Wednesdays ETC, making for a simple schedule pushback). According to Principal Lehmann, our schedule will most likely begin at 9 AM. 

When I first talked to friends about it I heard excitement about the plan. Many students were understandably excited to wake up much later, and liked the overall idea, feeling that it would allow for more sleep. 

Although I agree that it will be nicer to wake up late, I see the overall effect of the plan to be awful for students and even teachers with any type of extracurriculars.

In terms of my own day, I enjoy going to the gym after school, maybe a couple days of the school week. But on days that I have advisory, it would cause me to get home anywhere from 7-730PM, making for a huge inconvenience for when I would normally have dinner, and force me to start homework later than 8PM! 

But this significant day change of course does not only affect me, any students who wish to play a sport, or even spend time with friends after school will experience the same issue, with possibly having to commute much further than I do. 

I see some of the logical reasoning on why the school district wants to push back the day, but I am concerned that with still not enough time for long activities before school, and students getting home much later the effects could be hurtful and inconvenient. 

Hopefully, after a year of this crunched afternoon schedule students will find ways to manage, there is still a possibility that the plan can change but nothing points towards that being definitive. 

As a final note, the day I planned to publish this article the school district abruptly canceled the plan. I do not know more on this but am looking forward to hopefully having the same schedule.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Review, School District, uncategorized

Big Expectations As New District Superintendent Enters Important Role

May 12, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Oskar Glahn & Marcus Diemer

Staff Writer

Dr. Tony B. Watlington Sr. has accepted the position of Philadelphia School District Superintendent by the School Board. He will assume his new role on June 16, 2022. 

Watlington has some big shoes to fill. The District’s current superintendent, Dr. William Hite, has held the role for over ten years, which is very rare for school district superintendents to hold the office for that long. 

“It’s a hard job, and he did it for ten years,” said Principal Lehmann. “His ten years as superintendent was the longest of anybody’s since Constance Clayton back in the 80’s, so that’s an incredible run.” 

Since June 2012, Dr. Hite has worked hard to create equity and achieve goals of innovation and equality. In his past ten years, Dr. Hite has effectively worked through the district’s obstacles, opened new quality high schools, and conjoined schools with the communities around them. Dr. Hite has been a huge help to Philadelphia’s struggling public schools, and a personable role model for teachers and students within the district. His leadership has a very positive impact on the community.

Dr. Watlington seemed like a very obvious choice to replace Dr. Hite. “It was very clear with these three candidates that Dr. Waltington was the choice of the community. You saw a lot of support for his candidacy,” said Lehmann.  He is an experienced educator and understands the school system. He started out as a history teacher in North Carolina, and made his way up to principal and eventually Superintendent of the  Rowan-Salisbury school district, also in North Carolina. That school district is nowhere near as big as Philadelphia’s, but very few school districts are. 

To gain this position, Dr. Waltington had to contend with many other candidates including John Davis, who was chief of schools in Baltimore, and Krish Mohip, who was on the Illinois State Board of Education who were the two closest contenders. 

Although most teachers and faculty are aware of this change, many students are not. 

“I ain’t even know that we got a new guy [superintendent],” remarked senior Jacob Farrell. Students have not received any information about this change, and most of them don’t really seem to care. “I feel like more people should know about this,” said senior Colin Clapper.

Even though some people are unaware of this new change, we have hopes that Watlington will continue Dr. Hite’s legacy of leadership, and make some positive change. We are looking forward to what comes next. 

Filed Under: News

SLA’s PE and Health Teacher’s Retirement: What’s Next?

May 12, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Valeria Escobar Staff Writer

PE and Health teacher Pia Martin — who has taught for 30 years and has been part of the SLA community for 14 years —  has announced her retirement at the end of this school year.  

Even though she will be missed by many students and staff who have worked with her, she explained in her interview that she will be subbing at SLA and keeping in touch with the staff and students while still being able to accomplish all her future goals and plans. 

Ms. Martin has influenced the SLA community in more than one way, but one that English and Journalism teacher Larissa Pahomov brought up was Ms. Martin’s influence on SLA’s fitness culture. 

Ms. Pahomov explained how SLA’s old building didn’t have a gym, but Ms. Martin still found ways to get all the kids to engage in her class. “She really made fitness culture a part of the school in a really integrative way, which was great.”.

Ms. Pahomov also mentioned how Ms. Martin is responsible for most proms happening, especially last year’s senior prom, in which she had a personal connection to the person who owned the space where prom was held. Ms. Martin also organized and managed a lot of proms and graduations. “She knows how to make a party happen,” she explained.

In an interview I had with Ms. Martin, I asked about her future plans after her retirement which she said include, “Eventually some travel, a lot of working out, i’ll be subbing here, and I have desires to, in my volunteer time doing some volunteer work.”. 

When asked about her experience at SLA, she said that the best part about her job here was, “That I’m capable and have the opportunity to laugh every single day.” she said. 

“She’s a good example of someone who doesn’t have a different teacher persona, she is her authentic self both inside of school and outside of school.” Ms. Pahomov said. 

Math Teacher Sunil Reddy also said “I think she is definitely the same person in school as she is out of school.”.

“I think Ms. Martin is good with following the school’s principal ethic of care, so rather than worrying more about rules, and what students are supposed to be doing, and more of the administrative side of things, she worries more about the student’s wellbeing and the community’s well being, and how to make sure the whole community is taken care of.” Mr. Reddy said.

Ms. Martin has played a big role in the SLA community, but when she leaves, who will take on her job? I asked SLA’s principal Chris Lehmann, to which he responded with “There is no replacing Ms. Martin, she is one of a kind in all of the best ways.” He then added, “We’re narrowing down candidates but we’re still trying to make a final decision.”.

In addition to Ms. Martin’s job as the only health and physical education teacher in SLA, she’s also a huge support to students and the SLA community overall, so I wanted to know what were some specific requirements that candidates need to meet to be able to become SLA’s next health and PE teacher.

“Her Health class I think is a foundational experience for kids at SLA, it’s such an important class so for me making sure that we have somebody who can do a wonderful job as a Health teacher is a big piece of the puzzle.” Mr. Lehman said. “I think that one of the challenges is that someone is gonna be able to work as a discipline of one.” He said. 

Filed Under: News

All Eyes on Ukraine

May 9, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Sean Hogan

Staff Writer

Since February 24th if this year ], the world has had its eyes on the war that Russia has waged in Ukraine. The conflict has displaced at least 10 million people and resulted in sanctions and businesses pulling out of Russia. The concern about the oil supply has caused massive price hikes for gasoline, and politically the tensions are reminiscent of the cold war.

How has the SLA community been impacted by the conflict? SLAMedia spoke with students about their connections to and opinions about the conflict

Sophmore Biran Mahmoud told me about his family in Syria, another nation where Russia has been having a military intervention since 2015.

“My famly lives in the small towns/villages so they aren’t targeted by Russian artillery,” Mahmoud explained. “They do experience issues with smaller groups but don’t really come under fire.”

As for the conflict in Ukraine, Mahmoud is clear: “There is no point in this war, no one really wants this. It’s just an old man’s war.”

Mahmoud also recognizes the complicated nature of the conflict: “They (NATO) are already pretty involved in supplying Ukraine with weapons, ammo, and supplies. But they should instate a No-Fly Zone but that could start WW3 with them shooting down Russian planes. It’s a tricky situation with Russia threatening nuclear war.”

“It’s very unpredictable,” he said. “I hear the Russians are losing, but god only knows how this war will end.”

Senior Eric Casalena reported that he doesn’t “know every single detail” about the war, but enough to have formed some opinions.. ”

“I feel like no one deserves this and the only person who wants this war is Putin because even his soldiers don’t want this war.” He was also asked if NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) should step in and assist Ukraine directly, He said that NATO should Intervene but then asked me if Putin was threatening nuclear escalation.

When asked if he thinks Russian forces committed war crimes, he said “100%”

As for how the conflict might end, Casalena provided three scenarios.Number one is that Vladimir Putin and President Zelenskyy sit down and resolve this conflict peacefully, the second one is that Vladimir Putin gets assassinated, and lastly that Ukraine surrenders to Russia.

Senior Philip Lee said that his take on the conflict

Is “generally the same as most folks. Trying to take over a country like that isn’t too moral.”

SHould NATO intervene? “As of now? Probably not since I’ve heard their (Ukraine) doing a pretty good job at defending themselves to the point where Russian troops are refusing to go and would rather face consequences from higher-ups.”

He also stated he does not know if Russia has committed war crimes. As for how it will all end, “Ukraine will likely keep its independence and the violence will end though I don’t see Russia halting other strategies like media manipulation, data collection, spies, political interference, etc.”

While we may not know how this horrible war will end, we can only keep aware of the situation, Donate to charities and support the refugees of wars like the one happening in Ukraine.

Filed Under: News

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

FacebookInstagramTwitter Snapchat

Features

Wardrobe of SLA

By Harper Leary Staff Writer Philadelphia is a diverse city, and the student population of Science Leadership Academy reflects that fact— not just with their identities, but also with their fashion choices. If you walk down the hallways of SLA, your head will turn every which way to get a glimpse of all the different […]

How the Pandemic has Changed Live Events

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 […]

How Are SLA Students Are Dealing With Their Last Quarter?

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 […]

Philadelphia High Schools Now Starting At 9am

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 […]

Shared Facilities: SLA, and Benjamin Franklin High School Encounters

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. […]

Copyright © 2022 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in