News

Tamir Harper

Staff Writer

On Tuesday, January 10th, President Barack Obama delivered his final speech as President of the United United States from an auditorium in his hometown of Chicago. In just eight days our President Obama, First Lady Obama, and daughters Sasha and Malia will be leaving the White House as our first family to become “normal citizens” again.

He  spoke on many topics,  from our economy to foreign relations, but humbly did not speak about how him and First Lady Obama empowered and inspired so many young people to get involved with politics. Instead, he just encouraged citizens to “[You are willing to carry this hard work of democracy forward. You’ll soon outnumber all of us, and I believe as a result the future is in good hands.” Just like his first campaign for President in 2008, he told young people that yes, they can.

As they say goodbye to the president that has filled most of their lives, student at Science Leadership Academy had many sentiments to share with the world.

Junior Kaamil Jones made a facebook post about how inspiring the First Family was. “you have inspired me and so many others. I’m so proud to be apart of a generation that’s so inclusive and you have done nothing but push us forward. Since 3rd grade you’ve showed me class, dignity and true leadership. Thank you for showing me that I could literally be anything I want to be. Yes We Can! Yes We Did!”

Sophomore Kenzie Hopkins gave us in the inside of how she felt when President Obama was elected.

¨ I felt good because he got reelected and he was the first Black President to serve and be reelected. He showed no matter who you are or where you came from that you can do anything.”

Teacher Larissa Pahomov weighed in about President Obama effect on our students. When Pahomov was asked about the uproar in politics and social change from SLA students she said ¨It was inspiring to some students but did not cause an uptake in direct political engagement I think that ironically it was the election of Trump that mobilized students to do something about their political situation because they no longer felt safe and secure.”

She also described an unusual game that  SLA students played when the Obamas first moved into the white house.

¨Eight years ago, there were a set of Juniors that would pretend to be the Obama’s. It was a joke but also it wasn’t a joke. There was one girl that would pretend to be Michelle Obama and one that would be Sasha and Malia.”

President Obama said he will continues to serve us and represent us as an advocate and a believer. “ I won’t stop. In fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days.”

Maddi Etxebeste

Staff Writer

On Friday, December 2nd, the first-ever SLA Freshmen dance took place from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m in the SLA Center City cafe. This dance was for freshmen of SLA Beeber and Center City.

The event was primarily organized by the advisory of History teacher Pearl Jonas. They started organizing around the middle of October, and it was so exciting for Jonas’s advisory and for her as well, she confessed “It’s the first time I organized the prom!”

The event got a lot of positive attention from the class of 2020. A student of Ms. Jonas’s advisory, freshmen Jeremiah Butler said “Everyone got very involved in the project, there was even a student who linked SLA Beeber and SLA Center City and the organization in general worked very well.”

The theme being “Black & White”, everyone in attendance was dressed accordingly. The tickets cost $6 if bought in advance and $8 at the door. The remaining money, after investing most of it in the party, will probably be spent on freshmen needs such as materials and activities/excursions.

The freshmen were in charge of  promoting the dance, and in the end approximately 140 people attended. The teachers provided drinks and food, including 23 boxes of pizza. “For the next time we should provide more drinks and less pizza!” said Jonas. There were also some electronic issues with the DJ, but that was resolved early in the evening.

Juniors and Seniors — Separate, Not Together

In May 2017, Senior prom will take place on the 19th floor of the Hyatt at the Bellevue on South Broad Street. Last year, the prom committee signed a contract for this year’s event.

“It’s a luxurious place, with a big room with the dance hall in the middle and very beautiful views.” explained Health Teacher Pia Martin, who is also a teacher sponsor for prom. She also said that all the seniors are going to attend it.

The prom will have a pretty hotel theme, being very classy. Attendees get to enjoy appetizers, a formal dinner and a dessert with it. Senior prom will probably be from 7 to 11 p.m. The ticket price depends on the current price and the money they spend organizing it, but Ms. Martin predicted that it will cost approximately $80 each.

Junior Prom will be held in April 2017. Spanish Teacher Joselyn Hernandez, the junior prom sponsor, is still working on some of the planning details.

Many schools of SLA’s size have a combined Junior and Senior prom. However, the very first class of SLA, who graduated in 2010, refused to share their prom with the younger students. Now the two proms have continued to be kept separate from each other.

Should sophomores have a prom as well?

Now that the freshmen have successfully had a dance just for their grade, there is a big debate around the proms and dances at SLA. With everyone asking:

Should sophomores have a prom like juniors and seniors (and now also freshmen)?

For many years, sophomore classes have attempted to organize an event, but they have never been able to get enough interest or commitment to make it happen.

Jonas explained that “I approved it, but students have to get involved in the project so they can organize the dance because it takes too much work.”

Jeremiah Butler agreed. “They should also have a dance or something, but not as big as a prom.”

Most of the Sophomores might not know yet, but some students are starting to spread the word. Announcing the possibility of organizing a dance for sophomores, knowing that it was the only grade without a prom or dance. It’s not certain, but if more and more sophomores get involved in this project, they will be able to realize it.  

Maddi Extebeste

Staff Writer

While the real general elections were happening this past fall, the Free Library of Philadelphia offered the opportunity to high school and middle school students to participate in a school citywide program called “Philly Students Vote.” It allows them to vote for their favorite candidate for president.

SLA won the first prize for being the school with the highest percentage of voter turnout, with 59% of registered students voting. As a prize, the school will receive $1,000 to spend on a project that the student organizers provide.

The contest worked like the regular elections. Students had to register to vote in advance, and then on the Election Day vote. The voter registration ended at 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, November 1st. Then at 7:00 A.M on  next Tuesday, November 8th, the Election Day, every student registered received an email invitation so they could vote online until 8:00 P.M.

SLA  participated with the new History teacher Daniel Symonds as the teacher sponsor, and each History teacher picked one student from each stream to become student organizers, who called themselves “ward leaders.”

The FLP announced the results of popular vote when schools finished counting and sending their votes, a few hours after the polls got closed.

“This program is a way to help students understand how voting important is and how does it work,” Mr. Symonds explained. “It makes them be more engaged in politics.”

Freshman and Student Organizer Zeniah Navas agreed. “It allows us to have ideas on how to change the world. It also allows students to feel that they’re changing the world and that have something to say about what is happening.”

Mr. Symonds said they might spend the $1000 prize money on a charity event to raise more money, which could be given to charities, because they want SLA to look further, outside the school. The FLP also provided $50 for a pizza party for the whole team.

So how did students vote at SLA? Here are the results:

• Democratic: 84% (218 votes)
• Republican: 6%  (16 votes)
• Green: 3% (9 votes)
• Libertarian 3% (8 votes)
• Ken Bone (Write-in): 2% (4 votes)
• Constitution Party: 0% (1 vote)
• The real grandmaster jay (Write-in): 0% (1 vote)
• Jen Bowles (Write-in): 0% (1 vote)

“SLA is majorly Democratic and when we found out the results, many of us were happy with them,” said Navas. “I was especially happy because I, myself, voted for Mrs. Clinton.”

Another student organizer, the sophomore Afi Koffi, also said she was not surprised at all, and added: “Even in the real election, the rankings were similar, based on the popular vote.”

The high participation of the students also shows that students want also to be heard, and this program gave them this opportunity “to show how their voice effects the world”, said Koffi. It makes people think about how different could have been the results in the official elections if high school students countrywide could have vote.

“I am very pleased with our voter turnout because we, the ward leaders, worked so hard to make it so,” she said. “I witnessed students who weren’t ward leaders send reminders to their peers via social media. It’s things like this that make SLA so great. The feeling of community, collaboration, and duty are what gave us the win.”