News

Claire Powell

Staff Writer

As Science Leadership moved into the building of Ben Franklin High school in 2018, both expected and unexpected difficulties arose. First, dangerous asbestos pushed us out of the building, and then COVID pushed us onto Zoom. . 

As SLA spent the majority of the year online, the student body  was not able to connect with the students at Ben Franklin. And now, Because of a dividing glass wall that splits the two schools, there is still not much of an opportunity for the two student bodies to interact.

The SLA chapter of the National Honor Society would like to see that change, and discussed the issue at length  at their recent meeting.. 

 At the recent NHS meeting, there was a huge urge to make a positive connection with the conjoining of these two schools. Students like Paula Vekker, a senior at SLA, and Vice President of the schools National Honors Society, makes it clear that these schools are very divided. 

“I believe the divide between Benjamin Franklin High School and Science Leadership Academy is one rooted within the misunderstandings and stereotypes of each other’s livelihoods, as we have been pinned against each other due to the continuation of a narrative that we are just too different to connect and come together as a whole community,” she stated. 

“But class, income, and race will not be the primarily defining fates of our schools’ relationships. As we continue to remind ourselves that each and every student on each side of the wall are human beings with passions and a will to learn.” 

 In light of a recent event, tensions may be rising. Shortly after 9 am on Thursday december 2nd, both schools went into lockdown. The students were told by principal Lehman that a student from Ben franklin had been arrested for a potential robbery and police were in the building. The lockdown lasted until 11:45, where principal Lehman announced a modified schedule for lunch. Many peers have brought this up as being a Ben Franklin issue. They believe that their students are responsible for the tension that is now current in this building. 

Lucy Silverman, treasurer of National Honors Society says, “I think right now we are at an awkward stage. I think that building a relationship with them will take many many years.”

 “I have heard some discouraging words and maybe with time, we can reach out more and work on our positive relationship, especially for the grades below us.”

As for potential solutions, Vekker saw the divide as being a practical one.

“SLA and Ben Franklin share no classes together. There is no common space to collaborate and students believe that this is part of the issue.”

Avery Buglione, member of National Honors Society thinks about her time at the old building,

 “I honestly think that our relationship has gotten worse since being told by the schools we have to change stairwells because of how the kids are interacting between classes. It’s really sad how far both schools have come just to be what feels like strangers in the same room.”

 If these two schools are going to mend their relationship, it needs to start with the administrators, meaning the principals on both sides. Students can only do so much. SLA seniors in the National Honors Society have a plan to create a social atmosphere where the two schools can live in peace and collaboratively work together. We don’t know when this will happen, but it is going to take time. Time is what can mend these kids and these schools. 

Lily Bromley and Faryn Heffner

Staff Writers

Imagine yourself walking down the street. You’re going to school or to your house. How do you feel? Are you alone or with a group of people?

Most of all: do you feel safe?

For many SLA students, especially female students, this is a loaded question.

As two young women commuting around Philadelphia, we have both had to deal with street harassment many times. Most of the times we have tried to communicate what our commutes are like to men, they have belittled our experience or called us paranoid.

As a result of our experiences, we decided that it would be interesting to explore how students of SLA have experienced street harassment, as well as what they imagine commutes are like for people of other genders. We sent out a survey in the advisory memo, as well as interviewed students individually. Ten students answered the survey and of that group, there was only one male-identifying respondent. We later individually interviewed male students to get a better view of their opinions.

Street harassment is can be a complicated concept to define. The best working definition we could find comes from  “Stop Street Harassment”, an organization focused on ending street harassment: “Unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in a public place without their consent and is directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation.”

The definitions provided by SLA students included mention of what the harasser was seeking to get out of the experience.

“Street harassment is any verbal or physical interaction with another person, most often a stranger, with the objective to objectify,” wrote Sophmore Caleb McCreary.

“Street harassment is any interaction that crosses a universal boundary, as the use of suggestive language to a stranger without them requesting it, or touching a person without them requesting it, especially in interactions where the action is only meant to benefit the harasser,” another respondent wrote.

Through the survey we conducted, most students remarked that they would rate their overall feeling of safety during their commute as a 3 or 4 (with 1 being extremely unsafe and 5 being completely safe).

It is important to point out that it’s not only women that can fall victim to street harassment.

“I have been called racial slurs on the way to school” Sophomore Kofi Kohl explained.

Kohl’s experiences confirm that street harassment isn’t always sexual harassment. As women, we have mostly faced street harassment based on our perceived gender, so Kohl’s experiences remind us that anyone can be street harassed.

Many female students expressed that during the summer and spring when people start wearing warm weather appropriate clothing, they feel more uncomfortable on their commute.

“In the winter I feel less watched, but now wearing like skirts home because it’s warm I’m more afraid of being confronted,” Senior Sofia Powers explained.

Other students brought up reasons why the warmer months can mean more harassment, for instance, when it is colder out people tend to be on the move, instead of staying outside.

We spoke to two other students and asked them what their definition of street harassment is. Junior Olufemi Beatty said: “I feel that street harassment is any sort of unwanted attention/gestures, usually, the acts are demeaning”.

We also spoke to sophomore Fionn Hyland, and his definition is very similar to Beatty’s, but Hyland pointed out that usually if a man compliments a woman and even though the woman shows clear signs of not wanting the attention the man will continue to harass the woman.

Junior Juliana Long said “When I commute alone, I often feel unsafe either because of potentially getting things stolen from me since I’ve gotten my phone stolen while commuting before or being put in a situation with a man making advances on me when I’m not comfortable with it because rejecting men’s advances is potentially really dangerous.”

These sort of things are feelings that women have to deal with every day.

We set out to write this article to highlight the blind spots that anyone who has never experienced street harassment (mainly men) might have. As mentioned before, only one male student  answered the survey that we put in the advisory memo. Do SLA boys not care about women’s issues?

Sophomore Mo Kelly presented a possible theory:, “Some boys get uncomfortable talking about issues pertaining to women because a lot of times it’s men that cause the issue and they don’t like to think of it.”

The idea is that instead of facing that street harassment is an issue that women face, usually at the hands of men, it is easier to push it aside and not talk about it.