News

Opinion Editor

Amelia Benamara

As the fourth quarter school year continues, the seniors at SLA Center CIty made it their goal to bring back the infamous open campus during lunch bands.

Throughout the school year,  rumors have circulated that the open campus policy was not to take place this year due to multiple reasons.

Although nothing was confirmed, many students went around saying that the School faculty had decided to put a stop to the plan because of many times students were caught sneaking out of the building during lunch hours. Another rumor suggested that it was  the senior class from last year who had ruined this year’s class’ chance for the privilege of leaving school during lunch.

The answer was much simpler.

“Somebody asked either Mr. Lehmann or Jeremy, and one of them responded ‘that’s not a thing anymore, we aren’t doing that’, whatever we felt like saying at the time — but it wasn’t true.” health teacher SLA’s principle, Ms. Lennese states.

In reality, open campus was something that faculty would wait for students to bring forth, and then decide to make it happen or not,rather than something that automatically happens every year.

The offer is not automatic, because it also hasn’t been entirely successful.

“There is no senior class that has maintained it for the whole fourth quarter,” Ms. Martin mentioned about the seniors in the past years. “That doesn’t mean I do not have hope that this year’s senior class will make it further, long as they follow the rules.”

This year, the issue was brought to school administrators by multiple senior students like Kyianna Thomas as one of the members of SLA’s Black Student Union as well as Bronwyn Goldschneider.

“After talking with a group of seniors, I emailed Ms. Martin about open campus. She then told me to meet her after school to talk about a potential plan. Later on, I met with her again to discuss the finalized proposal.” Goldschneider continued to explain, “After a good proposal was drafted up, I was told it would have to be approved by Ms. Leanness/Mr. Lehmann. The plan must have seemed fair because it was approved fairly quickly.”

Then, on April 6th, the senior advisories had an advisory meeting in the cafe where advisors validated the open campus for the quarter. Permission slips with the rules that needed to be followed On April 11th, students had the opportunity to go out  for lunch for the first time.

According to the seniors who took advantage of the privilege, the first day of open campus went really well. They enjoyed the change to  get fresh air even if it’s just for a couple minutes especially when students are stuck in a building for 7 hours straight.

“It felt very good to just be out of the building and to be able to sit down and talk with two of my friends at Arch Gourmet.” Eric Valenti confessed, “Even towards the end of lunch, I saw a number of my peers rushing to make it back in time — and I think this shows the dedication and care they have towards following all of the rules for open campus.”

Several seniors stated that they  deserve to be let out during lunch due to their improved behaviour.

“It isn’t deniable that our past has made a lot of trouble, but we’ve come a long way and our class is definitely way more unified than the other gardes.” Senior Eric Valenti stated.

Now that the door is open, will the senior class maintain the 4th quarter open campus privilege by following all of the rules that apply?

The rules listed on the advisory sheet that students and the faculty have negotiated for include:

• You must be on track to graduate to be eligible
• No interim report 4th quarter
• No school or class cuts from time of announcement
• Submit permission slip signed by parents to advisor
• Must sign out and in
• Can not sign in or out another student
• Must not be late to class
• Students who receive interims lose off-campus privilege.
• Administration has the right to review any students’ privileges.

“We have already lasted longer than some previous classes and as far as I know we haven’t had many if any strikes yet. We’re definitely really close as a class and it will be easier for us to be on top of each other if one of us isn’t following the rules.” Valenti speaks on his hopes for his class.

Amelia Benamara

Staff Writer

On March 15th the People’s Climate March was held in City Hall, where hundreds of students left school early to show their passion for the environmental change. Organizations Friends of the Earth and Plan B are challenging the government’s plans to expand climate change through gatherings such as the march.

The Climate Change protest  involved students coming together to push elected officials towards creating policy changes regarding our treatment of the environment and the prevention of further climate change. Dozens of posters arose, visible with puns and quotes that reflected the level of worry by many individuals in the School District of Philadelphia.

The environment has been at risk for many years now, as we could see with the recent weather. In these most recent weeks, the SLA community has noticed a dramatic back and forth switch with the weather.

“I did my own research on climate and it scared me because there is so much talk about how many years left to live and how the Earth is no longer livable,” Junior Laila Kerbag expresses her fear.

Although some may be oblivious to the sudden changes, many students at SLA’s main campus are taking multiple actions to bring back the healthy Earth that once was.

“Honestly, I’m afraid for the future of our environment and am alarmed at how the problem is dismissed by people everywhere, whether that be government officials or just everyday people. Senior Olivia Musselman speaks upon her worries, “in America, we brush off the effects of climate change and plastic pollution because we often aren’t seeing those effects that much on our soil.”

It has reached the point in life where the climate change in our environment is completely noticeable as well as the ability to feel it happening around us. A number of SLA students have very strong opinions about the things they do personally to avoid these changes.

“There is plenty of factual, scientific evidence supporting that greenhouse gasses, plastic pollution, runoff, dumping, the overproduction of cattle, landfills, the release of greenhouse gasses from landfills, the textile industry, and a multitude of other things prove that humans are the cause of climate change and other negative changes in our environment,” Musselman expands on the scientific aspect.

The SLA body can see the differences and affects around us, as well as all over the world. Climate change is no longer just an “issue” that needs repairing before it damages us because as people are going about their daily lives, climate change is destroying our world.“

The younger generation, isn’t being informed enough about the matter. It affects their age groups most, because climate change is a slow process that will eventually affect their future. At SLA, students declare that the community doesn’t exactly do an acceptable duty of keeping up with climate change news and doing everything in their power to prevent it.

Like many are aware of, the school doesn’t recycle — rather they pay to do so. As a community, students and the faculty can do better considering we are in the heart of the city where the Climate March was held.

Although there was an acceptable amount of students who attended the walk out to show their support and dedication, there was a handle full of students who used the protest as an excuse to skip class rather than because than to show their support.

“The reason for skipping school and going to the strike was planning for a change that we may not have due to climate change,” Laila Kerbag stated, “everyone gathered around city hall with signs and a couple of people were speaking.”

As a community, the SLA center city campus needs to prioritize the environment’s health, as well as getting students used to taking care of the atmosphere.

“Students at SLA should push the district to provide recycling bins where students can sort out the trash into plastics, glass, and more. The faculty in the building should support the students as well as speak up the administration about energy efficient practices. And together, students, teachers, and administrators need to be on the same page to reduce a smaller ecological footprint at SLA,” stated science teacher Surinder Kaur.

Increasing mindfulness around sustainability is one change. Introducing a recycling system is a good idea, but ultimately, only 9% of trash is actually recycled (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment/). With this being a proven fact, a student suggests a possible change the community can act upon.

“A better solution to that problem would be to try using more sustainable materials in our school, such as having teachers have all assignments online instead of on paper. In an ideal world, school lunches would be served on reusable plates with reusable utensils to reduce our use of styrofoam and plastics, but that requires more funding from the district,” says Olivia Musselman.

As we move forward, the smallest changes people make will implement a big change within the environment — even with it being a slow improvement.

Sukainah Hasan  

Staff Writer

It has come to the attention of both the students and teachers at Science Leadership Academy that students are vaping in the building. The most common place for students to vape is in the bathroom. They will either step out of class to do it or during their lunch.

On March 11th, a note in the advisory memo stated how much of a problem vaping has been during school hours and with a reminder about how vaping is not allowed at SLA. Also, it stated that if students are caught vaping anywhere on school grounds, they could get suspended.

In my advisory, Ms. Siswick explained how if we are found in the bathroom with people that are actually smoking, there is a possibility that all of us would be suspended for it.

I don’t like this at all. I feel as though that instead of blaming everyone that is in the bathroom, drug test should be provided to see who’s guilty and who’s not. Not everyone is apart of doing drugs, so not everyone should be blamed for it.

I asked Ms. Siswick to explain more about her statement that other students could get in trouble if found in the bathroom while vaping was occurring.

“When it comes to students vaping in the bathroom, we will come to the conclusion if who’s guilty and who’s not,” Ms.Siswick explained. “For example, if two students are smoking next to the window, while another student is washing their hands, if a teacher walk in, they will know who was smoking and who wasn’t.”

Her comments reflected that teachers are capable of observing who’s doing what by the actions they are pursuing. Also, part of the reason why this is a big problem is because tobacco and nicotine is illegal for students to do.  

I think that, if students want to do drugs, they should do it outside of school, so that they don’t potentially ruin other student records. And overall, students should save all smoking activities outside of school. What’s the point of even doing it in school if all your going to do is get in trouble?

Brendan Hall

Staff Writer

Traditionally, senior year is the most memorable year of a student’s high school experience. This is because events that occur such as the senior breakfast, graduation ceremony, and senior trip. While these events may be filled with excitement it also comes with a price. Senior dues, which covers the graduation ceremony, cost a total of $250, other costs include $105 for Senior Prom, $35 for the Senior Breakfast, and a $140 fee for the trip.

Inevitably, multiple payments can cause inconveniences. Some senior students wish that the school could communicate more clearly what the costs cover. “If I knew exactly what the costs were specifically covering for I would feel more comfortable asking my mom to lend me the money for something like the trip,” Senior Ameer Johnson claimed.

Other seniors back this claim that clarification would be useful towards future  payments. There were more who stated it’s difficult to constantly keep track of payment deadlines throughout the year. “It’s overwhelming at times trying to organize the finances of senior year,” Sean DeSilva said.

Furthermore, the senior expenses have lead to an unfortunate lack of participation within the 2019 graduating class. There are several students who wish to pay for senior dues, trips, and other events, but cannot at times due to financial hardships. However, there are also members of the grade who refuse to meet payments because of their own resistance.

“If you can pay and you choose not to because you don’t feel like it I think that’s selfish to everyone else and you’re doing something that could impact your high school career very negatively,” Avi Cantor expressed.

Senior year at SLA illustrates that great experiences may come with a burden on them.

Staff Writer

Brendan Hall

Harsh weather conditions are expected to happen during the winter, especially in an east coast city like Philadelphia. Since the change of the calendar year, there has been canceled school days, delays, and early dismissals. While it may appear that the school district has this under control, there are also students who have their commutes drastically affected by poor weather conditions.

The first instance this happened was on January 30th and 31st. Both days had low temperatures under 10 degrees while school still took place, which resulted in low attendance. The senior class had the highest attendance, with just over 50% of their students being present.

One of the students in attendance during the cold front, Avi Cantor, stated that him walking to school was more reliable than public transportation. He claimed, “I don’t trust SEPTA at all… it comes at very inconvenient times for me… it’s always late and the apps aren’t good,”. The vast majority of public school students rely on SEPTA for transportation to and from school. Its unpredictable nature likely was a major contribution to the low turn out those days.

Aside from the extreme cold front, snowfall on February 11th and 12th affected the ability for students to arrive in school. February 11th did not have a two-hour delay, this led an inconvenience in transportation.

“I ended up being 15 minutes late to school because my train got stuck in the snow,” Senior Lucien Hearn claimed about his commute. He furthered his statement by saying that is not typical and was due to the snowfall.

Other students were not even fortunate enough to make school during those two days. “I had to miss Monday [February 11th] and Tuesday [February 12th] because buses weren’t being sent to my stop,” Senior Matthew Reed explained. Another senior, Ashton Reigner, confirmed this to be true because they would take the same bus route for transportation.