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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.

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Op/Ed

I Almost Went to Central

May 26, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Maya Smelser

Staff Writer

I always knew I wanted to go to SLA. When I heard there was a school that gave out projects instead of tests, I was sold. I have always been the type of student who thrives with hands-on learning.

And yet, I still strongly considered going to Central. 

Why is that? Most people from my middle school, including every one of my friends, planned on heading  to Central. Going to Central, a huge high school with over 2000 students,  would have been scary.  But going to a school where I knew basically no one would have been scarier. 

My elementary and middle school held about 500 students, with only 41 in my grade at the end of 8th grade. So Central would have been a big jump, even though lots of friends were doing it.

And Central never appealed to me. It seemed crowded and like a  lot of work. I had been to the building a few times to see my older sister’s concerts and found the place intimidating. I had also seen how my sister’s personal life had disappeared behind her textbooks, especially after she joined the school’s IB program. 

I had also shadowed at Central in the beginning of my 8th grade year. My friends left even more excited than before, while I left confused. I had almost been trampled in the halls by people triple my size. The classes were full of students, sat in rows, but crammed in tiny classrooms. Few people seemed like they actually wanted to be there.

Even with all this compelling evidence to deter me from Central, the idea of going to a school entirely full of strangers was a million times worse. I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to make any friends. I was terrified to be all alone.

Then, the day before I was meant to shadow at SLA, the news of the asbestos broke. I was crushed. Was the school I hoped for even going to be open to me next year?

I still got to do my interview later that year. It was, to date, one the most nerve wracking days of my life. I hated talking in front of people, especially if I didn’t know them. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do a good job because I knew how important it was.

Then the big day came. One Friday in early January, at exactly 5:00 pm, alone in my room, I opened my computer and checked to see what highschools I had been accepted to. I applied to four schools, SLA Center City, SLA Bieber, Central, and Palumbo. I had gotten into all of them except SLA Bieber. I was hoping the decision would just be made for me. No luck.

I decided to shadow at SLA Center City, even though they were relocated to the School District Building at the time. I loved it. The classes were engaging and the environment seemed so welcoming. I’ve always been a creative person and I felt like this would be the place where I would thrive.

It was nothing like the version of high school my middle school teachers had warned me about, where the teachers would be harsh and the students unfriendly. Which was great, because that sounded terrible.

A week after that time in my room, I had decided. It was SLA. It was always SLA. I wasn’t going to go to Central just because I was afraid. 

I had no idea what would happen next — none of us did. But the fact that I overcame my fear about a big transition helped me when COVID hit. I knew it would all work out. 

Now, I’m almost a junior and I am very happy with that decision. SLA was the perfect fit I expected. I’m glad I didn’t let fear make my decision for me.

Filed Under: Op/Ed

I Don’t Fly to School

May 26, 2022 by Harper Leary Leave a Comment

Harper Leary

Staff Writer

Unlike all of my friends, I do not get a TransPass through school, yet I still take SEPTA every day.

The School District of Philadelphia’s Transportation Eligibility Guidelines states that “Students in grades 7 through 12 who live 1.5 miles or farther from school are eligible for free Student TransPasses.” 

Now, when I read this at the beginning of the year, it kind of made sense. I could see why they had a distance requirement – it encourages students to get exercise during the day and not rely on public transportation if it’s not needed.

My house falls right on the cusp of the boundary for SLA. When driving or biking, the distance from my house to school is 1.5 or 1.6 miles, depending on your route.

Student Fare Card curtesy of Leo Braveman. Image by Harper Leary

So why don’t I get a TransPass?

It’s because the distance is less than 1.5 miles “as the crow flies”, which is how my advisor put it. 

This means in a straight line from their house to school; try visualizing a bird literally flying from one location to another.

Of course, I am not a crow, and neither are any of my peers at SLA (at least as far as I know). The logic of the rule is confusing. Let’s look at what transit to school looks like for our actual students.

If the student rides their bike to school, the rule doesn’t consider which streets have bike lanes or which direction each road is going. A student could live 1.3 miles away from school but have to ride their bike for 1.6 miles. 

What’s more, as we all well know, Philly has a wide range of weather. Assuming a student walks or bikes to school rather than taking SEPTA, this ‘as the crow flies’ rule doesn’t consider unshoveled or icy sidewalks, a heatwave, rain, or any other factors. 

What stood out to me was how non-inclusive this exception is. What if a family cannot afford to buy a TransPass and the student needs to help their siblings get to school? What if the route fastest to school has unsafe pavement or areas that the student needs to avoid? What if the student isn’t physically able to get to their location by foot and needs a TransPass but now can’t get one?

I could go on, but I hope you get the point. 

My route to school isn’t particularly unsafe, and I can walk, yet I rarely do. Taking the bus means I get 20ish more minutes of sleep, and during heat waves or the middle of the winter, you will not find me walking to school. Fortunately, my family can afford a TransPass, which I use all the time, not just to get to school. When my internship is in person, I use it for the subway. For ultimate frisbee games, I use it to get home. 

I have no problem walking to school when I need to, but others have reasons that are more urgent or dangerous than  mine. Considering all of the factors that already keep students from getting to school and getting there on time, the School District should work with SEPTA to ensure that ALL students get TransPasses, despite how far they live from school.

Those who want to walk will walk. Those that play sports or have internships far from home will have a safe way to return. This small change will not only protect students, but it will also make the journey to school that much easier.

Filed Under: Op/Ed

College, A Tough Topic

May 26, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Valeria Escobar Staff Writer

College is one of the most frustrating topics to think and talk about, at least for me. Most of the time I try to ignore this topic completely. “I’ll think about it when the time comes” I always tell myself. But every day that passes, that time when I actually have to start thinking about is getting closer, and I have even more options to consider. 

Photo of Maya Smelser

In middle school I thought I had a pretty concrete college plan for the future. Even though in middle school I didn’t know what I wanted to study in the future, I had an idea of where I would like to study. The “where” part now became one of the most difficult aspects to keep in mind– and for me, that’s a much bigger question than just whether I want to stay in Philadelphia.

The majority of my family lives in Colombia, so for the longest time I thought I would just go to college there, so I could maintain a close relationship with my family. This seemed like a simple option, and basically the only option I had in mind, but now the “college talk” has been happening a lot more frequently, more options come up.

Even though I still like the idea of studying in Colombia, now I understand the difficulties of living there, such as the political problems happening right now, the economic struggles I would most likely go through, and the quality of education there is not as good as in other places. 

My parents play a huge role in where I finally end up in college, so their approval is necessary for me. Currently, they are leaning towards me studying abroad in Germany, since it’s mostly free and the quality of education is also really good. Even though this seems like the best option for them, this is the option that scares me the most. College in Germany would be the opposite of what I had originally planned. It would be extremely far from my family, I also have to think about learning the language, and that I would basically have to reset my whole life there because I don’t know anybody, or their culture. 

Obviously another option for me would be to stay in the U.S. and go to college here, but unlike my other options, this would be the most expensive, If I wanted to go to a good college. 

The college I go to will ultimately depend on what I want to pursue in life, but since I have no idea what that is, geography and money are the biggest factors influencing my decision. 

Hopefully inspiration or my passion will strike between now and senior year, which will make choosing a college, and where exactly that college is gonna be in, a little less complicated.

Filed Under: Op/Ed

When the silence becomes too loud; Palestine vs US Media

May 26, 2022 by Fatima Abashera Leave a Comment

Staff Writer

Fatima Abashera

On Wednesday May 11, the world awakened to the devastating news of the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian- American journalist who had spend the last for 25 years working as a reporter forthe Aljazeera, a prominent Arabic news channel. 

Abu Akleh was a very familiar face for viewers of the news channel, including myself. She covered much of the updates on Israels’ attacks on Palestine and the constant war going on there. This news for me was the climax of escalating events in Palestine and across the Jerusalem Peninsula. I appreciated her because she took a huge risk to bring light to these global issues and she was not afraid with the knowledge of how risky it was. 

As someone who has kept up with the events on this news, I found it extremely concerning that the Western Media had little to no coverage on the killing of this famous journalist because this was not just an attack on her but also an attack on the news and information surrounding what is going on in Palestine. 

 Abu Akleh was a United States citizen, so the fact that Biden and other leaders in the US have not addressed it is very concerning. Although it is unclear whether or not the Israeli forces killed her and further investigation is being worked on, the US can do a lot more to protect journalists from any potential dangers that come as a price with reporting on ongoing dangerous situations.  among the many other journalists who risk their lives everyday in an attempt to shed light on the global issues that affect minority groups. Journalism is an extremely dangerous job especially for women in the field. 

 I believe that people internationally should make efforts to help and educate themselves as much as possible.  Personally, I believe that people already consume so much media on a daily basis so it doesn’t hurt to read about issues affecting other parts of the world. Nevertheless, Abu Akleh wasn’t just a person she was a journalist and this murder symbolizes a lot more. It symbolizes an attack on the news and information she helped bring to light. 

Photo courtesy of Aljazeera News

Filed Under: Op/Ed, Uncategorized

Are students free to speak their mind at SLA?

April 5, 2022 by Marcus Diemer Leave a Comment

Marcus Diemer

Staff writer

Discussions can be a great tool for students to learn and talk about different ideas in their classes. They give everyone a chance to voice their unique perspective, which is what makes them such an important tool. However you lose some people’s unique point of view if they are too afraid of being ostracized to speak their mind. 

Personally, I have almost always felt comfortable speaking my mind at school. People are generally respectful even when they disagree which is an important part to making people feel safe in what they are saying.  Teachers have always emphasized the importance of attacking the idea, not the person who has that idea. This was especially true in my sophomore English class, where we were doing a mock mock trial and we had to talk through our constitutional reasoning for why we thought each case was right or wrong. My teacher, Mr. Kay emphasized the importance of refuting the argument, not attacking the character of the person. This kept the discussion respectful and civil. 

The conversation was  difficult at times, especially because people were discussing something they are passionate about. However, learning this skill now as a student will be important for the rest of our lives. 

I can definitely understand why someone would feel intimidated or even scared to share an opinion that may be unpopular with the class. Even if people are only attacking your idea if enough people do it it could start to feel overwhelming. 

There is more to being uncomfortable than people just disagreeing though. It is a difficult skill to master, but actually listening to other people’s ideas is just as important as being respectful. You are not actually gaining anything from the discussion if you don’t really care what everyone else has to say, you are just waiting your turn to speak.

 I’ve noticed this can be a problem in many discussions when people will just say stuff seemingly just to have “participated.” This happens most frequently when students have not adequately prepared. I distinctly remember a friend who had not prepared at all for a discussion of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaids Tale.” His plan was to just sort of go along with what people were saying, but this did now work as well as he hoped. All of his points, though mostly true, did not really add to the discussion since there was nothing that had not already been said. I think the criteria for participation can be a bit narrow when we say you have to talk a certain amount of times, because then people are just trying to get their turn to say something, and do not care as much what they actually say. 

Participating is about much more than just saying your sentence you wrote down in your notebook, it is about seeing other people’s perspective and learning from it. If you don’t feel like anyone cares, you might not even feel inclined to share your thoughts either. 

When I go to college next year, I hope that my professors will place the same emphasis on including different perspectives and being respectful even when there are disagreements. This is an integral part of education and I think SLA got it right. 

Filed Under: Op/Ed

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