Op/Ed

Column: Confessions of A Lazy SLA Senior

December 21, 2012 by lpahomov 1 Comment

By Ryan Harris

Staff Writer

Christmas is rolling around and it’s normal for people to say: “Tis the season to be jolly”. Well for me, “Tis the season to be pulling my hair out!”

Reason why?

College Applications.

Without a doubt, I can say that this has been one of the most stressful processes I’ve been through in my teenage years. Going into it, I knew that there would lots of work involved, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much work was involved. It doesn’t help that my procrastination has made the process harder for myself. But we’ll get into that later.

To better start off, I’ll tell you guys about my specific choices for college. I’ve chosen to apply to these seven schools: Columbia University, Macalester College, University of Pittsburgh , Hofstra University, Bard College, Drexel University, and finally Carleton College. Although this may seem like a lot of choices, this is nothing compared to some of my comrades. I have some friends applying to as many as twenty colleges!

You heard me right, twenty.

Of course with the new-and-improved Common Application, students can easily apply to many different schools. For me, seven was enough.

For each of these schools comes my most hated enemy: deadlines. Within these deadlines, I’ve got to do things like: fill out the Common App itself, request letters of recommendation from teachers, requests transcripts, send SAT/ACT scores; the list goes on. It doesn’t help that this is compounded by things like supplements, which can range from simple surveys to full-blown essays.

Sound like a lot?

Now take all of that and add on the normal workload of a SLA senior, and it’s a pretty heavy weight to carry.

When the school year started and I looked at the deadlines for my schools, I saw that all of my applications were due in January. To me, I naively thought: “I’ve got like 3 months to do this stuff, I can just wait later…right?”

Wrong.

I’ll be the first to admit it…. I. Messed. Up. I certainly haven’t taken advantage of the resources given to me: specifically the college office. I’ve been lazy about finishing my Common App, sending my scores and transcripts, and even applying for scholarships.

But don’t worry guys, I’m not a complete lost cause.

As of me writing this, I’m almost done applying for all my colleges and I’ve just need to send some final stuff in, including SAT/ACT scores along with another letter of recommendation.

I’m also applying for the Gates Millenium Scholarship, but don’t even get me started on THAT…

A few words for that:
Essays.
Essays.
Essays.
And one more time, ESSAYS.

Here’s the thing though, I should’ve done this stuff MONTHS AGO. Looking back on it, I wished I’d done away with the stuff so much sooner, this way I wouldn’t be so stressed right now and this wouldn’t be something I’d be writing about.

I should be enjoying the holidays, not driving myself bonkers.

All in all, here’s a bit of advice to SLA’s junior class: DO NOT BE LIKE ME. Take advantage of what you have here at SLA. Utilize Ms. Hirschfield, The College Office, and anything else to fullest, even the English teachers.

Early bird always gets the worm, guys.

Column: Google Me

December 18, 2012 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By DeShawn McLeod

Staff Writer

Students at SLA put in tons of effort on their projects — often because they want the best grade possible. Sometimes they want the task over and done with. However, often times the final product goes on the public SLA blog, called SLATE. Whether the student likes it or not, it’s for everyone to see.

A lot of the projects SLA students do are put onto their personal SLATE blog and any published project can be seen by the world! A student’s online portfolio goes hand in hand in how they virtually perceive themselves. An important thing for students, and everyone, is to google themselves and see what comes up.

Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 11.34.27 AM — SLA’s SLATE Blog, found on Scienceleadership.org

So, I googled myself. Search for “DeShawn McLeod” and you get Wiki Pages of past projects I’ve done (Poetry, Freshman Portfolio, Religion Project), my personal SLA SLATE blog and my Cross country and Track & Field times. I have a lot of information and resources to back up my own character and achievements. And, best of all, there are writing samples of mine for anyone to see, from ninth grade and on.

Art that I’ve added to writings are also shown in the “Images” tab of Google when I search my name. It’s inevitable to not look at what I’ve done. Even the articles I’ve contributed to SLAMedia are widely accessible.

Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 12.00.10 PM — SLA Cooper Stream, 2011-2012, Poetry WIkiSpace.

I’m proud of what I’ve done. And, when I’m applying to colleges or jobs, I’m comfortable that employers or academic admissions officers can look at my work online.

Since a lot of an SLA student’s work is put online, it gives them the opportunity to deftly show off their skills, while other schools, who don’t have the one-to-one laptop infrastructure, don’t have the chance to avidly express their school work.

It’s a wonderful thing, as long as students use it wisely. At SLA, we learn quickly to censor bad behavior on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. But, students don’t realize that colleges can also see your professional work via SLATE. Terrible projects could be as harmful to your chances at acceptance as photos of you partying.

Now, we can’t help that we share a full name with someone, and their information comes up. You may have a deceased soldier associated with your name or a myriad of convicts related to either your first or last name, but it’s important to be able to stand out above all that.

I value the opportunities I’ve had at this school. I have Center City Philadelphia as my playground and I choose which part of the jungle gym I want to explore. And, best of all, all of the swing sets and monkey bars I play on can be seen by the world. In this highly connected world, SLA makes it easier for students to have a unique impact on their virtual persona and life. It’s just up to the student to take advantage of that.

Editorial: Issues with Affirmative Action

December 14, 2012 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

While many people may not know exactly what affirmative action is, most are aware of the concept. Affirmative action is the action/policy that favors minorities and underrepresented groups in terms of education and jobs. This can affect the number of a certain group admitted into a college, university, or even high school.

Abigail Fisher, a 22 year old white woman and a graduate of the University of Louisiana, brought her case of what she thought to be racial prejudice against her to the Supreme Court last October. Fisher was turned down by the University of Texas at Austin and argued that the only reason that they rejected her was because of her race.

“I’m hoping,” she said, “that they’ll completely take race out of the issue in terms of admissions and that everyone will be able to get into any sc

Abigail Fisher, 22, graduate of the University of Louisiana, photo via The New York Times

hool that they want no matter what race they are but solely based on their merit and if they work hard for it.”

How does this affect SLA and how we run admissions? Every student goes through an interview process in which the staff and ultimately Mr. Lehmann, decide whether or not they are a good fit for this school, which means that they are being hand selected. When students are being accepted into SLA, things like race, gender, neighborhood and middle school are all taken into account. Not only does SLA look at all of those components, but we get to know the students, which is one of the reasons why people like SLA.

Arguments are made that affirmative action should privilege students who do not have the access or opportunity to a good education. But what means that you don’t have opportunity? Many people think that it directly indicates race, but we believe that it is more about economical standing, that can influence which neighborhood you live in and your access to a good school.

Where would we like to see affirmative action go? We don’t have a single solution, but here are some of our suggestions:

If colleges want to reach the least advantaged students, they should focus on economic status before race.
Colleges should make every effort to get to know the student. However, larger schools should relate economic status and the quality of their high school to GPA’s and SAT scores. Did the student excel at what they had control over?

Lastly, no one should be ignorant about the factors that go into the decision process of acceptance into a school or university. If it’s only based on merit, who decides what merit is most valuable?

Unsigned editorials are written and approved by the SLAMedia Editorial Staff. They do not reflect the opinion of Science Leadership Academy and its employees.

Column: The Perils of Going to a Small School

December 6, 2012 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Jenn Wright

Staff Writer

If you’ve ever wanted to avoid a certain someone in the halls of SLA–whether it’s someone you just broke up with, or a friend turned enemy–good luck. Having only 500 students around makes that almost impossible. SLA loves appreciating the small community we have- but not all that glitters is gold.

Fewer students equals less empty space, which means many more hangout spots to avoid on a daily basis in order to steer clear of that certain someone. Sometimes, it seems like the universe is purposely putting you in the path the one person you’d rather avoid.

This isn’t the only drawback, though.

While students at SLA often have the initiative to start clubs and activities of their own, some clubs never get off the ground because of lack of support. With a small staff, finding a sponsor can be hard, but even more so is getting participation from students.

If a club averages at most, say, 8 members and 3 of them are busy during your meeting time, the change is noticeable. During a benchmark season with deadlines creeping closer, a lunchtime club doesn’t stand a chance.

As a co-leader of SLA Community Involvement Club (CIC), organized by Senior Sam Lovett-Perkins, we feel the impact of this. Being apart of the committee to plan this and other clubs, the best incentive to attract members to meetings is food.

In other ways, the small size of the school benefits students. This year’s C Band Calculus class with Math Teacher Brad Latimer only has 12 students–a rare opportunity for a lot of personalized attention. Rigor of the coursework aside, a small school population makes the odds for having small classes much higher.

On the flip side, fewer students means a smaller variety of courses offered, because our teachers can only teach so many a day. I am often envious of courses like Psychology or Cooking offered at high schools much larger than ours.

The staff, Principal Lehmann and all of us sacrifice many traditional things to participate in a school community like ours. We will never have a homecoming game or might not ever have a gym, but I like that I can name everyone in my grade.

Even so, eye contact would seldom have to be avoided if there was a mass of even one hundred more students to hide behind.

Column: One Door Opens. Another Doesn’t.

November 29, 2012 by lpahomov 1 Comment

By Sam Lovett-Perkins

Staff Writer

About a week ago, I was running late to class after X-band lunch on Friday. It was particularly frustrating as I was going from the second floor to the fifth knowing that the easiest way to avoid the congested main stairwell was to take a detour through the notoriously disgusting, but much less crowded, back staircase. Racing to get to Mr. Baird’s “Isms” class, I hastily rounded the turn between the 4th and 5th floor and went to yank the door open. It wasn’t until my hand hit the flat metal of the door that I noticed something was amiss. There was no door knob!

I’m sure I share this feeling of frustration with the many students who are simply looking for a faster way to the 5th floor. Each of them is now forced to choose between waiting for someone on the other side, or taking the humiliating walk back down to the 3rd floor only to climb all the way back up. This is an unnecessary source of frustration for students in a rush, the knowledge that all that keeps you from getting to class is a missing doorknob.

Luckily for me, my friend had a small piece of metal that we used to pull the door open through the empty doorknob hole. A piece of advice: I suggest searching through your bag for some kind of hook. Something that can be used to pull open the door.

As you scour your bag for this item, wondering “Why me?” (as I did) , I urge you to consider what events have brought you to this point in life. Was it ignoring the warning of another friend (as I did) or perhaps bad karma for not picking up that last piece of trash off the floor (as I should have)?

But one question remained. Who would break the door and not fix it? I knew that somewhere inside of SLA, the culprit walked the same hallways as their victims.

After much investigation, this columnist (with the entire journalism staff) caught the saboteur–none other than Junior Jamie Murphy. She sheepishly confessed, admitting to knocking out the knob — which was already loose, she told us — while trying to forcibly open the door.

So what’s next? Should we punish the culprit (hang her by her thumbs), or show some mercy and deal with it for a while? After all, the broken door isn’t really Jamie’s fault — but the problem continues to vex me.

This morning, I once again made my way up the grand back staircase to the 5th floor, believing that given a week of such inconvenience, someone surely must have taken care of this problem. Lo and behold, I get to the top and find that there is no door knob but perhaps something just as good. I suppose that the chair positioned between the door and the wall is an acceptable quick-fix, but by no means a permanent solution to SLA’s latest problem.