SLA Media

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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DJ Phaze Takes Over

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By Jamie Murphy

Staff Writer

SLA has a big reputation for its dances. When we’re in need of a fundraiser and bake sales just aren’t enough,  dances seem to be always the way to go.  The most recent dance, held on Friday February 1st, was a fundraiser for the Liverpool Exchange program as well as the Junior Prom.

The previous DJ for the school was Alumnus Rashaun Williams (’12)–known as the famous DJ Reezy. Now there is a new DJ who is ready to take Rashaun’s place:  Sophomore Adam Feliciano, otherwise known as DJ Phaze.

Feliciano promotes his events by making and putting up flyers.

“In order for me to meet up with the previous DJ’s standards, I’ve simply had to make my mark and make my name known,” he said.

Junior Lexy Babcock, who was working at the dance, liked what she saw.

“He looked like he really cared about everything he was doing while he was up there,” she said.

Another dance attendee, Junior Dalena Bui mentioned, “When the dance was over, Adam went up to almost everyone personally and thanked them for coming to the dance.”

But what is it that makes our dances so popular? – The music! DJ Phaze played hits including, “Gangnam Style” by Psy, “Cupid Shuffle” by Cupid, as well as a lot of Dubstep style music.

What is his key to success?  –

“Always staying up to date with the hottest songs in the market,” he told SLAMedia.

 

Girl Scout cookie season is here!

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By Jesús Jimenez

Staff Writer

Girl Scout Cookies come in a variety of flavors. Thin Mints are by far the best seller.
Girl Scout Cookies come in a variety of flavors. Thin Mints are by far the best seller.

Girl Scout cookies have snuck their way into SLA culture in the past few years. Many students’ favorites like Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, and Caramel deLites have always been available through the few Girl Scouts we have within our school.

Until recently, Senior Jenn Wright, has sold the famous cookies since her freshman year. Now a former member of her troop, Wright remembers the popularity and demand that came with the cookies. On average, she sold around 600 boxes per season, most of her sales being from school.

Putting these up for sale also took quite a bit of work, “The hardest part was bringing them for school,” said Wright. Eventually she made a special box to transport the cookies that literally took some weight off of her shoulders.

Jenn would also advertise through e-mail to potential customers and waited patiently at a table everyday in order to sell them.

Her departure from the Girl Scouts isn’t the end for Girl Scout cookies at SLA, though.

Other girls like Freshman Isabella Mezzaroba and Melanie Harrington are active members of the Girl Scouts, which means that there will be no shortage of cookies this season.

While the job of selling cookies may be stressful, Mezzaroba finds the challenge enjoyable to some extent. What’s her motivation to sell this season? “My troop is going to a trip to Europe this year,” she answered. “So I wanna raise money for that.”

Like Jenn, Mezzaroba normally sells between 500 and 600 boxes. This year Mezzaroba is confident that she will surpass that average, expecting to sell 700 to 800 boxes because of the popularity of the cookies at school.

It will be awhile before the remaining Girl Scouts leave SLA. But until then, we can count on them to provide a delicious treat to many of us this cookie season.

 

Why do we put up with Social Media?

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By: Sara Nesbitt 

Staff Writer 

If it is talk to family, complain about your ex-best friend, or stalk people by looking at their pictures– social media is an unavoidable part of our lives.

Or is it?

Facebook has over 1 billion users, Twitter has 500 million–it might seem like everybody is on these networks. Some users might not be as excited about social media as you think, and some aren’t even using it at all.

Senior Heather Campbell deals with this because she would have nothing to do with Facebook if it wasn’t for her friends and family overseas. She lived in New Zealand last year, and talks to her friends there through Facebook– but she can’t avoid getting distracted.

“I spend a lot of time on it just doing nothing.” Campbell says, then added, “I also hate how everything is so public.”

Junior Isabela Aznar has a similar situation. “Social media is important to my life because it’s how I talk to my family in Mexico a majority of the time,” she said.

Aznar also had her objections. “I don’t like how self-centered social media can make people, and how it has made people less social and less active.”

Some people take these problems so seriously that they deactivate their account — or never sign up in the first place.

Junior Dalena Bui had recently deleted her Facebook account saying, “I only go on there to waste time.”

However, for all the negativity about social media, some people are using it in productive ways.

Andy Carvin, a senior project manager for online communities working for NPR, is a big fan of Twitter, and other social media networks. Carvin uses social media to decipher things all over the world posting pictures, videos, or status’ on Twitter asking to public for their input. He has over 85,000 followers, and they all help him with his job by contributing their thoughts, ideas and actions.

Without social media, his job would not exist, and all of his important discoveries wouldn’t exist either.

So you use Facebook to talk to family, Twitter to complain about your ex-best friend, or try to avoid  both altogether– there’s no way to ….

Locker Talk: Alumni homecoming, How did SLA help prepare you for college?

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Alumnus, T.j. Nicolella attending Temple University: I think the benchmarks prepared me for school, they teach you how to get organized.
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Alumnus, Josh Martin Corrales attending Temple University: "Projects at SLA are like homework, and more difficult than finals."
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Alumna, Maxime Damis attending Drexel University: "SLA prepared me for a lot of the group projects Drexel gives me, I really learned collaborative skills from SLA that help me every day."
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Alumni, Mike Dea attending UPenn: "I feel like SLA taught me how to learn and how to retain knowledge." Emma Hersh attending The New School: "I've been better at writing papers and I know how to participate in discussions."
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Alumna, Marcia Johnson attending elizabethtown college: "There is a lot of free time in college and at SLA, but because of SLA I already knew how to manage my time. Also, nobody knows how to do a reflection in college."
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Alumna, Marina Stuart attending Connecticut College: "I was very well prepared for the two presentations I had to do in college and I know how to write papers well because of SLA."
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Almuna, Rita Willer attending: Wilks "Sla taught me how to work with people in large and small groups."
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On December 21, 2012 many of SLA’s alumni graduates came back for their Alumn Reunion. They were asked the Question “How did SLA help prepare you for college?”:

By Isabela Supovitz-Aznar