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Juniors Begin Keystone Exams

January 14, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Heather Campbell

Staff Writer

Science Leadership Juniors will begin testing for the Keystone Exams starting on Tuesday, January 15th. This is the first time the Keystone Exams are being introduced to the Philadelphia School District, replacing the previous PSSA exam.

The Keystone Exams are the new state mandated end-of-course test designed to determine the status of high schools and their students proficiency in core subjects. The exam will test the students’ understanding of Literature, Algebra I, and Biology.

As a part of the national No Child Left Behind laws, each year the school has to hit certain percentages in testing to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress.

“This year it’s important because it’s how SLA is measured against other schools in Philly,” stated Testing Coordinator and Math Teacher Mark Miles.

Right now, the tests are only used to assess the school. Starting for the class of 2017, however, the Keystone Exams will become a graduation requirement for all students.
According to the Philadelphia School District, the state plans to introduce more exams as part of the graduation requirements. A Composition exam is expected to commence in 2019 and a Civics and Government exam in 2020. A Geometry, U.S. History, Algebra II, Chemistry, and World History exam may be implemented for voluntary use.

For the past couple of months, juniors have been preparing for the exams. “In English and Math class, we’ve had review packets and quizzes,” commented Junior Jhonas Dunakin, “It’s kind of like a refresher from what you learnt from before.”

With all of the review, Juniors are both feeling the pressure to perform and starting to get burned out on the practice.

“I want it to be finished. It’s taking away from what we usually do,” stated Junior Victoria Yarbrough, “We put on hold our trigonometry, which I really need to know, for something I already know.”

The juniors are not the only ones preparing for the exams. Mr. Miles has been running training sessions for proctoring during professional development. Being a school that does not hold much value in testing, the faculty and staff have a tradition to make the experience more bearable.

“It started with Mr. Chase, who didn’t like the whole testing coordinator thing, so he gave himself a different nickname.” commented Mr. Miles. This tradition has allowed the testing coordinators to give themselves a different persona to separate themselves from the position.

“There is the educator, who we are normally,” said Mr. Miles, “and then there is the testing coordinator.”

This year the juniors’ Keystone Exams are run by Marky Mark and his helpers, the Funky Bunch.

Column: In Defense of eReaders

January 11, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Jenn Wright

Staff Writer

The aroma of a mysterious bookshop invades your nostrils as you flip through the crinkled pages of a novel. The feel of the pages and the smell of them is really what’s going to make the writing and the quality of the book AMAZING, am I right?

Wrong.

I am the proud owner of a Kindle where I store upwards of 100 novels weighing less than 10 ounces, including the case. I get a lot of flack for it, though.

Of course when I began reading as a young person, I toted around books of all shapes and sizes. I fell in love with books– meaning literature, though, not the physical book.

I plead with this to people that look down upon my eReading ways, and I usually don’t get a response from that.

Not to say I don’t appreciate things like cover art and illustrations. What would the Harry Potter boo

180px-Kindle_3_by_Jleon

ks have been without the cover art and the little star pattern on each page? I can appreciate how convenient and lightweight eReaders are. They make endless amounts of books accessible at the click of a button. Many classic titles like Jane Eyre and War and Peace are even free of charge.

Writers should and are embracing the opportunities that eReaders offer in terms of sales and distribution. Rather than a publisher only allowing a small number of books written by a new author to hit the shelves, an essentially infinie amount of able to be sold.

The ability to choose from a wide range of novels at any moment is addicting. I never need a bookmark and the thing gives me the definition of words right in the margin when I’m unsure. I can highlight great quotes and lend books to others.

While I’ll never stop reading physical books, the relationship with my Kindle is one that is not approved of by many, but feels so right.

Do musicals annoy you?

January 10, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Staff Writer

Sara Nesbitt

After just two weeks in theaters, the movie version of Les Misérables has brought in over $71 million in ticket sales, and was nominated for four Golden Globes.

This is the first movie version of “Les Mis” — it is based on the original play that appeared on broadway in 1987, which in turn is based on the book of the same name by Victor Hugo. Because the story has been around for a while, the movie’s audience has a large spectrum of people aged from teens to adults — including plenty of students at SLA.

So why do people think this recent musical is so good?

Maybe Hugh Jackman’s good deed adopting a child? Or the love triangle between Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks?

Sophomore Leah Kelly was a big fan of the movie. “I enjoyed it so much, I would definitely say it was the best movie of 2012,” she said. “I thought that all of the actors were spectacular, especially Anne Hathaway. She was so emotionally into her character.”

Sophomore Nomi Martin-Brouilett had also seen the play.

“I thought that the movie did the play justice,” she said. “The actors were all perfect! I was expecting the movie to ruin it, like books usually are ruined by movies, but I thought it did a great job!”

Not everyone is into the whole musical aspect of the movie, however.

Junior Abou Hinson went to the movies wanting to see anything but Les Mis. Since there was nothing in theaters to his liking, he decided to give it a try. After the first few minutes, Hinson walked out and asked for his ticket to be refunded.

“I went in when the girl was getting her teeth ripped out.” he said. “Within two minutes of being in there, I fell asleep. That movie was ridiculous.”

Junior Jake Lotkowski also wasn’t a big fan of the movie. “Once I heard it was a musical, it made me not want to see it even more.”

Musicals always get mixed reviews, purely because they involve singing actors. Whether it’s Le Mis, Hairspray, or Sparkle, good luck to all of the musicals out there.

Locker Talk: What is your New Year’s resolution?

January 9, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

“To exercise everyday.” – Sophomore Audrey Pham

“My new years resolution is to do photography more.” – Sophomore Dylan Long

“Be more fearless and don’t care what everybody thinks.” – Sophomore Gabby Tryce-Arnold

“To be happy all year.” – Sophomore Jasmin Gilliam

“To take over the world.” – Sophomore Jian Zhang

“Make new friends.” – Sophomore Peter Ricker

Caption

“My new years resolution is to do photography more.”

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The Nuts and Bolts of SLA’s Robotics Club

January 8, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Sam Lovett-Perkins

Staff Writer

In SLA’s unique extracurricular environment, all it takes to start a club is permission, members, and a teacher to supervise. The most recent example of this is the Robotics Club.

The club’s focus is simple — it builds robots — but that process is complex. The group plans to participate in the ‘FIRST Robotics Championship’ with a series of competitions starting in early March with nationals in April. The organization will send out a challenge to high school students nationwide in January.

Getting to that competition will require hours of work and collaboration from a variety of students with different skills.

To compete successfully, “some students are going to have to learn electrical engineering, other students are going to have to learn about chemical engineering,” said Mr. Vankouwenberg.

“We don’t know what the challenge is yet,” commented Sophomore Marshall Woodruff, a computer programmer for the project. “Last year it was throwing a basketball through a hoop.”

“If we make it to nationals we’ll need $45,000,” said Mr. Vankouwenberg. The school was originally approached by Boeing, who have already donated $10,000 towards the club.

With a $35,000 dollar gap the club’s fundraising section will have to work hard to find sponsors. The club plans to look for support in other places such as The Franklin Institute and neighboring universities Penn and Drexel for student mentors.

Mr. Vankouwenberg anticipates the school approaching Lockheed Martin, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) and PECO who have specific grants for robotics.

Although the club is looking for help to lift it off the ground, the club decided not to work with The Boy Scouts of America, who were originally associated with Boeing.

Mr. Vankouwenberg explained that this was an ethical decision on the part of SLA, citing the Boy Scouts banning of gay troop leaders. “We are not going to work with people who discriminate [against the LGBTQ population].” There was actually a slight delay in the club starting, because of misinformation about whether the Boy Scouts were affiliated with the program or not.

The student body has shown strong enthusiasm for robotics. Senior Michelle Torelli reported, “I’m interested because I am a hands-on and collaborative person.” Torelli’s official role is the leader of the electronics sub-group, and plans to “bring my energetic and determined personality to help my teammates get the job done effectively.”

High expectations fuel the club member’s motivation. “Our lack of experience as a group is because this is our first robotics team, but I believe with the help of our mentors and determination we will succeed,” Torelli said.

Members understand the difficulties that a club has in its first year, but are hopeful.

Woodruff says, “My expectation is I’d like to have us win, but it probably won’t happen this year, but I can try.” He hopes the group will “work together and make the best robot, making sure it runs properly.”

Engineering Teacher Matthew Vankouwenberg welcomes all students to be part of the building process in meetings on Mondays and Thursdays.