In our first broadcast news segment, Ayanna Robinson covers the most recent ERA Concert, organized by Senior Ryan Francis.
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Students and Teachers hunger for The Hunger Games
By Kristi Bezhani
Staff Writer
SLA students and teachers have always had a shared interest in Fantasy and Sci-Fi. From Ender’s Game to Harry Potter, they love the books and movies that come out of this genre.
The latest series in this trend? The Hunger Games.
Students at SLA have been devouring the three volumes of the series for years. Originally published in 2008, the book concentrates on adolescent characters pursuing their identity in a harsh reality that interferes with their daily lives.
“Two years ago my dad got the first book for my birthday. It was a good pick on his part, I’d never heard of it before since then. I really liked the first book for the world that the author created, no one’s seen a dystopia like it,” said Senior Julia Boyer.
Students are also interested in moving on to this series from other books like Twilight. Readers were ready for more plot and more action around a setting.
“Twilight, for example, is fantasy, whereas in The Hunger Games the reader is in a more destructive place,” said Boyer. “It’s more about the place in the Hunger Games, which add to the coolness of it.”
What was more unusual was the teachers reaction to the book. At least half a dozen teachers have read the series, and many are serious fans.
“I heard lots of students and people talking about reading The Hunger games. I didn’t want to put it down once I read it and I didn’t sleep.”
“I value two things one- I value that this books makes readers question authority “the man” and two- I value the relationships in the book.” Ms. Thompson said.
Mr. Best has been seen in school wearing a Hunger Games themed T-Shirt, with “District 12 Archery Team” printed on the front.
One reason SLA staff is interested in this particular book is that The Hunger Games has a more realistic turn on humane morals and self identity in the eyes of society, based off of it’s reality.
“I like the first book a lot because it is relevant to culture in terms of how we view reality, T.V, young people fighting young wars in our own culture,” said English Teacher Alexa Dunn.
Collin’s use of a cruel, capitalistic government having control over an impoverished society creates a intriguing setting for the plot of her book. The life-or-death situation becomes an important element in capturing teens attention to personal relations and self discovered identity.
These are some of the themes that make Ms. Dunn think it might become the new freshman summer reading, replacing The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer.
Mrs. Dunn noted that it would fit well “as part of the identity and self curriculum,” these are the themes for freshman year at SLA.
Even if it doesn’t become the new freshman book, other than looking forward to that fun change in the summer reading plan, students are looking forward to seeing the movie version, which will be released March 23rd of this year.
“I liked the first book because it had a good plot but the writing got sloppy in the second book and i didn’t like it at all,” said Freshman Gabe Musselman.
“But the survival, humanity, and morality were all so nicely pictured in all of the books, that I can’t wait to go see the book through a movie.”
Student of the Week: Heather Campbell
By Marina Stuart
Staff Writer
Junior Heather Campbell has just started her junior year at SLA. Why? For the past five and a half months she was attending high school in New Zealand.
“I’ve always kinda wanted to take a year abroad,” Campbell said of her unusual plan.
“I decided I wanted go to another country that spoke English but not Europe, I went through a program that helped me choice the school and gave me a lot of freedom, so I had a lot of choices of school s throughout NZ.”
Campbell stayed with a host family–where she had two little sisters–and went to a normal high school in the town of Wellington.
While she was there she was like a regular student.
“It was a normal high school but it had a strong international program so there were lots of kids from other nationalities,” she said.
The differences between Wellington and Philadelphia are pronounced. “It’s a really hilly place and it’s by the water, there is a river and beaches, socially, there are a lot less people, its a small city, with a lot of suburbs. Between SLA and Wellington High School, Wellington is enormous, the number of people at our school is just one grade, there are about 2000 students and heaps of teachers.”
“Another difference is the time, they are 18 hours ahead of us and their seasons are opposite ours. Right now they have summer break!”
New Zealanders, or Kiwis as they are sometimes called, speak English, their slang and some terms are very different form ours.
“It’s an English speaking country but it has a Kiwi accents, much different than ours, they say “sweet-as” which is like saying “fine” they say “choice” which translates to “awesome”. People use the word “mint” which means “spot on or cool”. They also say aye at the end of some sentences, like asking an opinion, not like Canadians and they say mate all the time.”
Fitting in is never easy at any school but it’s worse if you know you are only going to be there for a few months.
“It was hard to get to know some of the Kiwis at first, because they have so many international students they don’t like to get attached,” said Campbell.
“It was hard to get to know them, but my first friend was my little kiwi buddy and she took me to get lunch my first day there.”
Campbell is not the only international adventurer at SLA. At this time there is another Junior in Thailand, Claire Elliot, who got there through the Rotary Club.
As for students thinking about going abroad, Campbell advises: “Do it, go, you want to make friends and immerse yourself quickly.”
Locker Talk: De-Stressing during benchmark season
This week we asked the question- “How do you de-stress during benchmark season?”
Interviews by: Matt Rinaldi. Photos by Isabela Supovitz-Aznar
Teachers featured in new iPad Product Release
By Heather Campbell
Guest Writer
On Thursday, January 19, Apple unveiled their new product iBook Textbooks at an event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
SLA played a key role in the event. Principal Chris Lehmann attended the unveiling, and the school was featured in multiple ways.
“Yesterday was their big announcement, and we were lucky enough to be apart of it,” he commented.
Mr. Lehmann and Science Teacher Tim Best were featured in the product’s introduction video, which was filmed earlier this school year.
Mr. Lehmann attended the unveiling in New York. A quote of his from the video was also featured on a wall of the museum.
“That was amazing. It was at the Guggenheim museum, that’s an amazing thing to see your words in one of the most prestigious museums in the country,” Lehman stated. “That’s profoundly humbling and amazing.”
This new advertisement comes after Apple filmed a longer segment about computer use at the school last year.
Due to confidentiality reasons, Apple could not tell Mr. Lehmann and Mr. Best what they were filming for, or what product they were promoting.
“It was all secretive,” Mr. Best explained. “They were asking us questions, like theoretical questions, about textbooks.”
Now that they know what they were being filmed for, they feel honored to be apart of it.
Essentially, the iBook textbooks will eliminate the use of traditional textbooks and introduce interactive learning on the iPad.
“As a publishing tool it can change the way kids publish information. I think that’s always powerful. I think as a content consumption tool, I think it modernises the textbook,” explains Mr. Lehmann.
The iBook textbooks will allow teachers and students to create their own textbooks and resources and then share them with others. The application will feature interactive diagrams, photos, and videos; a highlighting and note taking tool with study cards; and a publishing program.
“It’s really sleek and really slick and has some unbelievable potential to change the way people both consume and create sort of traditional textbook information.” comments Mr. Lehmann.
However, not everyone is sure that iiBook Textbooks will make a large or positive change.
“They’re still textbooks,” pointed out Mr. Best, “They are a little more engaging and interactive but I don’t know. Since we already have laptops we don’t need to go this route.”
Although the Science Leadership Academy already incorporates the use of Apple’s MacBooks into their learning, certain features of the new iPad software do appeal to both Mr. Lehmann and Mr. Best.
“Every student at SLA could use iBook author,” Mr Lehmann theorized. “And as part of their senior exit interview they could create an ePortfolio, eText of their best work over four years and put that all electrically bound into a portfolio.”
Mr. Best commented that he would like to get a class set for playing around with to see what his class can do with them. But in a school that already has laptops, Mr. Best was unsure of the role the iBook Textbooks would play here.
While Mr. Lehmann has no intention on switching over to iPads from MacBooks, in the event that MacBooks cannot be funded, switching over to iPads would not necessarily pose as a disadvantage. For now, however, iBooks will not play a role at SLA.