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Things SLA Seniors Will Miss About Philly

May 25, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

We all go our separate ways after graduation. Many kids will stay home in Philadelphia, But Some will not. When I was applying, I knew I wanted to go my own way, and that meant leaving the city. I was born in Philadelphia, raised right here in the public school system. I take so much pride in this. Now, I’m headed to New England to attend a private college. This will be a major change for me. I’m always going to love Philly, heck I could return one day. When I reflect on leaving this awesome city, there are a few things I’ll miss greatly that’s nearly exclusive to Philadelphia.

The first will be the alternative language used in Philadelphia. We’ve expanded the English language here. From water ice, drawlin’ and outta pocket. These words are now a part of my everyday vocabulary.I dread the day next fall when I first walk on campus and nobody understands what I’m talking about when I use the word “jawn.” That will be culture shock to me just as much as referring to toilet paper, shoes or another person as a “jawn” will be to them.

I’m also very upset I’ll lose the convenience store dream that is Wawa. Unfortunately, to my knowledge Wawa is limited to the Philadelphia area, New Jersey and (oddly enough) sections of Florida. We also have papi stores, also known as Bodegas. These places are spectacular. I can buy four bags of chips for a dollar and a cheesesteak with fries and a drink for four dollars. In suburban Connecticut, there’s no way you find a Wawa or a papi store. Where will I get my snacks?

Lastly, I’ll greatly miss the most obscure and crazy fans in all of sports. I may be a Steelers fan, but I have had ample times to see the crazy in all Philly fans. I worked last fall at Lincoln Financial Field during the Eagles season. . I also have been to plenty of sporting events, College Gameday and the NFL Draft. The fans in this city live and die by these teams, and it shows. Philly sports fans never forget. I admire the passion they have even if it’s explicit, rude and obnoxious. In fact, that’s what I’ll miss most about them.

Senior Benjamin Simon is another student who is moving away from home for college. He’s going much further than us. Simon, the Georgia born student feels ready to leave home to go all the way to St. Louis. For Simon, leaving Philadelphia was always a part of his plan.

“I looked at schools outside of Philadelphia because if I had applied to more schools in Philadelphia I’d be likely to stay because that’s where my comfort zone is.” “I really want to push my comfort zone.”

Many college students prefer to stay home for college. In fact, only about one fifth of graduates travel over 100 miles for college. A major reason people stay is because their hometown is all they know. Benjamin Simon had his concerns about a whole new place. “I’m going to miss knowing the city as well. What I like about Philly is I can navigate myself.”

Simon will also miss many things that I will. “I will miss Wawa that’s for sure.” Surprisingly to me, the inconsistent weather of Philadelphia is something Simon will miss. “I’m going to miss our (Philadelphia) weather. We have a good mixture of weather here.”

He also will miss the appeal and appeal of Philadelphia sports fans. Nobody is quite as passionate about their teams. St. Louis has its sports teams like the Cardinals and Blues. But they lost the Rams to Los Angeles a year ago, and the passion for sports there isn’t as complete as Philadelphia’s.

“I’m gonna miss the Philly sports fans because there isn’t the kind of passion elsewhere especially after the Rams left.” Simon said.

Isabel Medlock is another senior headed away for college. When she was going through the college process, she thought she had wanted to go far away for college. Which she slowly changed her mind on. As she now is going to Princeton University. “As I visited other colleges in other cities I guess I realized I like Philadelphia a lot.”

As a resident of center city, Medlock won’t miss much about Philadelphia except her proximity from everything she needs.

Overall, college is a brand new experience for everyone. If you go to school in Boston, Texas, New York City, Europe or even Philadelphia, it’ll be a trying time for you to become who you can. For us, we are venturing out of the city we were raised in and that’s both a blessing and a curse.

Broad Street Run Recap

May 23, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Mekhi Granby

Staff Writer

On May 7, 2017 the people of Philadelphia came together for a 10 mile run along the very busy Broad Street. It started from Central High School all the way down to the Navy Yard.

As many of SLA’s runners participated in this run, SLA Media thought it would be interesting to see what they thought about it.

Surprisingly, the majority of students who ran didn’t have many bad things to say about it. When asked what the worst part of the race was Junior Gavin Lane expressed “The worst part, well, there wasn’t really that much that happened that I could say was “bad” during the run. Waiting for the bus after the run was a pain though. We had to wait a while.”

There were also some really uplifting and joyful moments according to Sophomore Cynthia To as she said “The best parts of the race for me was seeing my family cheer me on, the younger kids giving me high-fives, and sprinting to the finish line.”

This year was staff member Jeremy Spry’s 9th time taking on the Broad Street Run. “Running Broad Street is like a 10-mile block party,” said Spry.

About 40,000 total runners participated in the 2017 Broad Street Run including 16 current SLA Center City students, about 8 alumni, and a few staff members.

Junior Kaamil Jones ended up running into former Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell during the race and managed to take a picture with him. As much as he wanted to stick around and chat with him, Kaamil wanted to beat his time so he continued running right after the picture was taken.

Overall, the Blue Cross Broad Street Run was a very successful this year as many people of the SLA community enjoyed it and plan to run again next year.

Ms. Martin: Health Advocate at SLA

May 11, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Ms. Martin during a quiet moment at SLA. Photo by Sara Frunzi.

By: Ella Petersen

Staff Writer

It is no secret that we do a lot of things differently here at SLA. That’s why it is interesting to take a look at how health classes are taught at the school. Health and physical education teacher, Pia Martin, has been teaching for 27 years. She believes health is a subject that should be required at all high schools across the nation.

“I teach health because we don’t want children having all the diseases that could have been easily avoided if they had been taught about them. And when their friends get the diseases they learn that they can still be their friend,” she laughed.

Ms. Martin is a firm believer that sexual education should be normalized. The things she teaches about are things that can happen to any of us at some point in our lives. Letting children know these things are normal creates a safe space. “Just normalize it all. It’s all natural and it all happens in kids’ lives. I am here to just be a resource for them.”

Ms. Martin’s favorite thing about being able to teach is the fact that her students make her laugh all the time. She never has a dull day with the kids at SLA.

“Ms. Martin is my favorite teacher. I really appreciate the way she teaches. She doesn’t beat around the bush with us. In health, we are learning serious topics and she takes them seriously. She’s straightforward with us, she doesn’t treat us like we are in middle school,” sophomore Raymond Lucci explained.

Even though Ms. Martin has a great relationship with her students, she has run into issues before where a parent or student does not think they should be learning about the topics taught in her sexual education class. In those cases, Ms. Martin still respects their decision and works with them accordingly.

“Of course there have been cases where I need to see the perspective of people who have different beliefs than I do. But in the end it is about teaching children all that they need to know before they get themselves into trouble.”

Although Ms. Martin has been teaching for almost 30 years, she admits that she hasn’t perfected everything yet. She is still learning herself: “I haven’t mastered everything yet, I just roll with flow,” she commented.

Dear White SLA…

May 9, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Tamir Harper

Staff Writer

Dear White People,

Where do I begin? Do I have to begin by justifying this piece or explaining what racism is?

This inspiration for piece originated from the Netflix movie and series “Dear White People.” I strongly recommend the movie and show to everyone regardless of their race.

During interviews around the SLA community, Black students around the building were definitely “woke” and provided statements about what they want the White community to know — both in and out of SLA.

Sophomore, Naimia DeBrest: Dear White people, being in a diverse environment does not mean that you are in a petting zoo. You are not able to touch them and question us.

Junior, Sandra Watson: Dear White people, just because you have a Black friend doesn’t mean you are part of the culture.

Junior TK Saccoh: Dear White People, just because Sharkeesh got into Harvard doesn’t mean she took your spot.

Sophomore Sashoya Dougan: Dear White People, just because you wear Timbs and carry little fuzzy pom-poms on your back pack does not mean you are Black or part of the Culture.

Senior, Husain Kegler: Dear White People, just because you go to a school with Black people that say “Nigga: does not mean you can say it.

Sophomore, Nzinga Bey: Dear White People, can you stop stereotyping the Black community–just because they are Black does not mean they are in a gang or listen to rap music.

Sophomore, Kyianna Thomas: Dear White People, stop asking if my hair is my hair.

Sophomore, Imani Murray: Dear White People, just because I am angry does not mean that I am going to hit you.
Are any of these statements news to you? If they are, As members of the Black community, we ask you to not double down on your defensiveness or anxiety because we doubled downed on our blackness and are checking you. We just want you to understand your privileges. Stay woke my brothers and sisters!

Off to Cuba!

May 9, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Meymey Seng

Staff Writer

What better way to start off spring break than to go on a trip to Cuba? Hosted by Spanish Teacher Melanie Manuel, Science Teacher Stephanie Sessa, History Teacher Pearl Jonas, and Secretary Diane LoGiudice, this field trip took ten female students to the long-embargoed country. This was a nine day trip from March 29th to April 6th.

Cuba and the United States have not been on very good terms because of the 60-year-long embargo. Recently, parts of the embargo have been lifted due to the efforts of previous president Barack Obama, which made SLA’s trip possible.

“It’s such a different country and there’s not another place like it that we could actually access,” said Ms. Sessa. “It’s one of the very few communist/socialist countries left”.

The trip’s focus varied, including elements of science, history, and of course, Spanish. Other than that, some of the focuses were agriculture, medicine, business, and education. Going to Cuba, the girls had the opportunity to interview and talk to people of different professions. After gathering information, they would be able to compare and contrast how things worked between the different countries.

Cuba was very different from Philadelphia. Ms. Sessa’s pointed out the differences in architecture as her favorite thing. “They have a lot of these bright buildings but then these bright buildings would be next to buildings that are falling down and decrepit, and that comes from a variety of different things,” she said. “So even though everyone’s supposed to make the same amount of money, because it’s a communist society, there is still some discrepancy in that.”

Cuba also made a strong impression on the students.

“I enjoyed watching the Cuban people going about their day. How their life is so different from ours yet the same. I also enjoyed the first street food and we had churros. Also just being able to explore, having that freedom and trust from the teachers, and to really immerse myself into the Cuban culture,” said Senior Chhievling Seng. “I also really enjoyed asking questions, whatever it was I was curious about. Really being able to connect and have them share things about their life was my favorite part.”

“My favorite memory was when we went to this farm in the more rural part of Havana. The owner started a farm where he grows his own plants and raised his own animals. He was giving most of his products to restaurants in the city. The goal of it was to show that farming and agriculture is important and that more people should start their own farm to provide for themselves,” said Sophomore Lily Rivera. “He wanted to start a program where he would bring kids to his farm to teach them, starting from teaching children to adults. We can’t rely on chemicals, we need to be able to farm for ourselves and I think that he is taking the steps into the right direction to do that well.”

The trip was the initial idea of Ms. Manuel, who has been to over thirty spanish speaking countries, including every Spanish speaking country in Central America and South America (except for Paraguay).

For Manuel, the trip holds a special place in her heart.

“My favorite moments were when our SLA girls were laughing, smiling, asking questions, and experiencing the joy of travel in a place as special as Cuba. We danced, we sang, we learned together, we had great conversations. I had an incredible time,” Ms. Manuel. “This trip was probably the highlight of my 9 years at SLA. I had wanted to organize a trip to Cuba for my own students since my first visit to the island in 2003. 14 years later, it was a teacher dream realized.”

This trip was such a success, it has inspired the teachers to create a course called International Cultures. The class will be tied to a trip that allows juniors and seniors to have similar experiences. The destination is still to go to a Spanish speaking country and they will be looking for a program that best fits the different topics they want to learn about.