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Seniors Dealing With College Decisions

April 25, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Maddie Etxebeste

Staff Writer

When twelfth grade arrives, Seniors have to think about their future. Therefore, they start applying to colleges. But, how do they feel about the process?

As Senior Aaron Watson-Sharer said: “It’s extremely stressful because you are trying to do the best for your future”.

Senior Jared Bauer explained “The process is really frustrating, especially when you have to deal with the deadlines. You also have to be careful, project yourself in the right way, etc.”

The process of college acceptances can be broken into several phases, described below.

The Waiting

World History Teacher and Senior Advisor Jason Todd added: “It’s a nervous tension when they are waiting for acceptances. For example today, many of my advisees were going to receive the acceptance or rejection from important colleges, such as the University of Pennsylvania,” he said.

“I’m glad that many of my advisees who applied for Drexel University were accepted and it was very exciting. On the other hand, we also have very hard conversations with students who got into the colleges they wanted to but they can’t afford it.”

Bauer explained “I have already been accepted by five colleges, and it feels good because you know that they are appreciating your work for the past couple years; I was really excited when I knew that I had been accepted by UPenn. But anyway the waiting makes me more anxious, I have also noticed I have less hours of sleep, and I can’t focus on my work.”

Bauer also expressed some concern about the process and how it affects social life at SLA:

“I think that we are a really good class because we support each other but sometimes it’s impossible not to be jealous of some people who have been accepted by certain colleges.”

Dealing With Senior Year

Seniors also try harder in their last year, to earn good grades and be able to opt for the best colleges. They also have to take their SATs, which makes their year even more stressful as Bauer explained: “The SAT exam is extremely stressful because it can dictate the rest of your life.”

Todd said what he noticed as a Senior teacher and advisor that they are sometimes not able to concentrate well, and that:

“I can see that they are stressed for other things like college acceptances and not only benchmarks when we are in class. I couldn’t describe how do they actually feel, but we, teachers and Senior advisors, are the ones who feel bad for them.”

The Acceptances

Most of the students are yet receiving news from the colleges they applied to and some have already been accepted by their dreamed college. For example, Senior Jared Bauer, even if he didn’t get accepted in all the schools he applied to he got accepted into eight, one of them being the Wharton Business School in the University of Pennsylvania, which was his top choice.

Senior Imani Weeks also stated “I was denied at 2 or 3 schools, so I was initially disappointed. But the other acceptances counter acted that and I was able to focus on them to see where I will go”.

Many of the Seniors feel better now that they know the colleges they have been accepted to. In the end, Weeks got into Harvard and accepted their offer.

“It’s a giant weight off my shoulders now that I know what schools I was accepted into,” she said. “My anxiety is relieved. The anxiety of ‘Am I good enough?’ has worn off with my acceptance letters. It feels nice not to have to stress about it anymore.”

Bauer’s response was similar.

“I feel relief. A burden that has been weighing on me for years, especially this last year, was lifted off my shoulders. I did not enjoy the waiting and even if I hadn’t gotten in where I want (which I did) I think I would be happy that the process is over.” explained Bauer.

The Waitlists and Denials

Not everything is happiness and joy, disappointment is or has also been present in Seniors. Being denied or waitlisted “feels the same way” as Watson-Sharer said.

“I bet most people feel great relief. In my case I feel disappointment because the outcome I have is not what I sought,” he said.

Most of the Seniors explain how being denied or waitlisted feels like being told that “they’re not good enough to enter their college”.

“Getting denied is not fun,” Bauer agreed. “The schools that denied me I don’t really mind as much now because I’m where I wanted. But at the time it was very frustrating because I personally felt that I did all I could to get into these places.”

He also explained a different situation for his some of his friends: “I am disappointed for some of my friends who worked very hard and didn’t get in where they wanted. This has stopped this time from being completely joyful for me.”

Even if being waitlisted or denied is a tough pill to swallow, it should just be a motivation for students to work even harder and show to the colleges which denied them what they have missed out on.

“I just have to keep striving to do better,” Watson-Sharer said. “The only person I can improve upon myself was yesterday and I keep this in mind.”

Music Review: Sign of the Times

April 22, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lauren Nicolella

Staff Writer

Screenshot 2017-04-22 at 11.37.59 AM — The single art for Sign of the Times.

Harry Styles released his first solo song on April 7th titled Sign of the Times. It was played for the first time on BBC Radio 1, with the host Nick Grimshaw. There was a lot secrecy surrounding the song, because of the fear that it would have been leaked before the initial release date. A lot of excitement was building up for the day to finally come, because the fans weren’t exactly sure of what he would be dropping.

In case you have been living under a rock, know that Styles is a part of the famous boyband One Direction. Like the other membe rs, he decided to release a song during their hiatus. But don’t worry, fans. Just because they chose to release their own music doesn’t mean that they are broken up. It is a part of them having their granted break from touring and producing music as a whole, nonstop, for multiple years. This is allowing all of the members to go into their own personal tastes of music instead of the genre pop that One Direction is focused on, and have more control of what they want to do as well.

Now is the part of the review where I have to identify myself as a One Direction fan, and let you readers know that there has been a very high bar of expectation set in my mind for this song. I’m happy to report that Harry definitely cleared that bar. I have had the song on repeat ever since the first time I listened to it. I couldn’t stop talking about it to others.. It even affected my routine of walking home after getting off of the bus, taking my slowest stride to make the song last until I finally reached my house.

Screenshot 2017-04-22 at 11.38.11 AM — Harry Styles with Nick Grimshaw on the day of the release.

The song is almost six minutes long (which is great, more to listen to!), having an older British-rock sound. It kind of reminds me of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, only because of the way that it starts out: slow with a piano and ending with an intense and colorful chorus. You can hear the obvious influences and direction he was trying to take.

Harry’s voice has matured a lot over the years, and you can hear it through every One Direction album. In his earlier recordings, he sounds like he is very young. Now that he has grown more as a singer, he showcases falsetto and a very strong voice, giving everyone a taste of what he’s really capable of.

I’ll be the first to admit that it is weird to hear him singing alone in a song, but this felt perfect. I do not think that there are fans who are upset, since that mainly happened when Zayn officially left the band. There has been lots of support, even though there are requests for the boys to come back. I’m glad that they all are exploring different genres and are allowing the fans to hear different a larger variety. His is more of the type of music that I listen to, so it was awesome to hear this. I needed some new music.

From what I’m seeing on social media, a music video for this song is coming out towards the end of the month, which is another thing to look forward to from Harry Styles.

Column: Tamir Rice

April 18, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Tamir Harper

Staff Writer

I hear it, see it and feel it as I run my hand across the piece of paper. I question do I correct you or allow your ignorance to continue. But when I allow your ignorance to continue I beat myself up inside because of a message I attempt to deliver and cringe every time you say it. But when I do correct you and inform you I get excited because I have educated you about a young man that was shot killed for no reason.

If you haven’t already figured it out, my name is Tamir Harper, but I like to say Tamir D. Harper so that those that are ignorant are reminded of the fact that my name isn’t Tamir Rice.

For those of you who have forgotten, Tamir Rice was killed by Chicago police three years ago when he was armed with an Airsoft Gun and the 911 Dispatcher failed to relay clear information to the Police Officer.

For people like me, the confusion is funny because I am not the only Tamir in my world, although I might be the only one in yours. In my few years of being in school, I have had over 8 schoolmates with the same name with varied spellings. Between all of us, we all were different. Each of us had different traits, from being loud to very quiet or tall to short. The Tamirs were on different tracks, but I do not believe any of us were on track to being shot and killed by a Police Officer.

But something I don’t express is how privileged it is to be named Tamir, and to be confused with the person whose life was unjustly taken. I get to uphold the legacy of a brilliant young man. Every white man that call me Mr. Rice cringe ten times harder because I correct him. I correct him, but tell him how privileged I am. When adults read my resume and then say “please welcome Mr. Rice,” I walk up to them and say “thank you.” I’m privileged because every time you hear the name Tamir Rice you hear about the things he could have done if his life wasn’t taken.

So let me drop some knowledge for those that don’t understand what I’m saying. It’s like having a powerful name like Queen Bey. My nickname used to be Mirmir, but now it’s Tamir Rice. The name that some just say or even write on tickets for events. The name Tamir must now be held to a higher standard. All of the Tamir’s in the world must walk with their heads high and push through the barriers we encounter. We are carrying the name and the reputation of Tamir Rice with us.

Underground Rappers at SLA

April 6, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Deja Harrison

Staff Writer

Mixtapes and Eps seem to be a huge thing at SLA recently. Whether it’s a serious album or one just for laughs is seems as though we all take some form of interest in hearing them or talking about them when they involve people from the school. I decided it was time to talk to these artist and get a better idea of their music and what it´s all about.

¨ It just comes to me, i blirt off of what comes to my head ,¨ is what Junior Opoku Kwatang had to say about his mixtapes. He started rapping in the 6th grade as a form of self expression.

¨ I started making beats just beats and I realized I was really good so I started to write rhymes to go with them. It started working really well so then I started doing it as a pastime.¨

He believes that his songs are very deep and from a place in his heart. Much like another fellow Junior Mehki Friend who describes his song as ¨wise, playful and memorable¨.

¨ I just want people to relate to my raps. I rap about my life and the things I´ve seen in the world.¨

Mehki likes to listen to beats and write during most of his free time. He sees a future in rap for himself but that it not his main goal from it.

¨ Right now it´s just for fun, but if it happens in the future it happens¨.

Ahmed Ahmed is sophomore and relatively new to the rap game.

¨ I just started last year but I already like the feeling I get from it. ¨

Ahmed uses rap to get his emotions and feelings out without actually having to say them outloud. He

Describes the music as his escape from the real world. He believes it’s the perfect way for him to express himself.

Mehki, Opoku and Ahmed are just two of the many underground rappers at SLA. Other rappers in the school include Husian Kegler, Ijustice Avery, Imani Williams, Christian McCormac, Luke Risher etc. Everyone seems agrees that the music is for fun and a nice way to express themselves. Rap for them is a form of self expression. With all the talents in the school is there room for a possible collaboration between all the rappers? How epic would that be?

SLA Teachers Participate in “Day Without a Woman” Protests

April 4, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

by Maddi Extebeste

Staff Writer

On January 21st, 2017 the “Women’s March” took place in Washington D.C. After the success of this event, the same organizers coordinated the “A Day Without a Woman” event in Philadelphia, which would take place on March 8th 2017, for the same purposes as the previous event: promoting solidarity and liberty. As Technology and Art teacher Marcie Hull said “this events represents human rights from birth, that everyone is born free.”

On the day of the event, the female teachers first met outside of school and stood in front of the main door holding a banner which manifested their support of human rights (especially women’s rights) and solidarity.After the school day started, female teachers went to to English and Creative Writing teacher Amal Giknis’ house, to do research and talk about the points there were presenting at their meeting at City Hall in the afternoon.

Once at City Hall, they met politicians who worked there, and had meetings with the city council to ask more fundings and present the points they wanted to talk about. Each teacher went with the person who represented their neighborhood.

Government and administration

The event was partially in response to an expected decrease in federal education funding, which will negatively affected schools in Philadelphia, especially for the children who don’t have many economic resources

As Senior Fatu Castillo stated, “it’s something has been taken to the people who needs it the most.”

The new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, doesn’t really believe in public schools, and sees them as a waste of money. The policy is that schools should have a certain percentage of progress to keep working, and for example public schools which not meet those expectations could be shut down, or turned into a private or charter school.

Ms. Hull explained: “What if the school can’t progress much more because it has already very good results? This law would be a rule against success.”

She also explained that education could be the “easy-target” for the government because 75% of the teachers are actually women, and that America society doesn’t value women’s jobs as much as they do male’s jobs; Hull added “the government has a too patriarchal reasoning yet; the society wants to continue what Obama and others pioneered, but they don’t let it progress.”

English and Journalism teacher Larissa Pahomov explained “the biggest factor is money, but the government should provide equal funding to all the different departments like law enforcement and the streets’ departments.”

For example, teachers’ salary hasn’t increased in four years. Before these economic “cuts” in education in 2012, SLA had almost twice as many Spanish teachers and a librarian. The lack of languages teachers is one of the reasons why Rosetta Stone program was introduced.

In the summer 2012, all secretaries and counselors at SLA were fired, like 4,000 more people working for the SDP, and didn’t know if they were going to get their jobs back the next school year.

Possible Consequences

These events sometimes have consequences for the people who protest. On “A Day Without An Immigrant” some demonstrators got fired., At SLA, male teachers volunteered to cover their peers’ absence. They got to the building early but t they stayed inside when classes began. The female teachers appreciated this effort on the part of their colleagues.

“I’m lucky for being in this community and in this union which believes in women’s liberation,” said Ms. Hull.

They finally didn’t invite students to join them in their march to the City Hall because one of the purposes was to make students “have a normal day at school,” Hull said.

Moreover, the teachers who went to protest took a personal day, and as the School District of Philadelphia said, “teachers can take personal days for self expression”.