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Exactly what are you wearing today, and do you know where each item is from?
I am wearing Hollister, Pacsun, Vans, and H&M.

What exactly does fashion mean to you?

I like getting compliments, and it represents who I am.
Do you consider yourself fashionable?

Sometimes because I think about what I wear.

How long does it usually take for you to pick out the outfit that you’re going to wear for the day? What’s your thought process as you pick out these clothes?

10-15 minutes. My outfit depends on the weather. If it’s rainy I’ll wear sweatpants, if it’s sunny I’ll wear khakis or jeans, and a button down or sweater. If it’s a special occasion I’ll wear something formal.
Who/What do you get your fashion inspiration from?

I get inspiration from my friends.
What are some of your favorite places to shop, or what are your favorite brands? And Why?

I sometimes shop at Hollister because they used to have a lot of what the style was, but now I shop at Pacsun and Urban because it’s kind of formal, and they follow the trends that people wear. I also wear a lot of vans because I see a lot of people wearing them I guess. I only shop when it’s on sale.

English Teacher Mr. Kay founded the Philadelphia Slam League at SLA in 2006 during the first year the school was open.

The club was a lunch time club for two years, and it became an after school activity during the third year SLA was open.

Poetry Club began with 6 schools competing in the drama studio at our school, and then it was moved to the Franklin Institute the following year.

After the first year, the amount of participating schools jumped from 6 to 16.

Greg Corben was the man who started Philadelphia Poetry Movement in Philadelphia, which includes the competitions Philadelphia poetry students compete in.

“There was no place without alcohol for kids to perform poetry at before” Mr. Kay quoted Greg Corben’s reason to start the Poetry Movement.

Check out some of the student poets at SLA’s poems in the making.

https://slamedia.org/topmenu/4041/

Many students faced confusion regarding their ILP placement this year. SLA’s ILP program is a program that allows sophomore and junior students to go out into the world and pursue their interests outside of the classroom for two hours a week. Students can have internships, take classes, and take part in various projects. The purpose of ILPs is to get students out into the world to pursue their own individual interests, based on the thinking that high school is real life. Many SLA students were not placed in ILPs at the beginning of the school year. SLA students can find their individual ILPs on there own, or have SLA place them in one. This year there was some confusion regarding ILP placement with certain students.

Sophomore Nebil Ibrahim tried to get an ILP at the academy of Natural Sciences, but he had trouble getting information on the application process, and simply submitting his application.

Sophomore Naomi Fecher-Davis didn’t have an ILP until recently. “Jeremy told me two weeks ago that I might have an ILP,” Many sophomores and juniors were not placed into ILPs at the start of the year, and some are still uncertain about them.

In the past SLa has hosted an “ILP Fair” which is an exposition showcasing possible ILPs to SLA students. The fair usually takes place towards the end of the year. There was no ILP fair in 2013, which made it more difficult for students to find out about ILP opportunities.

“The reason we didn’t have an ILP fair was that in the past students haven’t used it productively,” said SLA ILP coordinator Jeremy Spry.

Placing SLA’s sophomores and juniors can be difficult. SLA tries to match each student with an ILP that relates to their individual interests. Many students are interested in working at law firms, or having medical internships. These are difficult for high school students to get, especially because many of these places don’t take interns younger than 16 or 18.

There is also a lack of available ILPs. Some medical ILPs won’t take SLA students because they didn’t work out in the past. Because of the economy there are less ILP opportunities at certain places. SLA wants to expose students to these opportunities, but doing so poses challenges to both students and teachers.

List of some ILP places

By Nicholas Murray

Staff Writer

Biotech is a course that requires many skills like learning how to run DNA through gel, which is not as simple as it may sound.

This senior course may be a hard course to take, but that should not discourage juniors from signing up for it, or seniors from switching to it.

Biotech is short for biotechnology, focuses on the use of biological processes for industrial use.

This course is not as popular  compared to electives like Ceramics or Digital Video, because not everyone needs biotech for the career they have in mind. But it does fill a need for some students.

When asked why she chose this course, Senior Maria Latorre commented that for her, “I’m going into the medical field so biotech is one of the things I would have to learn.”

This was not the only reason she chose the class.

“I don’t have to be in biotech, I can take it when I go to University for pre-med, but I like science, a lot and biotech is one of my favorite kinds of science.”

The second reason is more straight forward. Many people think biotech is an impossible class. This is not not necessarily true.

It is true that Biotech can be hard. Senior Teige Dougherty, another Biotech student, said that, “Oh yeah, Biotech is insanely hard.”

This is not the general consensus among the class though. Ryan shaw responded that, “Biotech can be hard at times.”

Despite this, the class is not impossible. Maria explained that, “ Mr.Vk isn’t a hard teacher. He is really chill and understanding, if you have a question he will help you, even if you are stuck for a whole period.”

Indeed, biotech teacher, Matthew VanKouwenberg did not make the class to give everyone a hard time. The class was created because, “its the field of science that I feel will have the biggest impact on our society for the next few decades.”

Biotech is not an easy class, nor is it necessarily for everyone to take it, but it is a class that should at least be considered by those who enjoy science and would like to study it further.