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SLA boys baseball players honoured at the Philadelphia All-Public League Baseball Banquet

June 14, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

2013PIAABanquet — Schwartz, Manton, Courtney, and Reese with their awards at the Philadelphia All-Public League Banquet.

By Heather Campbell

Staff Writer

The banquet was held Wednesday June 4th and awarded baseball players from all over the school district for their performance this season.

“The banquet was rather enjoyable, even though we couldn’t hear half the speakers.” said Senior Nicholas Manton. “It was simple, which was swell for me.”

Manton was presented with the ‘Cy Young Award,’ Pitcher of the Year, for going 5-0, throwing a No-Hitter, a 1-Hitter, and only giving up 2 runs throughout the whole season. He finished the season with an ERA of 1.125, WHIP of 0.4375, 21 Strikeouts, 1 walk, 6 Hits, and only 2 Earned Runs.

In addition to receiving the ‘Cy Young Award,’ Manton will be starting in the annual All-Star Game for graduating Seniors alongside teammate Abraham Musselman.

The ‘Silver Slugger Award’ was awarded to Junior Ethan Reese for leading the SLA boys baseball team with 21 hits, 20 runs, a Batting Average of .657, and an On Base Percentage of .695.

Freshman Kevin Courtney received ‘Rookie of the Year,’ having a Batting Average of .640 and an On Base Percentage of .736, as well as leading the team in Doubles (5).

Courtney is described by Varsity Coach Douglas Herman as also being lights out as a Pitcher and Catcher.

The “Triple Crown” was presented to Junior Jeffrey Schwartz for this year’s performance, having the Highest Batting Average (.858), Most Home Runs (4), Most Runs Batted In (32), and an unheard of 2.77 On Base Plus Slugging.

“It is particularly difficult to do because normally the guys who hit al the Home Runs and get the RBIs don’t also hit for Average.” commented Coach Herman, “Jeff simply dominated.”

In addition to being the first player in modern D-Division baseball to achieve such a feat, he was also named Team MVP for SLA.

The ‘Roberto Clemente Award’ was presented to Senior Jordan McLaughlin for dedication to the Baseball program at SLA.

“Over the course of his time at SLA, Jordan has consistently been a leader and has always put the team ahead of himself.” stated Coach Herman.

The award is named after Roberto Clemente, a well respected Ambassador of Baseball in the 1960s and 1970s who died in a plane crash in 1972 while delivering earthquake relief supplies to Nicaragua.

McLaughlin will be returning to SLA next baseball season, filling in the position as an Assistant Coach.

Q&A With Chris Johnson, Beeber Site Adminstrator

June 11, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Dalena Bui

Staff Writer

Starting in April, SLA has had a new adult in the office part-time. Many students found his presence intimidating at first — but as they got to know him, they found out that he was, as he described himself, “a teddy bear.” That person, Chris Johnson, is now going to be the Site Administrator of SLA’s new campus at Beeber Middle School.Chris Johnson has been touring SLA for 2 months. SLAMedia sat down with Johnson to learn more about him.

How did you become the Site Administrator of Beeber?

It was, I guess, the perfect storm. I was the principal of Ben Franklin high school for 9 years. Then this past year, I took a position at [the] Central Office, where I was responsible for the climate culture and safety of the schools in our district. Because of budget cuts… my position would probably have been eliminated, so we decided that it was best if I started to look for opportunities around Philadelphia. Chris and I — who I knew ever since he came to Philadelphia — became close, because I guess we had the same idea on teaching and learning and how schools are run. And then we hooked up with this guy who was the principal of Central High School and learned a lot from it. It was a natural flow. he taught me inquiry, collaboration, the whole nine pretty much.

What are some of the expectations you have for the students?

Same expectation [Lehmann] has. To grow daily, for us to learn from our mistakes, and to make those mistakes and turn them into positives so we can be better people. I think at the end of the day, more than anything, Mr. Lehmann wants his students to be good people. So that’s why the advisory [program] is so important to him, and the relationship building that the staff has is so important to him. But at the end of the day, he really wants you to be good people. and I guys think you guys do a really good job at that.

What is the biggest challenge you think you face in opening a new school?

Time! We need more time, lady. If there was 36 hours in everyday, that would be help. We have to get a lot of things done. The other hard part is that since we are closing 27 schools and those children have to go off to other schools, the facilities department has to get the other schools ready to receive the children from the closing schools. They’re going to be swamped.

What have you learned from Mr. Lehmann?

Persistence, dedication, and the ability to go around barriers, there is always going to be barriers. but you have to find a way to go around them if you want to do what’s right for your kids. The other things i learned about him that he is a smart dude. I always called him a geek but if you sit down and listen, I’m like, dang dude, you’re actually smart.

What have you learned from SLA school culture that you want to bring with you?

I learned, I’m learning because it’s not all there yet… I’m learning that you can learn so much from anyone, and that you don’t always have to be the bearer of knowledge, because you don’t know everything. Its okay to sit down and listen. It’s okay to learn stuff. I learned so much from kids, just from kids from the first two days I’ve been here. I also learned that I have to learn. I also learned you need to be transparent.

Student Aids Victims on the Scene of Building Collapse

June 5, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Jenn Wright

Staff Writer

Science Leadership Academy Senior Jordan McLaughlin stood on the northeast corner of 22nd and Market when the Salvation Army roof caved in alongside the collapse of structures surrounding it.

McLaughlin sprang into action attempting to help people before emergency workers arrived on the scene. He and other bystanders helped to pull people out of the rubble. Before being told by firefighters to leave the scene, McLaughlin personally carried 2 people.

Emergency workers continued to rescue a total of 13 people trapped in the collapse, one woman was killed.

“The building collapsed and dust went everywhere. I took a picture and I ran across and tried to help some people.” He said he didn’t think twice because he “wanted to help people.”

McLaughlin told SLAMedia he had just left school from an early dismissal.

The building next door was under construction, but no report has come out about the official cause of the collapse.

Link to Gallery of photos from the scene on Philly.com

Photos credit to Senior Jordan McLaughlin

How To Become An SLA Teacher

June 4, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Jesús Jiménez-Lara & Annisa Ahmed
Staff Writers

Eight years ago, Science Leadership Academy was founded in order to provide students with the highest quality of project-based learning possible. While SLA teachers aren’t deciding things entirely on their own, their collaboration with students is one of the greatest drives behind the smoothly run campus.

The teachers did not appear at SLA overnight, though. There is a process that any potential employee must go through to be offered a spot at the highly sought after high school– and it is quite a long and intricate one.

First, when an opening is announced, teachers send in resumes.

Afterwards, applicants that might be a good fit are contacted for an interview with a large group of people — Principal Lehmann, but also one or more teachers of the same subject, plus an SLA student and parent.

If the interview goes well, the candidate is invited back for a demo lesson taught by the applicant to student volunteers. When the demo lesson is over, the applicant is asked to leave. The class that saw the sample lesson then discusses the applicant’s overall presentation with the teachers. Different topics such as the strength of the lesson, interaction with the students, and even the attitude of the teacher come up as the community decides on the potential newcomer to the staff.

This process is unorthodox — many schools focus on the candidate. After her own demo lesson to work at SLA, “Being escorted out by a student showed me how much SLA valued student opinion,” English Teacher Larissa Pahomov said.

With the current budget woes of the School District of Philadelphia, the hiring process has become more complicated. In recent years, the district has implemented a rule stating that schools can only current employees of SDP. As a result, SLA (and other schools) have found a kind of loophole — they recruit teachers from other schools. From Bodine High School alone, SLA “stole” English-History Teacher Joshua Block, Health Instructor Pia Martin and Spanish Teacher Melanie Manuel.

Being at liberty to shape the length of the school year must have initially been challenging, but as time progressed, they found that this little, community-based, independent-oriented academy fit their skillset.

“I think it’s allowed me to become a better teacher,” noted Mr. Block “It’s given me more freedom and allows me to teach.”