On Saturday, April 24th, eight SLA students competed in the final tournament in the year.  Team members include Dennis Mawson, Kabbour Risq, Domnique Miller, Rumman Haq, Aimee Leong, Stephanie Millwood, Chris Cassise and Andre Serrano.  Throughout the debate our four teams represented our school well, having 2 teams advance from the quarter-finals, to the semi-finals.  In the end, Domnique Miller and Rumman Haq competed in the finals, bested by a very strong Constitution High School team.  The results are as follows:

SLA Team - Voices Overall Top Scoring Team

Rumman Haq and Domnique Miller - 2nd place

Chris Cassise and Andre Serrano - 3rd Place

Rumman Haq - 1st Place Speaker Award

Stephanie Millwood - 3rd Place Speaker Award

CONGRATULATIONS to the team and thanks to Perspectives Debate, ASAP Debate and our parents for all their support throughout the season!

On Saturday, December 5th, Chris Cassise and Andre Serrano debated six different teams to become the 2nd place finisher in the Perpectives Debate Tournament at the University of Pennsylvania.  They are also in 4th place in the ASAP All-City Debate League.  We will finish our Fall season next week at Central.  Congratulations!

Today, Mr. Chase was awarded the Learn Return Scholarship from Liberty Mutual to fully support his pursuit of a Master's degree. Well done. 

On Saturday, April 25th, the Science Leadership Academy's Debate Team participated in the 2009 Voices of Philadelphia Debate Tournament at Drexel University.  Representing SLA at this tournament was Yousef Khaled, Will MacFarlane, Chris Cassise, Narayan El, Shareesa Bollers, Jeff Kessler, The day started off with a round robin competition in both varsity and novice divisions.  Following the initial rounds, Shareesa Bollers moved on to the quarterfinals for Varsity and Jeff Kessler moved on to the semi-finals for the Novice division.  After a spirited couple of rounds, both of them advanced once again.  Shareesa Bollers faced the tournament champion in the semi-finals and although scoring well, was elminated in that round.  Perspectives Debate made us sweat a little following the novice finals as we were not told the outcome of the Novice Championship round until the Awards Ceremony.

At the awards ceremony, we were thrilled to see Jeff Kessler receive a nice trophy and a $2500 Drexel University Scholarship for his win in the Novice Division as well as a Speaker Award.  Shareesa Bollers also, received a Speaker Award as well as a trophy for the achievement of placing in the Semi-Finals and a $5000 Drexel University Scholarship.  The final announcement at the tournament was in overall team placement and  Science Leadership was honored to receive third place overall.

This year, SLA was once again part of the Perspectives Debate program with the University of Pennsylvania.  Thanks to Ali Huberlie, Matt Scarola, Lucas Hartman and Katie Poulos for their support during the spring season.  After such a successful season, plans are already underway to keep the momentum going into next season.  Well done team!

More Photos and a Debate Summary can be viewed at these links.

The National Constitution Center hosted the Philadelphia National History Day competition for High School students from all over the city.  Congratulations to Jasmine Thomas, Bre Bonner, Hannah Feldman, Levon Avagyan, Mike Miller and Tyrell Thompson for their work in the Group Documentary competition.  A round of applause for Lucas Duffy-Tumasz, Moriah Taylor, Rachel Burwasser, Vienna Tartaglia and Danielle Villa for the lovely website they produced.  Finally, well done to Shawn Perry who chose to go it alone and compete in the Individual Documentary division.

On Saturday, December 6th, the SLA debate team competed in its first major tournament of the year with Perspectives Debate at the University of Pennsylvania campus. This was the first major debate for all the competitors for SLA.  After a full day of debate, SLA walked off campus with the trophies for Junoir Varsity Champion - Narayan El, Best Overall Speaker - Alex Wiles, and two Quarterfinalists - Chris Cassise and Alex Wiles. The team also received the trophy for the 2nd Place Overall Team performance. 

Congrats to Narayan El, Alex Wiles, Chris Cassise and Charles Williams for their stellar performance!