Science Leadership Academy @ Center City

Advanced Essay #1: The Fall of a Giant

Posted by Messele Asfaw in English 3 · Block · E Band on Thursday, September 21, 2017 at 10:20 pm

My goals for this paper are that people read this and go, "wow that taught me something interesting." I want the reader to feel as if they learned something from reading this essay. I feel as if the parts that I think will achieve this, and the parts that I am proud of are the description part. The description part and the story part compliment each other part. However, regarding the reflection part of this essay, I don't feel like I did too well on. This is because I always had the thought that the reflection was up to the reader to interpret, and I think that made me less interested in writing that part.

Falling down from what seemed like an immeasurable height. It seemed like the end for me. This would ruin my whole day. Gravity was David and I was Goliath. So you’re probably wondering how I got into this situation. Well it all started in the autumn of ‘17.

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” said my alarm clock. This morning was as ordinary as every other morning this week. The early morning sunlight creeped through the windows in my room enveloped by darkness. It was nearing my favorite time of year. Winter. It was still autumn however, meaning it got dark early and late in the day, but it was also hot and when it rained, it was humid. Disgusting. I hated that feeling when it rained and it was hot. That’s why I’m more of an inside person. Inside, you didn’t have to worry about dying because there are less things that could kill you. You didn’t have to worry about weather because you were constantly incubated inside of an air conditioned or heated house.

The contents of my room rarely changed. A mahogany wardrobe that held almost all my clothes. A bookshelf with 5 shelves full of books, all of which I’ve read. A wooden desk which I’m pretty sure was made of fake wood, and on top of that, a computer. Oh, and of course my bed which I was sleeping on. I had a very comfortable bed, to say the least. My bed sheets were made of a material which I did not know about, so I cannot brag about how good it is. It was very soft however. This made it difficult to get up out of bed, and often times I would stay in bed for an extra 10-15 minutes. To combat this, instead of waking up at 6 in the morning, I woke up at around 5:45. The top most bedsheet was just a blanket, with a giant bear on it. Sort of like a portrait of a bear, but it looked directly at you. I called it the bear blanket. The bear blanket was a gift, and a curse.

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” exclaimed my alarm clock, yet again. At this point in time, I had decided that I would wake up and stop being a lazy bag of meat. I went through my usual morning ritual of taking a shower, brushing my teeth, making my bed, and of course, wearing clothes. As I recheck everything I need for school for that day, I start to zip up my plain white book bag. I go downstairs and start my trek through the front door. One foot steps forward. Another follows in it’s wake. My calculations were wrong. My footing was off, and one of my feet slipped forward in front of me.

“Oh golly, oh my!” I thought to myself, in the short time I had. I was now falling. I tried grabbing for anything around me to stop me from falling, but the snowy white railing was not doing it’s job. Or at least I didn’t grip it hard enough. Falling down from what seemed like an immeasurable height. It seemed like the end for me. This would ruin my whole day. Gravity was David and I was Goliath. Goodbye cruel world. I fell about 2 steps and cried for the rest of the way on the trolley to school. That day I failed my math test.

The importance of what happens to you during the day is honestly one of the most significant things that can influence your decisions during the day. In this current story, the main character goes throughout his day and one fatal event affects his day. The main idea of this story is that whatever influences a person to make a certain decision can have many factors. Meaning there could be a lot of factors and you shouldn’t really jump to conclusions as to why they made a decision. The main character fell down the stairs and this influenced the main characters choices that they made on the math test. As a result, the main character failed his math test. This whole story could be perceived as an allegory representing how people assume other people’s intentions without taking into account other factors. Factors like their personal lives, struggles, and experiences. Those factors and more are what really influence a person’s decisions throughout the day and the choices that they make.

Advanced Essay #1: A Duck on a Pond

Posted by Eric Valenti in English 3 · Block · A Band on Thursday, September 21, 2017 at 10:32 am

Introduction:

The goal of my paper was for me to remember and describe what it’s like becoming older and how society and peer pressure changes you. I wanted the reader to remember who they were as a child as well. The child we are can sometimes fade and we forget about them, but at our root, that child is still there. The part I’m most proud of is the symbols I created with rubber ducks and childhood. I could try to improve my reflection but overall I’m proud of this essay.

A few days ago, I was cleaning my room and under my bed, I found a small rubber duck. I brushed off the dust on the duck, I had forgotten where I got it from or that I even had rubber ducks. The rubber duck is smaller than a pill bottle. It has a paint splatter pattern covering its body, it's not just yellow but covered in blue, red and orange paint splatters. It's so simple in its design and as I looked at it more and more, I began to remember the first time I encountered these bath toys.

When I was 7 or 8, I went to the movies with my mom, at the time my parents began their separation, my mother was worried that I would become some sort of depressed teen because I’m so young and the divorce would have too large of an effect on me. The movies were my mom’s way to have fun and forget about everything that bothers you.

“We have about twenty minutes until the movie starts, so how about we go to the concession stand and get some popcorn?” my mom said. I looked up at her and nodded. I followed her with my hands in my coat pockets scratching my fingers against my jacket creating a little noise only I can hear. My mother and I stood in the line, she pulls out money from her purse and begins to count it. I look around the theatre, noticing the flashy design on the fur floors, I see kids running around the small arcade in the theatre entrance. In the corner of my eye I notice a small flashing light, it's coming from a crane game. My mother turns towards me and notices me looking at the game.

“Do you want money to play?” my mother asks.

“Is it okay?” I reply.

“Of course it's okay.” She hands me three crinkled one dollar bills and I walk towards the crane game. The game is a large red box with a banner that says “Winner Every Time” in large, gold, cursive font. I insert the first dollar into the slot. I look into the case noticing the game only has brightly colored rubber ducks in different costumes. I move the joystick over the pit of ducks and press the small red button. The crane delves into the pit of gold and picks up a single duck. I grab the toy from the receptacle below. It's a duck with a cowboy hat. My mom walks over with a small popcorn bucket and two sodas.

“Good job kid, do you like him?” I hold the rubber duck in my tiny, chubby hands and begin to laugh. This rubber duck looked so dumb and the design was lazy yet it made me happy. I felt warm and safe. I was so happy and carefree when I was younger like nothing could hurt me. I was okay with my chubby exterior and my huge tooth gap. Everything was easy when I was young, I couldn’t hurt anyone or myself. I was allowed to dream as big or as small as I wanted. All I worried about was getting as many ducks as I could.

I was this little ugly duckling who just wanted to fly and didn’t care about what other people thought. When you're young you're not afraid to show who you are, you're oblivious to society or even know what society is. When you get older you feel like you constantly need to be in this defensive state because everything is trying to bring you down. You can spread your wings when you're young and fly as much as you want. But then people make you realize that you can’t fly and they clip your wings.

Eventually, I got more and more ducks. They distracted me from everything that was going on around me, whenever I was sad or angry, I went upstairs to my small blue bedroom and pulled out the plastic bin holding my ducks. No worries, no one to impress, the only person to make happy was me. When I was about 11 or 12, toys became lame and kids my age got rid of anything that seemed too childish and I was one to follow the crowd. So, I threw out everything too “kiddie.” The last thing I gave away was that bin of ducks. My happy memories fled from my mind and all I could remember was all the pain I felt. I became this self-conscious teen and kept changing myself even if I didn’t want to. I went into this numb state of mind.

During one summer, my sister and my mom went to a carnival. I stayed back, fearing to be around too many people, the yelling, and the screaming and having to deal with flashing lights, the very thought made me sick. After a few hours, my sister and my mom returned home.

“How was the carnival?” I asked.

“Basic, it was fun though.” My sister sat on the couch immediately pulling out her phone and began to type away.

“ I had fun and I wish you came, but we did win you something.” My mom unzipped her large black purse and pulled out two ducks. One of the ducks was the paint splatter duck and the other duck was a white duck with blue snowflakes covering its body. “Hope you like them.” She handed me the ducks, and my slender hands held them. As I held the ducks, these rubber useless toys, I was reminded of the wonder that I once knew. I had lost myself and forgot about this child I once was. I’m an ugly duckling on his own who forgot how to fly and just remembered how.

Advanced Essay #1: Can we really help someone who is in pain?

Posted by Vivian Pham in English 3 · Block · E Band on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 8:32 pm

Introduction:

Goals that I had for my paper was to really be able to include all the components into my story effectively and evenly. And to have a balance of everything, the descriptive scenes, reflection, and large idea. I think that parts that I am most proud of would be the whole process of editing and revising my essay. It really changed the whole flow of my essay from the beginning and I think that the improvements that I made, really helped convey my message. Some areas for improvement for the future would have to be to decrease the amount of words that I wrote. I wrote a lot and at first I had 2000 words and I erased and changed it until 1000 and even though it’s way more than the maximum, I still need to improve on this.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t do anything right. Being silent and listening was all that I could ever do. The pain ached from the inside and out, puncturing holes into my heart. The feeling of remorse and sorrow poured out of my body out in the form of tears. I remember that heartstopping moment, it felt like my whole world was getting flipped and tossed around.

I was in history class when I got the text from my best friend, Michelle.

“I can’t stop shaking.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” I started typing at soaring speed.

“I can’t talk right now.” She texted back.

But I was persistent on getting a response. As time passed, I felt myself sink down lower into my seat.

My thoughts started a violent and gory war in my head, the sword were her words that cut me and the blood were the tears that followed. My eyes stayed glued to my phone.

My friends noticed how I was behaving. They fed me the words that were meant to comfort. I could see the disappointment on their faces when I would look up and ignore them.

“Tell us what’s wrong,”

“What happened?”

“Please tell us.”

Their words went in through one ear and out through the other. I sat there with my thoughts, what should I do if it’s something bad? Am I really her best friend if I can’t help her? I saw my phone flickered on.

“My baby cousin…. my mom called me,” She paused between texts,“H- he’s dead...”

I felt my whole body slowly close in on itself. My jaw dropped and the tears followed and fell down my face with no control. I ran out the door of my class and straight into the bathroom.

I called her and she picked up right away.

“Michelle… Are you okay? I am so so sorry. How did it happen?” I said, as I thought to myself, should I have not asked how it happened?

“I can’t do this right now.” She said, I could hear that she was crying uncontrollably.

I heard knocks on the bathroom door knowing that it was my friends that ran after me. They were calling my name and telling me to come out. But I ignored them once again.

I knew that whatever I would say to her right now wouldn’t be helpful. It would just be a bunch of words that mean nothing. I gave her as much time as she needed to explain everything. As I sat on the window sill, listening to my best friend and crying.

She was feeling useless as much as I was. Feeling powerless to do anything to help destroys and destructs you from inside out. You feel this automatic anger and hate yourself because you’re not doing your best. You start to shut out everyone who cares about you and start to isolate yourself from who is “trying to help.” The worst part is not understanding and lying. Simply saying the words, “I understand what you’re going through,” can deepen the pain and agony of the person even more. They know that you don’t understand and you’re left with no other option. Can anyone really ever help anyone that is suffering?

No matter what age I was, I found myself in these moments. As a young girl, I wasn’t aware of everything happening around me but I noticed when someone looked upset, or looked like they were in pain. Like in the sixth grade with my bestfriend, Lyna.

I’ve only known her for 2 years back then, but I knew that the second I met her, she would be one of those friends that I would grow old with. We made plans to be roommates in college together, to share every detail of each other’s lives together, and to dance until we can’t anymore. This seemed like the year where everything would start changing. In the eyes of Lyna, it was a different change, the type that would change her life forever and she wasn’t ready for it.

“I think they’re separating.” Lyna said one day when she walked up to me during breakfast.

“Separating what?” I said, completely clueless.

“Mom and dad. They’re not happy.” She said looking around, hoping no one else was listening.

Not happy? I would think to myself, I’ve never heard of a separation of parents or loved ones, aside from the movies. My mind was glued to the idea that families stick together and love each other endlessly no matter what. “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health..” I truly believed that this was always the case. I told her that her parents love each other very much and nothing will happen. But who was I to tell her that it was going to be okay when I didn't even know myself?

“They aren't the same. They're fighting every single day.” She said to me, as a single tear would run down her face.

“But that doesn't mean anything does it? Parents always fight.” I said with a hopeful tone.

She looked away, disappointed and said with her head down,

“You won't understand anyway. Your family is perfect.”

Perfect? What am I supposed to do with that? My family for one is not perfect. I told her the words that I regretted the second I said it.

“I don’t know what to say.”

Almost everyday, Lyna would come up to me in school with an update about her parents. I would listen but not understand, yet I still tried to. This went on for a few more years until it finally happened, the fear that she grew up with, the nightmares that she wished never came true, did. She was my best friend, she couldn’t do this alone, and she wasn’t alone. Although I thought that all this time, I wasn’t helping, I was wrong. The attempt of trying to help and comfort goes a long way. Having the intentions of extending out a helping hand, the act of doing so makes all the difference. You can never fully cure that damage within but you can apply the bandage and cure it slowly.

Advanced Essay #1: Then To Now

Posted by William Huang in English 3 · Block · E Band on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 10:26 am

Introduction:

Then To Now is a story about growing up and making sacrifices. Human nature dictates that people tend to stay with what is known, because they are more familiar and comfortable with the subjects. The purpose of this essay is to show the reader that they are not alone when it comes to making difficult decisions in life. However, these difficult decisions are the most impactful ones, and those who choose to venture into places that few have gone end up accomplishing things that a few have done. I’m proud the scenes I chose and how I made connections between two seemingly unrelated stories. Some areas of improvement are including more description in my scenes and also have more reflection throughout the piece.

Advanced Essay:

The acceptance results were in, and it was time to pick a high school. Everyone else seemed to have chosen their picks, and the deadline was the end of the day. I remember it was a chilly fall day, only weeks into my 8th grade year. 7th grade me feared the prospect of making this decision, but I convinced myself that one year was a long way to go. But before I knew it, there was nowhere left to hide.

The day started with Mr. O’s math class. We all shuffled into class with our belongings, and settled in our seats. As I went to turn in my homework, my friend Xu stopped me and asked if I had chosen my high school. I lied and sat down. When the lesson was over, Mr. O gave us independent work time, and that was when he received a phone call from our school counselor. He then turned to look at me, and signaled me to go to him. “What’s holding you up from deciding on your school?” he asked. I thought for a moment. “I’m just stuck between Central and SLA,” I told him. I knew most of my friends were going to Central High School. I didn’t want to be separated from them, but at the same time, I didn’t feel like just following the crowd. “Here’s my two-cents,” Mr. O began, “Think about like this: If you go to Central, you will be around this same group of people you have always been with for four more years, and will remain relatively the same. But if you go to SLA, you will be forced to meet new people and learn, grow, and change.”

I took his words to heart. On the outside, Mr. O may just be a math teacher, but he often shared his life experiences with us and taught us how to be better people. I had the utmost respect for him, and his words were the final push I needed to make up my mind. This engagement with him reminded me of immigration stories my parents told me when I was younger.

I would be in my room, laying in bed while they sat beside me. My parents were born on poor farms in rural China. In that place and time, everyone had to be self-dependent: people grew their own food, built their own houses, and made their own clothes. The country was poor and they were at the bottom of the social class. My dad told me his strife: how he started taking care of my uncles when he was only 5, had two shirts to wear every year, and even a single bite of meat was rare during meals. When my dad was 25, he decided to immigrate to the US for financial stability to support his family and to provide more opportunities for his children. The Chinese government did not allow immigration to the US, which forced him to risk his life making arrangements with criminal organizations to be smuggled into the US, carrying a debt of $30,000.

It took me many years to make the connection between these two seemingly unrelated episodes of my life. But in many ways, they are two versions of one story—a story of delayed gratification where you make short term sacrifices to reap long term rewards. Just like my dad, I had to make a tough decision in a high pressure situation, and the choice we made would dramatically impact our lives thereafter. I had to choose between staying in my comfort zone where I would continue to be with my friends, or I could venture alone into uncertainty. My dad had to choose between staying with my family back in China, forever having his bloodline chained to poverty and being uneducated, or travel into a land of an unknown language and culture. In the end, I chose SLA. My dad, despite all risks and the idea of traveling so far away from everything he has known and grew up with, made the decision to immigrate. Had I not decided to go to SLA, I would have never realized who my real friends are, never made all the great friends I have today, and never came out of my comfort zone. I would forever remain that introverted boy who would always head straight home after school and play videogames on his own. Had my dad decided not to immigrate to the US, I would not be who I am today. I would never have understood the value of education, the struggles of my family lineage, or been born in a country with far more opportunities and freedom. As the saying goes, “Like father, like son,” we were able to lift ourselves out of our comfort zones to see the long term rewards that a short term sacrifice would bring, and we have never looked back since. Life is not about where you are, but where you take yourself, and if you never venture into the unknown, you will never get more than what you already have.

Boys Soccer Tops Palumbo

Posted by Christopher Lehmann on Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 9:38 am

by Jorin Gerveni

On Tuesday, September 12th, the SLA Boys Soccer Team traveled to the South Philadelphia Supersite where they took on the Academy at Palumbo. The game started off with a hard battle in the first few minutes of the game against Palumbo. However, the boys pushed themselves to get a goal, knowing how hard the other team was working. Captain Jorin Gerveni passed to Tito Mazzuchi who dribbled to the end line and scored from an impossible angle, shocking both teams.

The second goal came from a penalty which was given to freshmen Tristan Dini who got tackled after an incredible run. A defensive mistake caused Palumbo to score to close the gap to 2-1 but SLA did not give up. The defense, led by William Figueiredo and goalkeeper Leo Cassel, continued to fight and stopped Palumbo from equalizing.

Three more beautiful runs from Jacobo Pastor, Dalnick Matos and Ashton Reigner penetrated Palumbo's defense which put SLA ahead 5-1. The rest of the game continued calmly as the team played the best soccer game of their high school careers.

The team is now 2-0 on the season, and the boys are excited for a strong season.

The team wants to wish our captain Malachi Johnson a quick recovery from a concussion as they are preparing to take on Tacony Academy Charter School. Let's go Rockets!

Open House

Posted by Elizabeth Menasion on Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at 8:37 pm

Attention Prospective SLA Families!

Join us for SLA Center City's Open House on Wednesday, September 27th at 5:30PM.

If you would like to set up an interview at SLA or a shadow appointment, please call the office starting on 9/18 between 9AM and 2PM

Welcome Back! Schedules for 9/5 & 9/6

Posted by Marcie Hull on Monday, September 4, 2017 at 9:55 am

First Day of School - Tuesday, September 5th

8:15-10:10 Advisory

10:15-11:00 E Band (e1)

11:05-11:50 Y Band (y2)

11:50-12:35 X Band (x2)

12:40-1:25 A Band (a2)

1:30-2:15 B Band (b2)

2:20-3:05 C Band (c2)

Second Day of School - Wednesday, September 6th

8:15-9:00 Advisory

9:05-9:55 D Band (d2)

10:00-10:50 E Band (e2)

10:55-11:45 A Band (a1)

11:50-12:40 B Band (b1)

1:20-3:30 ILP (Juniors & Sophomores), Capstone (Seniors)

1:20- 2:30 Activity Fair (Freshmen)

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:15–9:20	A	E	D	C	B
9:25–10:30	B	A	E	D	C
10:35–11:40	X	Y	A	X	Y
11:40–12:45	Y	X	B	Y	X
12:50–1:55	C	B	12:50–1:20 LUNCH	E	D
2:00–3:05	D	C	Franklin Institute / ILP	A	E
3:10–3:50	Advisory		Franklin Institute / ILP	Advisory

SLA Fall Athletics Pre-Season Information

Posted by Sunil Reddy on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 9:17 am

All players are required to have the completed medical paperwork on hand to give coaches. Access the medical paperwork linked here.

All incoming 9th graders will have the opportunity to sign up for sports on noon following the end of Summer Institute on 8/24. More details on other pre-season activities can be found below.

Girls Volleyball – Coach: Karina Hirschfield, khirschfield@scienceleadership.org

Returning Student Tryouts: Tuesday, Aug. 15th, 3:30-6:00pm @ Lloyd Hall, 1 Boathouse Row. 9th Grade Tryouts: Wednesday, Aug. 23rd, 3:30-6:00pm @ Lloyd Hall, 1 Boathouse Row

All students must bring required sports physical paperwork, knee pads and plenty of water to tryouts and conditioning. Conditioning runs from 3:30-6:00pm every day until the regular season begins.
Co-Ed Cross Country – Coach: Amal Giknis, agiknis@scienceleadership.org

Pre-season practices begin on Monday, Aug. 14th, from 5:00-6:30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays until school starts. Runners should meet at SLA.

All students must bring required sports physical paperwork and should wear comfortable clothes and running shoes.
Girls Soccer – Coach: Zoe Siswick, zsiswick@scienceleadership.org

Pre-season sessions on Wednesday, Aug. 23rd @ 1:00pm, Thursday, Aug. 24th @ 1:00pm and Friday, Aug. 25th @ 9:00am. All gatherings at 31st and Chestnut Street.

All students must bring required sports physical.
Boys Soccer – Coach: Mark Johnson, majohnson2906@gmail.com

Pre-season practices and tryouts are on Monday, Aug. 21st and Wednesday, Aug 23rd at 4:00pm and also on Friday, Aug. 25th at 10:00am. Practices are held at the Lee Rec. Center located at 44th Street and Haverford Avenue.

All students must bring required sports physical.
Ultimate Frisbee – Coaches: Christopher Lehmann & Stephanie Sessa, clehmann@scienceleadership.org & ssessa@scienceleadership.org

New student recruiting begins on Tuesday, Aug. 22nd following Summer Institute. The group will leave from SLA to travel together to Penn Park at 30th and Walnut Street.

All students must bring required sports physical.
Students Run Philly Style – Coach: Jeremy Spry, jspry@scienceleadership.org

New student recruitment does not begin until the spring 2018 season.

Girls Soccer Tryouts

Posted by Zoe Siswick on Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 3:55 pm

Girls soccer tryouts and practice begin next week!

We will meet Wednesday, August 23rd and Thursday, August 24th at 1pm and Friday, August 25th at 9am at 31st & Chestnut.

Please bring water, shin guards, cleats and an up to date PIAA physical (or plans to get one soon.)

Contact Coach Siswick at zsiswick [at] scienceleadership [dot] org for more information.

Girls' Volleyball Tryouts

Posted by Aaron Gerwer on Monday, August 14, 2017 at 9:38 am

Girls Varsity Volleyball tryouts will take place on August 15th from 3:30-6:00 pm at Lloyd Hall located at 1 Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, PA 19130. For incoming 9th graders, tryouts will take place on Wednesday, August 23rd from 3:30-6:00pm at Lloyd Hall.

Make sure to bring a PIAA physical, knee pads, lunch, and plenty of water. Conditioning will continue everyday from 3:30-6:00pm until the season begins. Contact Karina Hirschfield (khirschfield@scienceleadership.org) for more information.

Cross Country Season Begins!

Posted by Amal Giknis on Sunday, August 13, 2017 at 9:55 am

The 2017 Cross Country season begins this week! Practices will be on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 5-6:30pm until school starts.

Please come to SLA with your completed PIAA physical, comfortable clothes and shoes for running, and a bottle of water to stay hydrated.

Contact Coach Giknis with any questions: agiknis@scienceleadership.org

Class of 2021! Summer Institute

Posted by Marcie Hull on Sunday, July 16, 2017 at 12:04 pm

Seeing Ourselves/Seeing the City
An Expedition into 9th Grade

August 22rd – August 24th - 9:00 am – 12:00 noon - bring a lunch

At the Science Leadership Academy, we understand that the transition into High School can be a difficult one. We are pleased to offer a three-day Summer Institute this August, to ease that transition and allow our students and faculty to begin forging bonds together as a learning community – before the “hard work” of the classroom begins.

Led by faculty and upper-class students, this three-day orientation will have two goals, the first is to begin the process of bringing them into the unique, diverse SLA community. To that end, students will spend part of the time in their Advisory Groups, getting to know the students and teachers that will be a part of their community from their first day at SLA through graduation and beyond.

Second, the week will be built around our philosophy of student-driven, hands-on, project-based learning. We want to introduce our students to SLA’s core values of Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, and Reflection from the start, and get them acclimated to the high expectations we have for their high school careers. Using The Franklin Institute and other Philadelphia sites as their “classroom,” students will begin working to explore a variety of questions and problems relating to their surroundings and their place within it. Our students will practice the art of “seeing in new ways” as it relates to the process of observation, analysis, and interpretation.

During Summer Institute, students will work to ultimately create a collaborative project to present to their classmates, while, at the same time, establishing positive relationships and a sense of themselves as first-year SLA students. It will be an exciting, enriching, and energizing way to gear up for the year.

See you in August!

SLA Center City Graduation 2017

Posted by Marcie Hull on Friday, June 16, 2017 at 12:39 pm

Philadelphian Food Deserts

Posted by Simon Voituriez in English 1 · Giknis · A Band on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 11:22 pm

Philadelphian Food Deserts

Hi! During my last two posts, I talked about the food access in Philly. In my first one,I explained how social this issue was and how hard it was for someone who lived in a disfavored area or someone who didn’t enough money to get healthy food. In my second blog post, I commented the survey that I sent to people. All in all, I was nicely surprised by what the people told me because I actually thought the situation was even worst.

While doing more researches, I discovered really positive changes and actions in Philadelphia during the last couple years. The most relevant for me was a man named Jeff Brown who built big food stores in food deserts, like North Philly. For more information, you can click on that link which will lead you to a very interesting video that is describing this process. For me, this way to change is just the best, the most accurate and also the more logical: how to fix food deserts problem? Just build a food store! This helps a really big amount of people and is one of the best solution to this problem.

At the beginning, I didn’t know what I was able to do for my Agent of Change, but Ms.Giknis gave me a good option: giving a map in a Philly food desert with all the grocery stores near them on it.

This is the kind of spots that were present in this area

I went to a North Philly area with literally nothing around. I gave my papers to people in the streets while smiling. Most of them accepted my paper and asked me more about it. Although, I had an issue: nobody wanted me to take them in picture, I don’t even know why, they probably thought I was doing tourism because I have a pretty strong accent and I don’t live here. I still took picture of the place. Besides this problem, I really felt helpful and I knew that I was making a change happens, so this is probably the most positive fact about this entire project: we are useful!

I think that I made a change because while giving them this map, smiling and explaining what was my project about, I’m pretty sure that some of the people remembered me and were aware of my issue. Also, they knew if they didn’t already where were all the healthy grocery stores near them.

IMG_8059 (1).JPG

Me in the area with my maps in the hand, looking if the person is coming to me...

I thought that this project was very good and I am very happy to have completed it, even if this is late! It was the first time of my life where I knew that something related to school was actually useful in a way and was making a difference. I learned that I love helping people, even if I kinda knew it already. I also learned that the people in food deserts are actually just waiting for more help and feel unlistened (even if I expected that too!). I think something I could have done better would be to meet the timelines on time, as always!

Final Print

Posted by David Hammond in Art - Freshman · Hull · c1 Band on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 9:56 pm

My element is Uranium. Its atomic number is 92. Uranium was found by Martin Heinrich Klaproth, who named the new element after the planet Uranus. In 1939, the first proven nuclear fission was performed in Germany. The nuclear fission of uranium resulted in the first nuclear explosion at the Trinity test site in New Mexico in July 1945. Uranium is also used by the military to power nuclear submarines and in nuclear weapons. Depleted uranium is a dense metal that can be used as ballast for ships and counterweights for aircraft. It is also used a lot in creating nuclear fuel. It is also used in ammunition and armour. I got the idea for the glass pretty easily. Uranium glass is very popular. It to me was a reminder that this element can create something extremely beautiful as well. The explosion coming out of the glass was due to the fact that countries learned how to exploit uranium, and turn it into a weapon of mass destruction. The reason why there is a second bomb is a little less obvious, this is because there were two bombs dropped on japan in 1945. I wanted to put this in here because it was really when people saw just how dangerous uranium could be. The last image is the planet in the top right corner. This is because the element was named after the planet. I started of the process by sketching some ideas of how I wanted to present my element. I the chose the sketch that I liked best and traced it as a final sketch. With my final sketch I traced it onto the foam we were using to print. I had to make sure it was backwards so that when I printed it it would come out with the correct orientation. The I took a roller and put paint on it. I then rolled the roller over my foam drawing. We made sure it was 4 by 6 inches and centered in the 6 by 8 matt. Next time I would definitely take more time to print, so that it would come out neater. If I would have done this it would have taken me less tries to get it right. What part of the project did you enjoy the most? Describe the step and what you liked so much about it. The part of the project that I enjoyed the most was drawing my ideas down. I just think that it is so important to make sure that your ideas are fleshed out as much as possible before you move on the the next step. I loved that we had so much freedom in these first steps.

Laptop Collection - Friday 6/16

Posted by Marcie Hull on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 7:12 am

Schedule:

11th -

report to school at 8:15 for college workshops

1:00 - laptop turn-in, in the cafe, then locker clean out

9th -

report to school at 9:00 - go to the cafe for laptop collection (find your advisor), then to locker clean out with your advisor

10th -

report to school at 10:00 - go to the cafe for laptop collection (find your advisor), then to locker clean out with your advisor

Lead

Posted by Chandrea Lack in Art - Freshman · Hull · d2 Band on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 5:17 pm

My element is lead. The atomic number is 82. My element is used in your pencils that mainly some people use. My element is also poisonous, but we don’t ever think about eating it. The function of my element is to get the job done and along with that you can use lead in different types of pencils and it is erasable too. My idea kind of just popped up because I thought it would be nice to have a unicorn (eraser) for the mistakes and a pencil at the end to show that pencils are always the way to go when writing something or drawing. The process that I went through was drawing a lot of different ideas to fit my element. If i could do something differently it would be to change where I put the atomic number on my stamp. The part where i was stamping was my most favorite part.

Final Stamp Design

Posted by Adil Shamsud-Din in Art - Freshman · Hull · d1 Band on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 9:44 am

This Stamp symbolizes me because, the letter A stands alone, and i stands alone. the letter a is a basic and simple letter, it's not trying to prove something or stand out with something else. I Adil is never really trying to make someone look stupid, or trying to stand out with someone. the letter A can be put together, and work together with another letter. i can work together perfectly fine with someone. i got my final design really easy, i got this idea because, one one of my friends told me before that i stand out. they also told me that i work together, so that's why i got that idea from. the importance of the negative and positive space of this image is, the Letter A is popping out, and eye catching. i got stuck at where i didn't know if i should have put the border on, because, i did not know if it was important to have.

Pataki

Posted by Anthony Brown in Spanish 2 · Manuel · B Band on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 9:43 am

Oya es un diosa de tormenta y vientos. Ella consiguió sus poderes porque un dia cuando ella tenía 9 ella tiene succiono en un tornado. Ella estaba vistiendo un borgoña y púrpura vestir. Fue golpeada con muchas piezas de cobre. Ella fue lanzada 2 millas de la clase. Ella fue eliminada del impacto. Se despertó a los residentes a su alrededor. 2 de los dioses en la familia se convirtió en sus hermanas fueron yemaya y oshun. Se sintió extraña después de despertarse. Se siente más viva. Nunca encontró a su verdadera familia. Asi que se convirtieron en su familia. Ella pasó a tener una gran familia propia.

Week 9 - Day 1 & 2 print/matt

Posted by Oluwatobiloba Adebayo in Art - Freshman · Hull · c2 Band on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 8:29 am

Neon has an atomic number of 10.It was discovered by Scottish chemist William Ramsay and English chemist Morris Travers in 1898 in London, England. Where did its name come from?[edit] Neon gets its name from Greek neos, meaning "new". Like krypton, neon was discovered through the study of liquefied air. The largest use for neon gas is in advertising signs. Neon is also used to make high voltage indicators and is combined with helium to make helium-neon lasers. Liquid neon is used as a cryogenic refrigerant. Cryonics meanings the freezing of corpses so that they are preserved, in the hope these people will be revived by future medical technologies and able to live again.

Since I was getting my nails and the project was to think out side the box i thought that the it should relate to me.

My process was fairly simple. I came up with a couple different designs then decided which one respresented it the best. After doing that it was the same as everyone else.

if were to do this project agian I would consider suing real nails posilsih so it could pop out.

Something I enojyed about this peoject was that fact that it was combined with bio-chem which meant wen had more time to work on it.

Vanadium Stamp

Posted by Rasa Watson in Art - Freshman · Hull · d2 Band on Monday, June 12, 2017 at 11:52 pm

My element is Vanadium. The atomic number for Vanadium is 23. Vanadium is a metal element. It can be used as an additive to steel to prevent it from rusting. When I was doing research I found out that Vanadium was discovered in mexico by Andrés Manuel del Río. the element was named after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty and fertility.

At first I wanted to create a stamp of mexico with a V in the middle, however that seemed kind of basic and boring. I then decided to look up what a fertility goddess looked like. I decided that it was a creative way to show the element Vanadium. I then tried to draw the fertility goddess as a stamp to the best of my ability. It took me a few times to get the stamp that I wanted, but I liked my final sketch.

Now that I had my sketch I had to draw it on transfer paper and flip it so that my stamp won't be backward when I use it as a stamp. I then used a 4x6 card to imprint my flipped sketch on transfer paper to the card. I used a pencil to indent my stamp. The indentation would be the positive space for my stamp. When it came time to stamp, I rolled the blue paint evenly on mt card/ stamp and placed it on a piece of paper. I then pressed on the stamp with a wooden spoon to distribute the paint on the paper. I removed my card/ stamp to reveal my element stamp. If I was to do this stamp again I would make sure that my indentations on the card were deep enough so that all of the parts that should be negative space were negative space and all the places that should be positive were positive.

My favorite part of this project was printing my stamp. It was nice seeing my stamp come alive with color. The positive space really pops and represents Vanadium the way I wanted it to.

An Emotional Roller Coaster Plus a Final Result (Agent of Change)

Posted by Timothy Williams on Monday, June 12, 2017 at 10:37 am

An Emotional Roller Coaster Plus a Final Result (Agent of Change)

I am a SLA, secret, English 1 agent and here is my change.

If you’ve been following my project you would know that I am studying and learning about Masculinity and Self-Esteem. In my studies, I have discovered in my first study Masculinity is “The possession of qualities, traditionally associated with men.” The only problem with this is that people of the world today take this meaning way too far and just use it as almost an emotional weapon. They take what these “possessions of a man” are supposed to have and apply them to every male that they encounter. If the person that they meet does not have these possessions or live up to the expectation they are immediately judged and set as an outcast towards the rest of a group or society.

For my second part of research I did a survey with a series of questions that asked people’s opinions on Gender Roles today.

The things that people are doing nowadays are helpful but few. They advise and plan trips for people with disorders as such, involving Low Self-Esteem. There are also organizations such as Good Therapy who do Psychotherapy for people with these type of issues. Like I said, the ways that they are using to help establish change are ways that will surely help but there are some problems with them. First of all, in my opinion, I think there should way more ideas that people should have came up with by now to help people. Secondly, What if there are people who can not afford things such as Therapy and vacations? Will there be a way to help them for free?

Being only, a freshman at SLA there wasn’t much that I could do like planning vacations or having Therapists. So, I did what I thought would be best. I made posters somewhat like flyers and posted them around my community and my school. On them there were quotes about gender roles and confidence, along with words of encouragement. The posters also allowed the people who saw them to write questions and comments on them. This idea originally came from me seeing something like it around the school but they all promoted their own causes and clubs. So, I thought that if they could do it, why couldn’t I? Although it was a really late decision it was pretty easy to create these posters. Thanks to Canva. To be honest, the experience wasn’t really that exciting. Although, I did get some friends to help me put up the posters where I thought they would serve their purpose best. The effect of change was half good, half okay turn out. The posters that were posted at my school didn’t get quite the reaction that I was expecting. I think that may have been part of my mistake on where I put them. Considering that the stairwell and fifth floor aren’t exactly the most used areas of the school. But when it came to outside the school, my flyers seemed to be good help to people around the neighborhood. Although, some people who told me in person that they saw my posters said that they didn’t feel comfortable with sharing their feelings and opinions.

With this combined with all the other work and projects that I had to have done all at the same time it was extremely stressful for me when doing this project. I learned something about myself, which is that, when it comes to helping the people I care about and love I usually don’t let my emotions get to me. There were many times that I almost gave up on this whole thing, but then, I remembered the people I was doing this for and that this should be about more than just a grade and that’s it. I also learned that not everything isn’t going to just come along right away, You always have to be willing to be patient and wait for a success to be fulfilled. The one thing that I could’ve done way better was having management over my time. It took me way too long to get this done and I was not putting things that mattered the most first and kept putting other things on the backburner.

To see all of my resources and sites I used check out my Annotated Bibliography here.

Printmaking: Arsenic

Posted by Diamond Wallace in Art - Freshman · Hull · d1 Band on Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 10:34 pm

Arsenic was obtained by heating soap together with orpiment by Albertus Magnus. Arsenic has three common allotropes, gray, yellow, and black arsenic. Yellow arsenic is the most unstable and the most poisonous. The element name arsenic comes from the ancient Persian word Zarnikh, which means "yellow orpiment". I put the word arsenic in grafitti to give it a good look. A can of spray paint is toxic and it contains certain chemicals that arsenic have. I also have a jar of arsenic laying down that is spilled as if it was just used. I made three different drawings. After I found the right one, I started to print. At first I had to draw over my drawing really hard. After that, I painted over my drawing with the right amount of paint. Once I finished, I took paper and put it on there like a stamp, when I removed it, it looked nice. I repeated this multiple times with different colors.I would do more rainbow colors if I was to do this assignment again. I enjoyed painting the drawing the most. It was fun.

Transphobia Final Project

Posted by Olufemi Beatty in English 1 · Giknis · A Band on Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 2:18 pm

In my previous blog post I stated that I wanted to work to stop Transphobia, I was having trouble coming up with ways to stop it seeing as it is social. My teacher Ms.Giknis offered me the opportunity to work with my friends Kenzie and Mike seeing that we had projects that focused on similar problems. While working together we brainstormed on a way to change or improve our problems. We decided that we would hold a bake sale to raise money and donate to an anti bullying foundation.

We all agreed to hold a bake sale to raise money to donate to an anti bullying foundation. We decided on a date and what to bring. Kenzie planned to bake cookies and bring them in school. Michael planed to buy a box of donuts to bring in the day of the bake sale. The day before the sale I spent the night baking about five dozen cookies to sell at lunch. The day of the bake sale we sold all of our donuts and all of Kenzie’s cookies. During lunch I sold the cookies I baked for 25 cents a piece. The cookies were received relatively well and I sold about four out of the five dozen.

After the bake sale Kenzie And Michael and I raised 42 Dollars.After doing some research, we decided to donate the money to the Stop Bullying Now Foundation. The foundation allows access to professional speakers and counselors to stop bullying the short term. For the long term they aim to raise awareness

about bullying of all sorts. This means that they also offer help for bullying for LGBTQ kids . I feel that Mike, Kenzie and I could have raised more money if we had sold everything.

In retrospect I wish that we had announced the bake sale so we had more people buying cookies. My entire project was rushed in the end and I wish that I did not procrastinate. But plan to do better work in the future, and I am happy that Mike Kenzie and I could come together to make a good project. I wish we had more time to make posters or generally present in front of our classmates, but i think as a group we put in effort to some sort of a change and/or raise awareness in our freshmen class and I am proud of what we did.

In Conclusion, my You and the world project was regrettably rushed. I feel like if I had put more work into it and had got my blog post finished it would have been a better project in the end. I appreciate my friend Joshua for being so open and letting me interview him. I also appreciate Mike and Kenzie for being good group members and bringing in food for the bake sale. Hope that this project has made an impact and I am glad to have been given the opportunity to do it.

Tungsten Print

Posted by Alina Seing in Art - Freshman · Hull · d2 Band on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 10:40 pm

What is your element? Name and atomic number

My element is Tungsten. The number is 74.

Tell the reader about your element, history, function/use and so on.

Tungsten was first discovered by two brothers name Juan Jose and Fausto Elhuyar when they were living in Swedin. Since tungsten is heavy, they named it tungsten because it means heavy stone in German. It was made out of minerals and tin.

How did you get the idea for the imagery you chose?

As I was doing research for tungsten, I came across diamonds because when diamonds were first discovered, it was heavy. So that’s when I started to draw diamond as my imagery.

What process did you go through to make this print?

There was a lot of process when doing this print. The first process was that drawing the diamond was hard because I have to make it perfectly semetrical. Then when it was time for printing, it was easy because there was no need to turn it backwards. While drawing it on the foam, the only thing that need to be backward was the number and the letter. While printing it, I evenly rolled the paint and then rolled it to the foam. After that, I layed a paper on top of it and then evenly rubbed it on to the paper. After that, your picture will be perfect.

What would you do differently if you did this print a second time?

I would try and draw another picture that is similar to tungsten

What part of the project did you enjoy the most? Describe the step and what you liked so much about it.

The part that i really enjoy most was printing it on paper. I enjoyed this because I get to roll the paint evenly and then stamp it on to the foam. After I rolled it on to the foam, i stamped it on to a blank sheet of paper and then received a final product.

Seeing Ourselves/Seeing the CityAn Expedition into 9th Grade

Seeing Ourselves/Seeing the City
An Expedition into 9th Grade