SLAmbassadors Join Model UN Conference in Torun, Poland

Last week 9 students participated in ToMUN, the Model UN conference held by High School No. 1 in Torun, Poland. The SLAmbassadors in this program stayed with host families, shadowed their Polish peers at school, toured Torun and nearby Gdansk, and represented SLA among other Model UN teams from Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Finland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. 

We are so proud of our students and the way they represented our city and our school! Way to go, SLAmbassadors!

Nemesis Party

Can we afford to trust the federal government giving them full control over everything? A vote for the Nemesis Party is a vote to give the federal government more control over your life. How about the States Govern Party where we can give you the programs that Nemesis Party voters want depending on the state you live in. And since the government is smaller it’s less corrupt and you have more control.


States Govern Party vs. Dreamer's Party

Can we afford a single issue party? The leaders of the Dreamer’s Party believes that Immigration is the number one issue America should focus on. What about the current citizens? How will we keep our families safe if we have a party in office that their whole focus is on getting more immigrants? Even worse they want to slash military funding to pay for more people to protect. Or you can vote for the state’s govern party whereby giving states more rights we are putting citizens first.


3 Strengths Blog - Malcolm McCreary

     

   I am one of few to be able to say confidently that I have a rather strange work ethic. Rather than being able to get something done by just sitting down and really grind through any sort of task, I really prefer to work at it in bursts of energy based on my mood at the time. I can tend to submit things late just because I don’t have all that much motivation to get things done at the time, but I can also crank out a benchmark in a day if I get really committed to the assignment. Probably why this assignment is about a week late, I tend to work flexibly so that whatever I do is to the best of my ability and something I feel confident in doing. That being said, there are some strengths to my work ethic that I’m comfortable explaining.

Creative - I’m well aware this is one of the most basic and overused personality trait anyone can use to describe themselves, but I think I can say all jokes aside that I can think outside of the box a bit and bring some unique ideas to the table. If I start with a good idea for an assignment I can really make it my own and have a blast with whatever’s given to me. This can be both a blessing and a curse as every once in a while I twist the task just a bit so that I don’t always meet requirements just because I have so much fun working on certain creative assignments.

Flexible - This comes in handy primarily with group projects. My approach is that chances are whoever is taking the lead of this assignment probably has a way better idea of what it should look like, and if I work to make that dream a reality it’ll get a pretty decent grade. I do enjoy meeting in the middle and collaborating to make even more elaborate ideas, however, I have no objections to letting partners take over a bit and get better at their own craft. I’ve been working on projects since middle school, so at this point, I’m well aware of what I want isn’t going to be exactly what a group creates.

Resourceful - Now, this is a bit more specific, however when it comes to more creative assignments I tend to instantly have an idea of what I want to do, and what I need to do to make that happen. Pretty much anything that involves storytelling I’ve already had something in the works just sitting back in my subconscious waiting for an opportunity. I love projects, and I love being able to apply everything I know academically to a fun and exciting project.

In conclusion, my work ethic is a bit sloppy, disorganized, and unrefined however if I put my mind to it I can actually put out some pretty cool stuff (so I’m told). I know that if I just do the work this can come to my advantage I the academic field, it just takes me some time getting comfortable in school so that I can consistently use my time to make creative projects and that all starts with time management and self-motivation.  



Exploring Balance: Original Art Work [Simone M]

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In my artwork, I depicted a person on two sides of lightness and darkness. It was to show how even the lighter side has some darkness that may affect the lighter side and vice versa.  I created balance in this picture by splitting my original sketch in half and coloring all of the white space in. Doing this, I created a balance in my picture. From a peer, we discussed my drawing. Our discussion involved the use of white space and how I utilized the space I had on the piece of paper. I decided to keep the design simple in an effort to make the main point of the picture pop out.

CCE

Charismatic, creative and energetic. These traits have more or less defined me as a person throughout my life. Friends, family and teachers have all described me this way for years. The traits have also helped me much in life up to this point and I believe they will continue to help me in the future.

Charisma the savior

My charisma has helped me much in life especially at Science Leadership Academy. I have been able to make great friends at SLA because of my charisma. The students at SLA have become some of the greatest friends I have ever had. Without them I would not be the person I am today. Without them I would have gotten much lower grades on a few essays. These friends have allowed me to vent to them about the stresses of life and have helped me work on ambitious projects with them. I can’t wait to see how my Capstone turns out because I will need all the help I can get. My charisma has also allowed me to be offered many opportunities that I would have not gotten otherwise. I have a position at UrbEd in part because of my charisma. Without my charisma I would not be nearly as successful as I am right now. My charisma will help me collaborate greatly with people in DigVid and have a great time doing it.

Blindingly creative

Creativity is my strongest trait. Without my creativity none of the projects I have ever committed to would have turned out as good as they have. Examples of this are my first and second projects at SLA. My first project I had to make a self portrait that described me and who I wanted to be. I decided to take a silhouette picture holding a briefcase, camera and wearing headphones. Each of these things represented something essential to my life. The headphones represented my interest in listening to and making music. The suitcase represents me goal of becoming a lawyer when I am older. The camera represented my interest in pursuing a filmmaking career also. If I wasn’t creative I think my portrait would have been less original and not as interesting. My second project was a mini magazine about myself. The most. Creative part of this project to me was the soundtrack I made to go with it. My creativity will help me make creative scripts, ideas, and many other things for the films we make with DigVid.

Contagious energy

The energy I leave my house with is unmatched. I am always excited to see a new day and work on new things in the world. This energy seems contagious. The people around me will eventually pick up this energy after spending sometime with me. This is great because people who don’t enjoy the work they are doing or just having a bad day can have their mood improved because of my energy. This will be extremely helpful in the more boring parts of making films in DigVid.

CTE DigVid

My charisma will make me a great collaborator in the filmmaking process. I will be able to work through any disagreements with ease. My creativity will help me come up with great ideas for films that will make my films stand out from the bunch. My energy will be able to pick anyone up and lighten their mood.

By Taj

Positively Eccentric - Nicco C.

Some people say that if it ain't broken, don't fix it, but I prefer to preach under a different sun. As a Debater (ENTP-A) on 16Personalities, I have many strengths and weaknesses, but for now, I'd like to focus on the strengths, specifically energetic, original, and optimistic.

Energetic. Let's start there. Personally, I've always seen myself as energetic, but don't take my word for it: many others agree. But there are different ways to define "energetic" in this context. 16Personalities says that for my personality, it's about willpower to do things, and that's not wrong. I do have the energy to find answers and learn things as it describes (although it may be a vexing one at that), but I'm also opted into a more general energetics. By which I mean general energy, the energy to move and talk and jive.

Original. As a person who dislikes conformity, I'd agree to this one. Being unoriginal is basically one of the seven sins for me. The ability to figure things out in ways different than before is something I do well, as things can always be improved and experimented on. 

Optimistic. I believe that man is naturally good, and that things will usually turn out good in the end. Just because things aren't going well now doesn't mean they'll be like that forever. I've been like this for a very long time in my life, and the people close to me can verify. Such an ability has granted me the gift of low stress, although I do usually act on things that aren't going well.

I believe these abilities will be invaluable in Digital Video. The ability to withstand long productions. The way to look at problems differently. The positive beliefs. Even if I'm not exactly Sherlock when it comes to focus, I believe my strengths are ones that we'll need in both the short and long run.

Give Me Strength

I am   

   Imaginative

       Objective

       Straight Forward


No matter what, everyone in the world has strengths and weaknesses; things they do good and things they do...not so good. We tend to find these strengths and weaknesses through life experiences over time and when we receive feedback on the things we’ve done. But, if you’re an SLA DigVid student, you find them through taking a personality test. After taking the personality test, we were split into groups according to personality type (mine being INTP) and told to discuss our findings and pick out our favorite strengths about ourselves. These were the results:


Originally Imaginative


One of the strengths I received was “Imaginative and Original”, which means that someone like me always has original and innovative ideas because our imaginations are always going one thousand miles per hour. This is a key trait to have when in creative spaces and tends to help us most when we are given complete artistic freedom on a task. As I read the description for this trait, I thought back to the many projects I’ve done for school over the years and can totally attest to letting my imagination run wild with all the possibilities of what I could do to knock my teacher’s socks off. I can also say that with the older I got, the more intricate my creations became due to my expanding knowledge of the world and my heightened attention to detail.


A Lost Art


Another one of the strengths I got was “Objective”. Being objective means listening to and stating facts in an unbiased and fair manner. Objectivity usually leads to one being more open-minded--also one of my strengths according to my test results--because situations can be viewed from, and solved with, multiple view points in mind to establish the best conclusion for all people involved. I feel that, in today’s climate, the idea of being objective and open-minded has gotten away from so many of the world’s people. It hurts to see because if only we knew how much better we could be if we decided to open ourselves to ideas opposite our own.


Straight Talk No Chaser


The final strength I decided to report on is “Honest and Straightforward”. This is basically telling it like it is and calling it how we see it. Sometimes people with my personality type can be honest to a fault because we accidentally hurt people’s feelings without even realizing it. However, us being straightforward is never done with malicious intent, we just believe that honesty is always the best policy.


I know that these strengths of mine will have a great influence on my performance in DigVid throughout the year. When combined, they will help me collaborate, create, and give honest feedback to not only my peers but also to myself so that we can be the best filmmakers possible. These traits will help me gain a perspective like no other through the experiences in this course and further who I am across all aspects of my life.



Written By: Londyn Edwards