Majo Bostani Public Feed

Majo Bostani Capstone

Posted by Majo Bostani in Capstone · Ames/Hirschfield · Wed on

Airlines are scrambling to train and hire young aviation professionals, and will be almost indefinitely. Aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus are projecting the industry to need 1.3 million aviation professionals, such as pilots, mechanics, and dispatchers within the next twenty years. With aviation being one of the world’s favorite forms of transportation, with 48% of American vacationers flying in airplanes for travel, it is important to sustain the industry.

Aside from transportation, aviation is used to power global commerce giants, to protect our pipelines, fight wildfires, among numerous purposes. With aviation having an employment disparity of this level, it is important to engage the next generation to fill the important needs aviation solves. Thus, aviation needs to be promoted as the welcoming field and community it is.

Unfortunately, it is hard to decide on pursuing aviation with a lack of exposure to it. It is hard to know if you enjoy flying an airplane if you don’t know what’s involved in it. The Philadelphia Youth Aviation Fair is a gathering of aviators, current and future to promote careers in aviation to the next generation. Participants in the fair will receive a complimentary flight in an airplane, a tour of the airport facilities, and access to numerous career-oriented opportunities.

Five high school students, from Science Leadership Academy experienced aviation first-hand. With the partnership of the Experimental Aviation Association, all participants are now enrolled in an online ground school and will be eligible to apply for the prestigious Ray Aviation Scholarship.

Bibliography:

Airplane Owners’ and Pilots’ Organization. “High Schools.” Be a Pilot, More Fun, Lower Cost - You Can Fly. July 11, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://youcanfly.aopa.org/high-school. This source provides information on another aviation nonprofit organization’s efforts to attract youth to aviation. This organization admits that attracting young aviation professionals isn’t a competition, it is a collective effort by the aviation industry. This organization is working with educators to promote aviation topics to youth, by developing a STEM curriculum.

Camera, Lauren. “A Push for Aviation to Take Flight in Schools.” U.S. News & World Report. November 9, 2015. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/09/new-push-to-get-kids-interested-in-aviation-jobs. Lauren Camera wrote this article to promote how important youth exposure is to the future of aviation. Camera states that clubs like the Future Farmers of America are successful in their purposes, and that there is an importance for a nationwide club that grants the youth of America to aviation, and promotes aviation as a realistic, prosperous career choice.

Experimental Aviation Association, comp. “Entire Publication.” EAA Pilot Update, November 26, 2018, 1. November 26, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://pages.eaa.org/index.php/email/emailWebview?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpFM01HRXdNMkptT0daaiIsInQiOiI2RHBYa3pnYUZFZ0RDb1hacklYeXJJQVlWUmM5eURvb2VyUDc1d1lPeUN3bW43NGVMRTBrb2FOc0JnV0ZYQmgwdGtubmdwUC8wd3NQYzRhQm9pSzMzWFBFeUdhUnlwa2ZwOG5qWGFpenBHbGZhMEZFUUY5Y05oRUg4cVg2V0dCLyJ9. This source is a sample of a newsletter that the Experimental Aviation Association publishes, and sends to its volunteers for events of similar nature to my capstone. I need to subscribe to this publication in order to remain up to date in order to have the latest and greatest of regulation information, so no one gets in trouble.

Experimental Aviation Association. “ICE (In Case of Emergency).” Experimental Aviation Association. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.eaa.org/-/media/Files/EAA/EducationResources/YouthEducation/YoungEagles/1507-ICE-v2-PDF.ashx. This source basically provides guidance for what to do if something unfortunate happens at an aviation event. There is a risk at my capstone being exercised, just like any other activity. Basically, this document tells its readers not to talk to the media, call the Federal Aviation Administration, and first aid. Media will push things out of proportion, in order to get people to watch it, so you have to be careful when the media tries to interview you.

Experimental Aviation Association. Young Eagles Pilot Guidelines. Oshkosh, WI: Experimental Aviation Association, 2018. https://www.eaa.org/-/media/Files/EAA/EducationResources/YouthEducation/YoungEagles/1602REV-YE-Pilot-Guidelines.ashx This 2-page brochure provides the basic guidelines that the volunteers at my event must follow in order for my event to be successful, and so that no one gets in trouble. This document is very short, yet it is all that is necessary, which is really beneficial for me, considering the simplicity of everything. The main ground rules for me is to make sure everyone passes a Youth Protection Check, that the pilots’ are safe and proficient, and to make sure parents sign off on the flight. All in all, this resource is going to be the document that rules the world for my event.

Garcia, Marisa. “A ‘Perfect Storm’ Pilot Shortage Threatens Global Aviation.” Forbes. July 29, 2018. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisagarcia/2018/07/27/a-perfect-storm-pilot-shortage-threat ens-global-aviation-even-private-jets/#3163cc1b1549. Marisa Garcia, a retired professional in the aircraft manufacturing industry provides thoughts on the impending pilot shortage. Garcia claims that airline incentives are not enough to alleviate the blow the pilot shortage will have on the commercial aviation industry. Garcia openly supports greater incentives, including a loosening of hour restrictions for airline pilots, citing 250 hours as adequate to operate a commuter aircraft. Reasoning for the removal of the 250 hour requirement is provided, considering a Colgan Air accident that occured in the year of 2009. Garcia uses this to weigh insights on how to attract young pilots to aviation.

Gear 74. “Worldwide Pilot Shortage [2019] Is the Pilot Shortage Real?” YouTube. October 03, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5aE97LGgOw. A high-ranking Boeing 747 pilot shares his opinion on the pilot shortage on YouTube. He claims that the pilot shortage is caused by young pilots being underpaid about five years ago, which was misleading, considering the training requirements needed to become a professional pilots are so high. The pilot suggested that entry-level airlines have increased first-year salaries, and have increased signing bonuses tremendously, in order to attract younger pilots, and encourage them to continue throughout their training.

Kotwicki, Jon. “Solving the Pilot Shortage…” YouTube. January 03, 2019. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ksy53JJ84. Jon Kotwicki: a world-renowned flight instructor, flight instructor, and successful entrepreneur details his experience at Lufthansa Aviation Training, in Goodyear, Arizona. While this video touches on solving the pilot shortage, its main purposes seems to be advertising for Lufthansa. Kotwicki himself said that he went to apply for a job there in the video. However, Kotwicki did detail that Lufthansa hires people off of the streets, and gives them a full scholarship so they can fly for Lufthansa to alleviate the pilot shortage in Germany. This reminds me of the U.S. Naval Academy. If I were to grow my capstone organization out, I might consider giving a scholarship to young pilots who are legitimately interested in aviation.

Nickerson, Dana. “Can Grassroots Flying Solve The Pilot Shortage?” AVweb. January 03, 2019. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/Can-Grass-Roots-Flying-Solve-the-Pilot-Shortage-232078-1.html. Dana Nickerson, a recreational pilot recalls the differences of what it meant to learn to fly back then, and how it’s different now. Nickerson stated that pre-9/11, students would gather at local grassroots airports and fly ultralight aircraft, such as hang gliders and airplanes with very small engines. It used to be accessible to anyone whom wanted to learn, and was willing to help the operation. Nowadays, flight training is being controlled by expensive flight schools, that sit behind the fences and gates, that prevent people from feeling welcome to an airport.

Tulis, David. “Boeing Forecasts ‘unprecedented’ Pilot Demand.” Senate Addresses Maintenance Tech Shortage - AOPA. July 24, 2018. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/july/24/boeing-forecasts-unprecede ed-pilot-demand. David Tulis, an independent, vintage aircraft pilot discusses Boeing’s efforts to help alleviate the effect the pilot shortage has on the industry. What Boeing highlights in their activities is that there is not only going to be a pilot shortage, but also a technician shortage, and that the industry needs both. This narrows the scope of my capstone to include discussion on more of the technical sector of aviation. What I disagree with is the venue of their efforts; an event known as EAA Airventure, the world’s largest aviation convention. The reason why young people attend Airventure is because they already are interested in aviation. Some inner city child won’t attend Airventure, considering they don’t have the interest in aviation (at least yet).

Majo Bostani Capstone

Posted by Majo Bostani in CTE Senior Capstone · Kamal/Ugworji/Shagin · Wed on

Airlines are scrambling to train and hire young aviation professionals, and will be almost indefinitely. Aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus are projecting the industry to need 1.3 million aviation professionals, such as pilots, mechanics, and dispatchers within the next twenty years. With aviation being one of the world’s favorite forms of transportation, with 48% of American vacationers flying in airplanes for travel, it is important to sustain the industry.

Aside from transportation, aviation is used to power global commerce giants, to protect our pipelines, fight wildfires, among numerous purposes. With aviation having an employment disparity of this level, it is important to engage the next generation to fill the important needs aviation solves. Thus, aviation needs to be promoted as the welcoming field and community it is.

Unfortunately, it is hard to decide on pursuing aviation with a lack of exposure to it. It is hard to know if you enjoy flying an airplane if you don’t know what’s involved in it. The Philadelphia Youth Aviation Fair is a gathering of aviators, current and future to promote careers in aviation to the next generation. Participants in the fair will receive a complimentary flight in an airplane, a tour of the airport facilities, and access to numerous career-oriented opportunities.

Five high school students, from Science Leadership Academy experienced aviation first-hand. With the partnership of the Experimental Aviation Association, all participants are now enrolled in an online ground school and will be eligible to apply for the prestigious Ray Aviation Scholarship.

Bibliography:

Airplane Owners’ and Pilots’ Organization. “High Schools.” Be a Pilot, More Fun, Lower Cost - You Can Fly. July 11, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://youcanfly.aopa.org/high-school. This source provides information on another aviation nonprofit organization’s efforts to attract youth to aviation. This organization admits that attracting young aviation professionals isn’t a competition, it is a collective effort by the aviation industry. This organization is working with educators to promote aviation topics to youth, by developing a STEM curriculum.

Camera, Lauren. “A Push for Aviation to Take Flight in Schools.” U.S. News & World Report. November 9, 2015. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/09/new-push-to-get-kids-interested-in-aviation-jobs. Lauren Camera wrote this article to promote how important youth exposure is to the future of aviation. Camera states that clubs like the Future Farmers of America are successful in their purposes, and that there is an importance for a nationwide club that grants the youth of America to aviation, and promotes aviation as a realistic, prosperous career choice.

Experimental Aviation Association, comp. “Entire Publication.” EAA Pilot Update, November 26, 2018, 1. November 26, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://pages.eaa.org/index.php/email/emailWebview?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpFM01HRXdNMkptT0daaiIsInQiOiI2RHBYa3pnYUZFZ0RDb1hacklYeXJJQVlWUmM5eURvb2VyUDc1d1lPeUN3bW43NGVMRTBrb2FOc0JnV0ZYQmgwdGtubmdwUC8wd3NQYzRhQm9pSzMzWFBFeUdhUnlwa2ZwOG5qWGFpenBHbGZhMEZFUUY5Y05oRUg4cVg2V0dCLyJ9. This source is a sample of a newsletter that the Experimental Aviation Association publishes, and sends to its volunteers for events of similar nature to my capstone. I need to subscribe to this publication in order to remain up to date in order to have the latest and greatest of regulation information, so no one gets in trouble.

Experimental Aviation Association. “ICE (In Case of Emergency).” Experimental Aviation Association. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.eaa.org/-/media/Files/EAA/EducationResources/YouthEducation/YoungEagles/1507-ICE-v2-PDF.ashx. This source basically provides guidance for what to do if something unfortunate happens at an aviation event. There is a risk at my capstone being exercised, just like any other activity. Basically, this document tells its readers not to talk to the media, call the Federal Aviation Administration, and first aid. Media will push things out of proportion, in order to get people to watch it, so you have to be careful when the media tries to interview you.

Experimental Aviation Association. Young Eagles Pilot Guidelines. Oshkosh, WI: Experimental Aviation Association, 2018. https://www.eaa.org/-/media/Files/EAA/EducationResources/YouthEducation/YoungEagles/1602REV-YE-Pilot-Guidelines.ashx This 2-page brochure provides the basic guidelines that the volunteers at my event must follow in order for my event to be successful, and so that no one gets in trouble. This document is very short, yet it is all that is necessary, which is really beneficial for me, considering the simplicity of everything. The main ground rules for me is to make sure everyone passes a Youth Protection Check, that the pilots’ are safe and proficient, and to make sure parents sign off on the flight. All in all, this resource is going to be the document that rules the world for my event.

Garcia, Marisa. “A ‘Perfect Storm’ Pilot Shortage Threatens Global Aviation.” Forbes. July 29, 2018. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisagarcia/2018/07/27/a-perfect-storm-pilot-shortage-threat ens-global-aviation-even-private-jets/#3163cc1b1549. Marisa Garcia, a retired professional in the aircraft manufacturing industry provides thoughts on the impending pilot shortage. Garcia claims that airline incentives are not enough to alleviate the blow the pilot shortage will have on the commercial aviation industry. Garcia openly supports greater incentives, including a loosening of hour restrictions for airline pilots, citing 250 hours as adequate to operate a commuter aircraft. Reasoning for the removal of the 250 hour requirement is provided, considering a Colgan Air accident that occured in the year of 2009. Garcia uses this to weigh insights on how to attract young pilots to aviation.

Gear 74. “Worldwide Pilot Shortage [2019] Is the Pilot Shortage Real?” YouTube. October 03, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5aE97LGgOw. A high-ranking Boeing 747 pilot shares his opinion on the pilot shortage on YouTube. He claims that the pilot shortage is caused by young pilots being underpaid about five years ago, which was misleading, considering the training requirements needed to become a professional pilots are so high. The pilot suggested that entry-level airlines have increased first-year salaries, and have increased signing bonuses tremendously, in order to attract younger pilots, and encourage them to continue throughout their training.

Kotwicki, Jon. “Solving the Pilot Shortage…” YouTube. January 03, 2019. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ksy53JJ84. Jon Kotwicki: a world-renowned flight instructor, flight instructor, and successful entrepreneur details his experience at Lufthansa Aviation Training, in Goodyear, Arizona. While this video touches on solving the pilot shortage, its main purposes seems to be advertising for Lufthansa. Kotwicki himself said that he went to apply for a job there in the video. However, Kotwicki did detail that Lufthansa hires people off of the streets, and gives them a full scholarship so they can fly for Lufthansa to alleviate the pilot shortage in Germany. This reminds me of the U.S. Naval Academy. If I were to grow my capstone organization out, I might consider giving a scholarship to young pilots who are legitimately interested in aviation.

Nickerson, Dana. “Can Grassroots Flying Solve The Pilot Shortage?” AVweb. January 03, 2019. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/Can-Grass-Roots-Flying-Solve-the-Pilot-Shortage-232078-1.html. Dana Nickerson, a recreational pilot recalls the differences of what it meant to learn to fly back then, and how it’s different now. Nickerson stated that pre-9/11, students would gather at local grassroots airports and fly ultralight aircraft, such as hang gliders and airplanes with very small engines. It used to be accessible to anyone whom wanted to learn, and was willing to help the operation. Nowadays, flight training is being controlled by expensive flight schools, that sit behind the fences and gates, that prevent people from feeling welcome to an airport.

Tulis, David. “Boeing Forecasts ‘unprecedented’ Pilot Demand.” Senate Addresses Maintenance Tech Shortage - AOPA. July 24, 2018. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/july/24/boeing-forecasts-unprecede ed-pilot-demand. David Tulis, an independent, vintage aircraft pilot discusses Boeing’s efforts to help alleviate the effect the pilot shortage has on the industry. What Boeing highlights in their activities is that there is not only going to be a pilot shortage, but also a technician shortage, and that the industry needs both. This narrows the scope of my capstone to include discussion on more of the technical sector of aviation. What I disagree with is the venue of their efforts; an event known as EAA Airventure, the world’s largest aviation convention. The reason why young people attend Airventure is because they already are interested in aviation. Some inner city child won’t attend Airventure, considering they don’t have the interest in aviation (at least yet).

Reconstruction of Memory - "Family Friendly"

Posted by Majo Bostani in College English · Pahomov/Rhymer · B Band on
Author's Note: 

Growing up in a divided family dynamic, I often had to adapt in order to keep conflict from arising. My biological mother was glued to graphic TV news segments, and my father enjoyed automobiles and airplanes. Those dynamics clashed at my first airshow, where I literally left the show in fear. However, I found my calling in aviation, and am now found at every airshow within the Philadelphia area. In this excerpt, I used an anecdote from my childhood, and mashed it with a functional family dynamic I’ve always admired.​

"Family Friendly"



I can’t believe it. Yesterday, my oldest, Jaden left home for his final year at Penn. He is well on track towards attaining a Bachelor’s in Political Science. Let alone with a 4.0 GPA. As a parent, I wanted to expose my children to history and current events at a young age. Thus, every weekend throughout Jaden’s last weekend home, you can find Jaden, me, and the rest of the family on adventures to different protests, demonstrations, or historical sites. This not only provided for some of the best, funniest, most adorable memories, it is probably the very reason Jaden is doing what he is.


When Jaden was about six, I heard that the local Naval Air Station was hosting an airshow. Well, I thought that was cool, considering we’ll get to see some of the resources our military has at its disposal. It shouldn’t be too intense to take the kids there; airshows are fairly safe, and family friendly. At least that’s what the show was being advertised as. So the family and I decided to make the trip.


After the skydivers landed with the American flag, a group of fighter jets took off. It was so precious watching Jaden, my youngest see his first fighter jet. His eyes lit up, as what he keeps seeing on the news is now in front of his own eyes. After about 5 minutes, the fighter jets started circling around the field, imitating vultures scoping their prey. Soon, one of the fighters dove in, and fiery pyrotechnics blasted from the ground.


“Oh my god, we’re all going to die. Run, Run,” Jaden screamed. It was hard to take him seriously. “Dad, come here. Run! Run!” he added. But looking at his panicked face, you could tell he was legitimately scared. Embarrassment took me over, as I had just selfishly and blindly taken my two under 6-year-old kids to an airshow. I had just committed the original sin of parenting, and I felt like I need to be put on time out.


That memory has stood the test of time, with myself not being able to live it down. While I may not have been the perfect parent, I still cherish every memory made with the smartest young man I’ve met. I hope that Jaden leaves his impression on the world.


Inquiry: Your Ticket To The World

Posted by Majo Bostani in CTE Engineering 12 · Kamal/Ugworji/Shagin · A & X Bands on

Hello readers,

My name is Majo Bostani and I am a 12th Grade Engineering student at Science Leadership Academy, in beautiful Philadelphia, PA. For my Lab class, I recently took the Myers-Briggs personality test, and was quite fascinated by my result. To specify, I was tested to be an ENFP. You may wonder what the acronym stands for, like I did. ENFP stands for Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Preceptive. Like my curious self, you may wonder what ENFP more deeply means, and whether it actually describes me accurately.

The Traits of an ENFP:

A notable quality shared amongst my fellow ENFPs is curiosity. This lead me to the question of why exactly I’m writing this blog post? Why am I so interested in how accurately this test describes me? Well, I guess you could say that I am just curious. For as long as I could remember, I was always fascinated with the world around with me. Why is that plane flying that direction? Why are some light poles designed one way, and others designed the other? Those are all inquiries that I have while doing the most random things. This often leads to me performing some sort of research on the topic that sparked my queries, and eventually finding a new, extraordinary way to perceive why things are.

I know what you are thinking. Can the world possibly ever shrink for you? The short answer is no. I always find something to satisfy my curiosity. Walking down the street, strolling in a car, or flying an airplane, I always sense something new in this humongous world around me. My neurological senses: touch, smell, hear, taste, and feel are constantly awaiting their next actions. And they work well. If I don’t notice something my first time somewhere, then I am definitely noticing it second time around. When I’m at a place I patronize, my eyes scan everything, in hopes of finding change, or lack of it. I often get scrutinized for staring, although I never stare to be rude, just to marvel at the world around me.

Did my last two paragraphs boost you into my shoes? Well, if I did that, then I lived up to the ENFP’s standard of being an excellent communicator. When I talk to someone, I try to speak really descriptively, as I find that being on the page is important. It’s hard to expect people to know page 52 of a book they’re on page 27 of, so I always try my best to give the most context that I can. My heart is always carried upon my sleeve, and even if I don’t try, I’m almost always indicating how I feel.

Conclusion:

My future is somewhere in the industry of aviation. This love for aviation was founded on my ENFP traits. I remember being a curious little three year old, peeking out of my window wondering where the airplanes are going. How are the airplanes are flying? Why are there small planes and big planes? When I look back at these early memories of my passion for aviation, I see that it was built on curiosity, observation, and communication. I’m anxious to see where else my ENFP traits will take me in the future.

Advanced Essay #3: Perfection Is Too Complicated

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 3 · Block · E Band on
Majo Bostani
Mr. Block
English 3
9 March 2018

Introduction:

Hello, my name is Majo Bostani. Throughout my years at SLA, I have realized that a lot of people, including myself overthink. I always thought that it was such a shame that it  prevents wonderful ideas from coming to fruition. If they do end up coming to fruition, then they seem like they could have been executed better.


My goal for this essay is to show people that sometimes they can be their own hardest obstacle. It is human nature for people to think too much about what they are doing, and that overthought turns to be more counterproductive than just going with the flow. I’m really proud of my idea, as well as my rough scene of memory. I feel like I could have made my ideas a bit clearer, though.


Advanced Essay:


“Today, we’re going to start our Advanced Essays about identity and belonging,” my teacher announced in front of my entire English class. “It must be 750 words, and talk about a real-world problem you face.” Immediately, my mind started racing.


“Write something unique about yourself and your identity,” my brain was instructing me. “Don’t make it about airplanes, because everybody is tired of that. Also, try to make it something unique that no one else will write about. Everybody writes about their culture, so maybe write about something else. Avoid all other cliches as well, Majo.”


At this point, I just want to exclaim “shut up,” and have only my brain hear it. Considering how smart a mind could be, I wish mine would stop giving me so many misleading instructions. I felt like I was already wasting so much time thinking about what to write about. After filtering through tens and hundreds of ideas, I finally had a topic that made sense. It is relatable, debatable, researchable, and thought-provoking. And the even better part about it is that nobody else is probably going to think about it. My topic for this paper is going to be people’s tendencies to overthink tasks.


A seemingly inevitable part of productivity is spending an excessive amount of time just thinking about what you are doing. Society sets exceptionally high expectations for humans, and the work they produce. This expectation of perfection is the reason why people overthink. It makes people believe that if something isn’t perfect, then they need to start over. This attitude snowballs into the person second-guessing and sets the person right back to square one. Frustration caused by this over complication often causes people to give up, and their ideas to never come to fruition.


French composer Claude Debussy has stated, “Extreme complication is contrary to art. Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part” (Debussy). This quote sums up the desire for perfection, and how society fuels that desire. Debussy defines perfect in this quote as something that could be effortlessly enjoyed. If people aren’t interested in something they see, then they likely won’t look into it more. People often strive for the unachievable standard of perfection just to garner interest in something.


Fast forward about one hundred years, and you will find a modern art project that confronts the problem of overthinking. Artist Maria Sandoja worked on a project titled, “100 Days of Overthinking.” In the project, she documented every single thought she contemplated for more than fifteen minutes, over a period of one hundred days. Her result is a web page full of drawings, with simple questions as captions. Some questions regarding Sandoja’s productivity are raised. However, other quotes such as “Am I too eager to please?, Am I a pushover?” (Sandoja) are written down. This project shows that overthinking goes beyond the workplace. People overthink their social lives just as much. If an interaction doesn’t go perfectly for an overthinker, then it gets to their head.


With the rise of social media and text messaging, people now devote more time than ever thinking about their social lives. As Brittany Hoffman from Medium puts it, “There is a lot of analysis to paralysis happening on social media” (Hoffman). Social media users think a lot about their social interactions online, as well as the quality of their content. If an overthinking social media user loses a follower, they need to know exactly why. If an overthinker receives an awkward period placement in a text, they start worrying that a friendship might be over. After all, it’s tedious when one misused word can affect a friendship permanently. The pursuit of social media and social life perfection makes people overthink their lives.


Overthinking is not a fun thing to go through, and is extremely frustrating at times. My advice as a fellow overthinker is to stop trying to make everything perfect. Perfection is not only subjective, but it is also unachievable. If you need to, you can step away from the task at hand for a couple of minutes. With the time, allow your brain to sidetrack. Think of something that makes you happy for a while, and then get back to your task. If you stop thinking about perfection and start thinking about the process, then you will start to stop overthinking.


Works Cited:

"Claude Debussy Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2018. 9 March 2018. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/claude_debussy_204277

Sandoja, Maria. “100 Days of Overthinking.” 100 Days of Overthinking, www.100daysofoverthinking.com/.

Hoffman, Brittany. “Stop Overthinking Your Social Media Content – The Mission – Medium.” Medium, The Mission, 11 Nov. 2016, medium.com/the-mission/stop-overthinking-your-social-media-content-6773965f4d39.


Advanced Essay No. 2 (Limitations of Education) - Majo Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 3 · Block · E Band on
​Limitations of “Education”

INTRODUCTION:
In "Limitations of Education", I explore why students fail classes and are resultantly labeled as dumb. I'm really proud of all of the ideas that I had while writing this piece. However, I did feel like I tried to put too many ideas into 750 words, which made my writing and connections seem a bit sloppy. Enjoy!

ADVANCED ESSAY:
Education is something that everybody has had. Even if it is learning how to walk. While education is a really wide-ranged subject matter, there is indeed a misconception that the only education one could receive is in school. As a matter of fact, colleges usually only accept people that have been formally educated through some kind of a traditional school system. This creates a stigma that makes people believe that you can only get an education from a traditional, formal school. 
For the most part, the American education system has been the same throughout the entire 20th, and 21st century. The school day of a child having to be able to sit in rows for numerous hours, and listen to a teacher lecture on subjects such as Calculus, French, and History to be successful has been around for longer than the telephone. This has limited many students’ passion for learning, by zapping the enjoyability of learning. 

People have been lead to assume that if that a person can’t learn good in an old-fashioned, classroom setting, then they aren’t smart. It doesn’t really matter whether that person could build a house, or fly an airplane to most people. If the person that they are looking at doesn’t get all A’s on their report cards, then that makes that person “slow” in most people’s eyes.

This has caused there to be a lack of skilled labor in the 21st century. People are trying hard to get the jobs that people associate with “smart” people, such as engineering, medical studies, and the arts. This is due to the fact that they have become symbols of good cultural capital. Being able to understand the human body, highly advanced forms of math, and being able to analyze literature are looked upon as more challenging to master, rather than how to work with one’s hands.

This apathy is also created by the fact that most of our educational choices are made for us. I remember every thought that I had on my first day of high school. I tiptoed into my advisory room, being observed by the twenty or so other students who I’ll be spending the next four years of my life with. My advisor, whom also happens to be the college counselor walks up to me with a smile the size of Alaska and hands me my roster. Feeling confident about my placement tests, I expected to be placed into Algebra 2 to start out, with some Physics and Engineering courses to be added in.

But when I glanced at my roster, a look of disbelief struck my eyes - And not the good kind. “Algebra 1, Honors Biochemistry, African-American History, English 1, Art, Tech, Engineering, and Drama.” Right off of the bat, a good half of those courses sounded either easy or useless to me. How would an aspiring pilot benefit from learning about Art and Drama? Algebra 1 and English 1 sounded like two courses that I have done for three years, with African-American History, Honors Biochemistry, and Engineering sounding somewhat interesting to me. I then started talking to a fellow advisee, who revealed to me that he has to take Geometry, although he passed Algebra 2 at his old school.

I inquired about what his old school is, and he proudly stated: “Julia R. Masterman” That explains it well. I figured that it was unfair that students that attend certain middle schools are considered to be less smart, compared to students that attend others. While I see that certain middle schools offer higher qualities of education than others, I still don’t believe that a student’s potential should be limited by which high school they attend. If a student excels at a certain course, then they should be pushed ahead of everyone else. If they are repeatedly failing a course, then a new plan of action should be taken, as there is an underlying reason why that is.

In 1990, an education program called Vocational Education was designed to assist students who don’t learn best in a classroom. It taught students trades, as opposed to academic subjects. While this program did gain popularity throughout the nation, it did pick up a stigma. As vocational education student Mike Ross stated in his essay, I Just Want to Be Average, “Vocational education has aimed at increasing the economic opportunities of students who do not do well in our schools.” (p. 2) While this program has its benefits to some students, I believe that other forms of education should be recognized. Just because one size doesn’t fit all, it doesn’t mean that two sizes do. 

Works Cited:
Rose, Mike. "I Just Want to Be Average." Lives on the Boundary: The Struggles and Achievements of America's Underprepared. New York: Free Press, 1989. 162-67. Print.

Advanced Essay #1: "It's Just A Phase, You'll Grow Out Of It"

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 3 · Block · E Band on

Intro

“It’s Just A Phase, You’ll Grow Out Of It” - something that most of us have heard in our childhood. I’m sure I can speak for many people when I say that we have had numerous interests growing up. One of the main purposes of this piece is to provoke thoughts about the phases that we, as children have gone through. I want the reader to think back on their phases, and how they’ve influenced them as people. I’m proud of my analysis because I was able to take a random scene that I felt like writing, and turned it into a stronger idea. To improve for next time, I would try to add an expert’s opinion to strengthen my points.





It’s Just A Phase, You’ll Grow Out Of It


The development of a person’s interests starts at a really young age. In some cases, at or even before the extremely young age of only 3 months old. At that age, I spent my time either sleeping or watching my grandmother, the family’s iron chef in action. I would always be fascinated by the aromas of spice, the crackling of boiling water, and the unpleasant smell of burnt food.


Those sensations inspired me to want to try to make something to eat. As soon as I could reach the lowest cupboards, I decided to give cooking a shot. I tiptoed into her kitchen and gathered anything and everything I could find in the cupboards. Pots, check, pans, check, wooden spoon, check. I arranged them in a neat manner and started banging away. CRASH! CLINK! BANG! Stir, stir, stir! My young, silly brain thought that if I would do that for enough time, I would make some delicious food. Although I wasn’t really cooking anything, the satisfaction of marinating a beautiful steak still radiated within my brain.


“What’s for dinner tonight, Chef Majd?” my aunt asked me, returning from a protracted day of work.


“Something really delicious,” I replied in toddler gibberish.


“That sounds fantastic. I can’t wait to eat!”, she answered cheerfully.


Excitedly, she sprung over and picked some “food” up with a spoon, and sniffed around to catch some pleasant aroma in her nose.


“This needs a bit more salt, Majd.”


I filled my wooden stirring spoon with salt, in my attempt to satisfy her imaginary taste buds.


“Woah, woah, woah. That’s too much. Maybe dump half out, Chef.”


Annoyed, I opened the shaker and slammed half of the salt into it. I then dumped the remainder of the salt onto the table, which I thought was food. But then, I heard a loud bang - I had elbowed the salt container. My mind went from happiness to worry. I thought my grandmother was going to kill me. I made a mess of the kitchen floor that she loves so much!


My aunt smiled at me, and reassured me, “even Grandma still does that.” Hearing that eradicated all of the anxiety and worry of upsetting my grandmother and replaced it with hysterical laughter.


Eventually, the interest in cooking died out for me. Later on, I started finding tall buildings interesting. Then I moved on to sports, then sneakers, and most recently photography. I still ponder why some interests are prominent in your brain one day, but then the next day, they feel like they were never there. My theory is that with exposure to new things come new and more diverse interests. I reminisce about first discovering aviation. My father took me to the Philadelphia International Airport for the first time when I was about 4 years old.


All of a sudden, a large object appears on the horizon. It looks like a large, metallic bird. It has four circles arranged symmetrically, two under each wing. The face appears to not have any movement. While gliding towards us, it appears that this thing is huge. The engines purred and deafened my young ears. My father thrusts me on top of his shoulders, and fear intensifies.


“Oh my god, this plane is going to hit me!” I exclaim to my father.


My father chuckles as the large Boeing 747 jetliner passes above us. The expression on our faces resembled matching game pieces. We both were blown away (figuratively, that is) by the majesty of that airplane. Being the stereotypical toddler that I was, I barrage my father with questions about the airplane.


“How does that thing fly?


“Why is it so fast?”


“How many people can it hold?”


“Can we stay here for longer?”


It was at that moment that I knew that I was obsessed with airplanes. It’s been a phase that I’ve gone through for almost twelve years. I’m actually still going through this phase, and I don’t see an end to it anytime soon. It’s sure a challenging phase to go through, but that’s a good thing. The aviation universe is already astronomical and is still expanding. I don’t think I’ll ever come out of this phase. It has taken control of my life.

Eureka - that is how phases are born, and sometimes die. Phases are an important aspect of the childhood of the average person. They are born by exposure to really cool objects and die as a result of boredom. Sometimes a really interesting phase can take control of your life. I completed my first solo flight in an airplane at the age of sixteen, and am planning on continuing on with my passion for aviation. Therefore, I believe that going through phases is an important aspect of a childhood. As annoying as they could be for parents, they are essential to help build interests.


Ole, Ole, Ole - Majd Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 2 · Pahomov · E Band on

Majd Bostani

Ms. Pahomov

English 2 - E Band

March 31, 2017

Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole!

    Everyone that has ever been in a large, excited crowd has participated in a chant. Whether the chant is at a sports game rooting for the home team, a protest against an unjust system, or in the case of the savage tribe Lord of the Flies, to celebrate the killing of a pig. These cheers can be used for a variety of reasons: to encourage an individual, excite an action, and/or indicate approval. Each of these outcomes shows that cheers unite a community toward a common goal, and help empower each other to achieve that goal.

    In the twelfth chapter of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the original tribe has separated. There is Ralph, who got dumped by all of his former allies, and is attempting to fend for himself. The rest of the kids on the island formed a savage tribe united under Jack. They threatened Ralph by means of death, to try to get him off of the island. One night, Ralph heard “Kill the pig, cut his throat, spill his blood.” (186) through the trees. Ralph concluded that the savages must be living on the other side of the island. Ralph remembered the chant from when the original tribe would kill a pig and sit around a fire to consume it. Thus he reminisced everyone sitting around together as one. Consequently, Ralph revised a strategy of how he was going to survive, because he was alone and outnumbered by a tribe of his former partners who are threatening to kill him. 

    Ralph and Piggy - two of the main characters in the book of Lord of The Flies by William Golding found a conch on the island. “He kind of spat,” (16) Piggy instructed Ralph on how to make sound with conches. Following Piggy’s instructions, Ralph blew into the conch which made a loud sound, that could be heard throughout the entire island. “Meanwhile Ralph continued to blow till voices shouted in the forest. A small boy squatted in front of Ralph, looking up brightly and vertically.” (18) Right before the reader’s eyes, a community was brought together. Thanks to this chant, and communication, kids on both sides of the scene were reassured that they weren’t alone. Ralph and Piggy then had the reassurance that they will have the manpower to make a civilization and survive as one unit. It also gave Johnny, who was very young, small, and presumably very afraid, the comfort of having other people with him.

    According to William Golding, one of the main purposes for writing Lord of the Flies was to make a book with ample connections to modern society. As stated before, chanting occurs a lot in the world of sports. The spectators gathered around the playing field are yelling, screaming, hooting, and hollering for their home team to win the game. A Sports Illustrated article published in 1992 stated, “Although players and coaches usually have no response to the chanting, fans still do it. This is because they feel personally connected to the teams because of their hometowns, ....” This quote demonstrates that people chant to make themselves feel a part of a bigger movement. In this case, that would be the community of the hometown. This is encountered in Lord of the Flies when the boys would chant. The chant made the boys feel in the mood to kill a pig, and helped them get the encouragement to kill it.

    Chanting is one thing humans instinctively do when in a crowd that is dedicated to a task. It doesn’t matter whether it is to support the home team, to encourage something like a fight, or the killing of a pig. At the moment of the chant, it is easy to overlook just how infectious the environment is. However, it is promoting community, unity, and loyalty. Chants allow people the feeling the feeling that their message will get across; especially if the person they are trying to send their message to is in the area. 















Works Cited:

Jasmine Watkins @JasmineLWatkins Published on Sep. 26, 2014 Sep. 26, 2014. "'Derek Jeter' chant breaks out at Fenway Park." Sporting News. N.p., 26 Sept. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

"Student Activites | Bryn Mawr College." Student Activites | Bryn Mawr College. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2016.

Dawe, TJ. "Why Do People Cheer for Their Team?" Beams and Struts - A Magazine for Hungry Brains and Thirsty Souls. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.





E2U4: Majd Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in Spanish 2 · Manuel · B Band on
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Hola, mi nombre es Majd Bostani. Yo vivo en Filadelfia del Sur por toda mi vida. Me vivo próximo de los estadios y el casino que están proponiendo. Mi barrio es principalmente inmigrantes, debido al valor de casas. Para mi, este barrio está cambiando por la bueno. Nuevas casas están en construcción, reemplazando los casas de los traficantes de drogas del pasado de mi barrio. Por eso, me gusta mi barrio. En fin, el futuro de mi barrio es muy interesante, y cambio está en el aire.

El centro de comercial de mi barrio se llama Whitman, por Walt Whitman el poéto. Yo quiero pintar un mural en el Shoprite de Whitman Plaza. Este Shoprite abrió sus puertas en el otoño de 2016. El predecesor de este supermercado tenga un mural muy grande por la comunidad. El mural previoso hubo imágenes de la ciudad, el puente de Benjamin Franklin, el parque de Amor y muchos otros. Esta locación es perfecta porque la comunidad próximo de Whitman Plaza es creciente. Más personas voy a comprar al Shoprite cada dia. Este mural será vista por todas las personas.

En mi mural, yo quiero dibujó un mural de Walt Whitman y sus poemas. El poema es una de la igualdad. El mensaje de la poema es nos viven la vida similar. El barrio de este Shoprite es cambiando. Casas nuevas estan en construccion. Con las casas nuevas, yo quiero recognicion para la historia. Una mural de Walt Whitman es bueno por este barrio, y la mensaje del poema va a apoderar estas personas.

El arte público necesita contar la historia del comunidad y/o presenta un mensaje para apoder la communidad. Este mural de Walt Whitman hace todo eso. A causa de estas razones, el Shoprite de Whitman Plaza es perfecto para un mural de Walt Whitman. Por favor tome esto en consideración.

Our City, Our Team por Phillip Adams

Posted by Majo Bostani in Spanish 2 · Manuel · B Band on
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Ubicado en: Darien Street en frente de Lincoln Financial Field

3 cosas que este mural revela sobre la comunidad:
- Este communidad encantan las aguilas de Filadelfia.
- Este comunidad es la casa de las aguilas de Filadelfia.
- Este comunidad hacen mucho dinero por las aguilas.

2 objetos, imagenes, frases o palabras encontrados en el mural:
- Este mural es 17,000 pies cuadrados
- Este mural tiene muchas jugadores y admiradores de las aguilas.

1 razon que es significativo para esta comunidad:
- Este comunidad es la casa de las aguilas de Filadelfia.

I'm Coming by Majd Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 2 · Pahomov · E Band on

“I’m Coming”

walks into room with flight book in hand, opens up book, and starts crying

What the heck does a runway guard light look like?

I really don’t know anymore. This summer hasn’t allowed me to focus on anything. I already had to drop out of summer Geometry, and now I can’t even remember what I worked so hard on for flight school. My life was flipped around like it’s some kind of aerobatic thrill ride without any gravity.

“Go flying. You’ll be closer to him… then you are now,” my pilot buddies told me.

They’re just trying to get money from me. I’m not feeling good, both emotionally and physically! I have been like this for a week now. How am I supposed to get all better on Wednesday?

It’s not like he has any superpowers to get us back to normal in two days.

The worst hit I could probably take would be to go to my flight lesson and have my instructor take the controls from me because I forgot how to respond to whatever kind of situation he tests me on. If I want to fly, I want to fly. I’m paying for the plane, not my instructor. I don’t want my instructor to fly the plane for me.

“You leave it all on the ground when you fly”, they say. All of the stress of day-to-day life.

Well, the struggle is getting off of the ground. If I want to fly, I don’t want to cry for 20 minutes after all of the airport people offer me their condolences. I don’t want to embarrass myself during the ground test and have it feel like a setback to my progress.

My dad wouldn’t have wanted to see me cancel a lesson out of pure stress. Being a pilot himself, he would always stress not being stressed when flying.

“Fatigue is what kills most pilots. Always sleep for two extra hours, eat something nutritious, and make sure you are at your 150% when you fly.” My dad would remind me the night before a flight lesson.

Oh man, how much do I miss seeing my dad everyday? I’ve spent all 495,239,400 seconds of my life with my dad. That’s 6732 days. That’s better than any Snapchat streak will ever be. My dad has never steered me wrong, and I think that I should cancel this flight lesson out of respect for him and what he would say.

“You need to fly, Majd. I want you to escape from this depressing state of mind.”, my aunt told me.

Well yeah, I do need to get my mind off of stuff, but suppressing the loss of the most important person in my life… is unreal. That’s like not reacting along with a nose dive, and not trying to correct it.

“You still have it, Majd,” my aunt told me.

If I still have it, then why couldn’t I remember a page of the Airplane Flying Handbook? I don’t want this lesson to be the thing that ruins fourteen months of hard work. I want to feel ready for this lesson. The problem is that I don’t feel ready. I’m not sure if it will take me a month, a year, or a century to get back to feeling my best. But when that does happen, I’ll start doing what I love again.

(really excited tone) You know what, screw it. SCREW IT! It will be a lot more worthwhile if I go up and have fun. My depression is bad enough! I know I will be closer to my father in the air, then here, sitting on my ass in bed crying. Who cares if my instructor has to take over? I’m sure he will understand and respect everything I do. Heck, I could even take cousin Riley, who has been there for me every step of the way. Dadio wants to see him as much as he wants to see me. I’m sure my instructor is going to understand what I’m going through.

“Dadio, I found a better way to get up there and spend time with you!” “Let’s fly! Riley’s coming too!”

starts crying once more

Trilladelphia (True, Real Philadelphia) Mosaic by Red and Orange Streams

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 1 - Giknis - A on
​This year was SLA’s first annual Challenge Week. Challenge Week is the final, full week of school, in this case, from June 13th through June 16th. All of the freshmen, sophomore, and junior streams collaborated with each other to work on separate service learning projects. Red and Orange Streams collaborated together to work on a mosaic inspired by Isaiah Zagar’s Philly Magic Gardens.

Students were first told about Challenge Week in the beginning of the year. Students were told that Red and Orange Streams will be working together to create a mosaic and we discussed some of the things people could bring in and how we are going to set this up. In May, after all of the students forgot about Challenge Week, our two streams got together again and talked about what the week is going to look like.  

On Monday, Red and Orange streams met early in the morning for the trip to the Magic Gardens. After a tiring walk from school to 10th and South Streets, we entered the Magic Gardens and were amazed by the detail and thought put in by Isaiah Zagar. Zagar had put together a beautiful array of mosaics throughout the building and the surrounding areas. As seen below we were amazed at his story and what he had spent his life doing.




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Freshmen ​Bea, Sydney, Leo, and Caroline enjoying a Monday at the Philly Magic Gardens.
​The next day, we began working on our own mosaic. Unfortunately, our tile and glue orders never arrived making Ms. Giorgio and Srta. Manuel take a road trip to New Jersey to go buy some themselves. Once they made their way back to Philadelphia in the early afternoon, we were able to start our work. Red and Orange Streams’ students cut the mirrors and smashed the tiles. With the help of Yaara, Zagar’s former right-hand woman we were able to put all the tiles on the wall by the end of the day. Going into our final day, we knew we were on pace to have a successful Challenge Week project.

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Bea and Caroline beginning the work on the mural by gluing tiles onto the wall.
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Tuesday's finished progress on the wall.
​On Wednesday, the students of Red and Orange Streams started the grouting process. We decided on a maroon grout, and the students got to work grouting and making the mosaic come to life. We also split into groups to write speeches, invite people, write articles, and prepare our mural.


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Sarah mixing the grout.
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Meymey, Alyssa, Ben, Amelia, and Carolina inviting the media, Isaiah Zagar, and many other dignitaries to our presentation.
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The finished grouting.
​On Thursday, we were able to make some finishing touches on the mosaic. Once we were done, we hosted many dignitaries, SLA students, staff, and parents to our ribbon cut ceremony. Christina Santana, Kwan Hopkins, Amado Alfaro-Allah, Avi Cantor, and Darlenny Rodriguez made short speeches and the ribbon was cut.

We would like to thank Isaiah Zagar and everyone else at the Philly Magic Gardens for allowing us to feel inspired by their work. We also want to thank Ms. Giknis, Ms. Giorgio, Srta. Manuel, and Ms. Johnson for buying us the supplies that allowed us to be awesome. A big thank you also goes out to Naima’s mother and Yaara for helping teach us how to cut glass, smash tiles, cement the tiles onto the wall, and grout the tiles. Another great thanks to Santucci’s Pizza for providing us with lunch.


We pulled information and inspiration from our trip to the Magic Gardens to make a mosaic. So what did we learn from all of this? We learned how to collaborate with two streams, make a mosaic and make a mosaic with our values and Isaiah Zagar’s style.

Written by:
Majd Bostani
Autumn Lor
Leo Cassel-Siskind
Becca Snyder
Eli Zimmerman
Shamus Keough

E1 U6 - Hamidou en Caracas

Posted by Majo Bostani in Spanish 1 - Manuel - E on
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Hamidou is on a class trip to Caracas, Venezuala. He posted a picture onto Instagram and his hermanos, Majd and Sean held a conversation about Caracas.

@majd_de_boston y @flyboy_majd = Majd (had to change accounts due to technical difficulty)
@entus_blaze = Sean 
@darknightbatman = Hamidou
@real_donald_duck = Alan

E1 U5 (Mi Herencia)

Posted by Majo Bostani in Spanish 1 - Manuel - E on
Mi Herencia

Music provided by Orion


Yo Soy Majd Bostani                                            

Pero no vivo en Boston.

Soy el hijo de inmigrantes de Lebanon,

Pero vivo en Filadelfia

A mi familia le encantan los aviones,

Aviones es en mi herencia y

Soy completo


En sociedad, veo lo bueno en todos.

Saboreo las falafels de mi madre, muy deliciosos.

Oigo los aviones sobre mi casa.

Siento el orgullo de mi familia

Huelo los filetes de queso de Filadelfia.


Vuelo sobre las playas, son blancas como una hoja de papel

Como las falafels, son deliciosos como el aire fresco

Escucho la música como escucho a mis padres

Escribo mi vida como un libro


Somos una familia de la encrucijada

Somos Libaneses, pero mi papá y yo somos Americanos

Hablamos inglés con pasión y árabe un poco

Árabe es la lengua de clima calor y falafels

Líbano es devastado por la guerra

Las guerras enseñan mis padres como los aviones

Nos encantan los aviones de los años setenta.

Aviación es nuestra herencia,

Nuestra verdad


Macbeth Creative Project- Majd Bostani and Jakob Klemash-Kresge

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 1 - Giknis - A on
My partner is Jakob Klemash-Kresge

        After considering the options, we chose to make the playbill because we both agreed that we didn’t have any groundbreaking creative project ideas. We thought that a playbill would be perfect because if one of us has an idea, we could always just put it into the playbill. For the cover we chose to use a piece of art that was hand drawn because we thought that this would be very original and very interesting. We put a lot of effort into the cover. We both aren’t the best artists in the world, so we just did a cover of a pivotal part of the story. This is one of the parts  we believe we could’ve done better, but no one is a perfect artist so we just kept that the way it is.
        The quotes that we used were very important in the play Macbeth and some of the quotes Ms. Giknis featured in class. For example on the cover, we wrote “Is this a dagger which I see before me. The handle toward my hand.” That was an important quote as it showcased how Macbeth felt before the most important part of the story, in our opinion. We also chose ads that were relevant to the theater. For example, the ad we put in for the theater lessons is the real number and dates and we used the actual Barrymore´s Cafe. We chose to showcase Macbeth at the Walnut Street Theater because we wanted to have a theater that was located in Center City Philadelphia. We also think that it is appropriate that we showcase Shakespeare in America's oldest theater. 
        The characters are in the play of Macbeth and the actors were people in Red Stream.  We thought that this would be interesting because we had them tell us facts about themselves so that we can a make a simulated bio about them. This also gave us an opportunity to collaborate with our classmates. We figured that everyone would e-mail us a short paragraph about themselves, but that turned out to be one of the biggest challenges of our project. When the due date was close, we were thinking of scrapping the idea, although we thought it would be a dumb move. It wasn’t until I had the idea to improvise. Improvising is one of the most important life skills we have learned at SLA! We wrote the actor’s bios of those that didn’t respond to our email based off of what they usually say in class. That turned out better than we thought! The costumes were just pictures off of the internet. We just brainstormed about what we wanted each character to wear, entered it into Google Images, and found the closest match. We did this as we believed that words won't do justice for costumes, but we only realized we needed costumes on the last day so we couldn't draw them.
        We did research on the Curse of Macbeth so we can put that in our playbill so no one would say Macbeth during our production, unless it’s a part of the script. We also thought it would be important to fill everyone in about it. Majd and I also included a short bio about William Shakespeare in the playbill so that the people would have background knowledge on Shakespeare. We also wanted them to know about Shakespeare’s contributions to literature and drama.
        We both learned a lot while doing this project, both academic lessons and life lessons. One major lesson that we both learned was to always apply skills that you learned somewhere else in a pinch. For example, with our character piece, if we didn’t learn to improvise, we would’ve never completed it. Aside from that, we also learned some secret stuff about Shakespeare and his theater.
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Here's an overhead picture of Jakob typing out ideas for our playbill!
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Here's an over-the-shoulder of Jakob at work brainstorming some ideas for our playbill.
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Doing my work at home. But first, let me take a selfie!
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Come on Majd, if you try hard enough, you have the potential of being the next Picasso!
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Looking at the computer for cover inspiration!
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Jakob typing up some advertisements!

Telenovela: "El Gran Rechazo" (The Great Denial)

Posted by Majo Bostani in Spanish 1 - Manuel - E on
In "El Gran Rechazo" Mateo (played by Matthew) wants to set his friend Katalina (played by Kaitlyn) up with Pepe (played by Majd). When Pepe sees Katalina he daydreams of their future together. See how Katalina reacts when they meet. 

There is a classic, dramatic plot twist waiting for you. Watch "El Gran Rechazo" to find out what it is!

Growing Up Online Reflection - Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in Technology - Freshman - Hull - b2 on
In class, we watched two episodes of the PBS TV show "Frontline". The show documented how kids and parents have to be smart about what they get into online, since they are online almost all of the time. Another main idea is to highlight purposes for technology. The most memorable thing from this show is how pilots stationed out of a local Air Force base can fly drones half way across the globe and kill America's main enemies. I find that really impressive. I believe that it is important to watch these kinds of shows because it helps people keep their minds open to things. To keep my descendants safe online, I won't be an online tyrant. I'll make them accept my friend/follow requests on social media, and will be on guard through that. I believe that kids don't go around looking for trouble online, so I decided not to be totally annoying and on top. It's important to talk to your family about internet safety as it is almost a tool essential for survival, and just like any tool it's essential to know how to use that tool. A piece of advice I'd give to parents is to let your kids be active online. They won't learn from stuff if they don't make mistakes!
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Media Fluency Reflection- Majd Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in Technology - Freshman - Hull - b2 on
I have learned a lot from the class critique of my slide. Not only did I learn the strong points and flaws of my original slide, but also a lot of feedback on how to make better slides at SLA and in life! Originally, my slide was built around the concept of of an IKEA billboard. It followed the colorful, powerful, yet simple design of it. However, the black background with the white and red letters was rather distracting. The picture's angle was angled way too far up. I intended for a 5 degree tilt, but it looked more like a 25 degree tilt.  

After the class critique, I took everything that my classmates and Ms. Hull said about my slide into account. I made the background light blue so that the white letters could pop out better, as well as symbolize the color of the sky! That turned out to be a big win on the term of contrast. I moved the letters according to the rule of thirds so that it would look neat and organized. I also changed the font and color of my letters. Originally, my quote was in a white cursive font as they are now. However, Leonardo da Vinci's name was written in red and in a Times New Roman font. I changed that so it could match with the quote and not be so distracting. Like I stated above, I reduced the tilt of the picture so it would maintain a 5 degree pitch better. Over all, I changed and learned a lot after the class critique.
Tech Presentation - Majd Bostani

Media Fluency- Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in Technology - Freshman - Hull - b2 on
Tech Presentation - Majd Bostani (1)

When I had to design a slide on my passion as part of my ME Magazine, I thought about my passion for aviation and flight. I made this slide look the way it did because it had two roles to play. First, it had to pop out as something brief and easy to present. Basically, I made a slide about this quote that Leonardo da Vinci wrote about flight. I wrote it in a white cursive font at a 36 font. This makes the slide not only pop out in the term of contrast, but also big enough to be read. The second role this slide is supposed to have is to describe the sensation of flight at a glance. The quote alone is probably my favorite quote and pretty much exactly describes the sensation of flight at a glance. It is probably my favorite quote ever. That is why I chose to present the slide in this way.


Who Am I Online Reflection- Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in Technology - Freshman - Hull - b2 on
1. We watched a video on http://iwitnessbullying.org/ and our activity was to hit the eye emoji to change the outcome!

2. After watching the video, I felt a horrible feeling inside of my head. If there is one thing that I want most of the world is for people to stop being so judgemental and mean and start treating people like people. Whenever I see someone getting bullied, I feel that something bad is eventually going to happen to the bully. To sum it up, that video made me sad.

3. I am pretty much myself online. If you were to look on any of my networks without knowing me, you will possibly come under the impression that I am a really socially active person that has strong opinions on the topic of aviation! I personally think that the first impression you get is truly me!

4. Like I said while responding to Question #3, I fel that the first impression based on online things of me are true and it really is myself based on my profiles.

5. The goal of an internet troll is to ruin people's online reputations and make them feel bad about themselves. This is often because they had a recent experience with another internet troll or maybe they just do it for fun. Either way, it's not cool!

6. The positive results of online anyomity is that people can talk about whatever they want without it being indexed in any way in the online record books. However, the negative result of online anyomity is that it makes more people in danger of bullying, racism, and other forms of mean people doing what they do.
Screenshot 2015-11-10 at 1.49.51 PM
Screenshot 2015-11-10 at 1.49.51 PM

Proyecto E1U1: Majd Bostani, Lilly Roman, Alan Li, and Sean Desilva

Posted by Majo Bostani in Spanish 1 - Manuel - E on
Majd and Sean decide to go to the local Mexican restaurant for a taste of the best tacos in Filadelfia. The restaurant is a popular hangout spot for local teenagers as they go to eat tacos, enjoy the free Wi-Fi, and do their homework. Lilly, the head waitress waits on Majd and Sean and all goes as planned!
Lilly and Sean are two nervous 8th graders that are considering SLA as their first like they should! They attended SLA's open house on Halloween to get a taste for how the school is run! They run into Senor Bostani, the Spanish 2 teacher who has some words of advice for them!
Majd is freezing cold in school, but he has to go outside to work on his project. Lilly and Sean, his two best friends decide to surprise Majd to get a good laugh!
Majd forgot his Tarea and needs help during Lilly and Sean's lunch period. Lilly and Sean were eager to lend a helping hand and all went well!

Home Network- Bostani

Posted by Majo Bostani in Technology - Freshman - Hull - b2 on
Did you ever wonder how the magic of the internet happens? For the past couple of weeks, Ms. Hull has been teaching us how. What we discovered is that the internet comes into our house through a bunch of wires known as ethernet cables! The process goes by my ISP, Verizon FiOS sending the internet into my house! Verizon FiOS hooked the fiber-to-ethernet cable into a modem-router combination. The modem connects our household to the internet and sends packets into the internet. The router is what connects that modem to our internet by a wireless (Wi-Fi) signal! That Wi-Fi signal powers all electronic devices that connect to the internet in our house, such as two desktop computers, one laptop, two smartphones, a printer, and a PlayStation 3!

I didn't really know how much my internet connection cost, so that was my OMG moment throughout this unit! I also didn't know how your ISP, which in my case is, Verizon FiOS controls how quickly you receive your webpage. It literally costs my household about $120 per month to run all of my devices! Now, I challenge you to learn how your home network works. Specifically, I want you to know about what brings your internet into your house. I also want you to know how much it costs! 
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