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SLA Uninformed about District Attorney Race

February 16, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Tamir Harper

Staff Writer

Who do you support to be the new District Attorney of Philadelphia?

Do you even know who the DA is and what they do?

These are a few questions currently being asked in the Science Leadership Academy community. As many people — but not everybody — know, current two term District Attorney Seth Williams decided not to run for a third term which blown the race wide open.

As of February 15th, 2017 six people have put in their bid to replace Williams. Current candidates include Former Managing Director Richard Negrin, Former Assistant District Attorney Michael Untermeyer, Former Federal Prosecutor Joe Khan, Judge Teresa Carr Deni, Judge Leon Tucker and Attorney Larry Krasnser.

In addition to these official candidates, there are many rumors that State Representative Joanna E. McClinton, Attorney Kevin Harden Jr., and Former First Assistant District Attorney Tyrique El-Shabazz will jump in the race as well.

So who’s the best candidate? And do students know or care?

When I asked SLA students about the District Attorney, many asked me who I was referring to.

Junior Asher Swartz begin to make a disappointed face when I asked him who Philadelphia’s current district attorney is. “Why would I know the district attorney?” Swartz asked.

Senior Luke Risher, who also runs SLA’s chapter of the Philadelphia Student Union, was also uninformed about the coming race, and begin doing research on his computer when asked about it. Risher then stated, “I am not qualified to speak on this issue.”

SLA did have one informed student who stated her father previously worked in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office under Seth Williams Administration. Senior Nyla Moore did know the current district attorney but was not well versed about him. When asked her views, she explained that “I know he’s in a lot of trouble.”

The “trouble” Moore was referring to is Williams accepting personal gifts without reporting them. In his statement that he would not seek re-election, Seth Williams has apologized for “embarrassment and shame” he brought to the office. It is also important to state that Williams has prosecuted the most police officers in Philadelphia’s DA history and has made Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office a model for the United States (before the charges of corruption) as he stated in his press conference on February 10th.

History Teacher Daniel Symonds, who was previously detained by Philadelphia police during a protest, had some strong views about the current DA and Philadelphia’s future DA. Symonds believes that “Seth Williams is not a representative of the justice in the city, he prosecutes the wrong people and avoid the prosecution of the right people.”

When Symonds was asked who he supports for DA, he said, “I don’t know all of them, but I know one person that I strongly support and he talks about broadly about justice is not simply about an issue or policing but also of economics.”

Symonds is referring to Attorney Larry Krasner. Symonds believe Krasner is “the candidate that most represent a city that treats people fairly regardless of their skin, economic background or place of birth.”

Symonds and Krasner have had a positive encounter. Symonds did mention that he has not casted his vote yet and will not cast his vote until he does all the research on all candidates.

Symonds was a little disappointed when I told him that students around SLA students did not know who the DA was nor who was running.

“The District Attorney position matters a lot, people who are feeling pressured because of the District Attorney, people who are closely in contact with the police and the justice system know who Seth Williams is.”

He recognized that the reason students don’t know about the role is because of their lack of contact with the legal system.

“The DA is a kind of position, you can ignore its importance, but one day it’s going to have an impact,” he said. “Not knowing the District Attorney might be a function of your privilege of not needing to know about the DA.”

Students Who Succeed in Business at SLA

February 15, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Tamir Harper

Staff Writer

As you walk through the halls of Science Leadership Academy you may bump shoulders with a for profit Chief Executive Officer or a non profit Executive Director.

No, this article is not about the men and women that Jeremy gives tours to. These leaders are the students of SLA. Many students have started different initiatives — both nonprofit and companies that seeking to make a profit around an industry that is booming.

From Spectator to Journalist

The Co-Founder & Manager of the Empire, Benjamin Simon, gives us the inside of running his very popular blog.

“The Empire specializes in giving the public an in depth perspective into the City 6 of Philadelphia,” he explained. “We analyze the fabulous college basketball teams of Temple, Villanova, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, La Salle, and Drexel.”

According to the Empire website, the blog is staffed by many previous and current students of Science Leadership Academy. Simon states that “the Empire has 11 total staff members and a photographer, Luke Risher, who attends games.” The Empire also employs three editors, Benjamin Simon, Will, and Benjamin Boswell, a recent graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University.

When Simon found the inspiration for his website directly from the SLA Curriculum. “I went to a journalism conference almost two years ago,” and “was inspired to begin my own blog with Co-Founder Will.”

They decided to focus on Philadelphia’s 6 college basketball teams so that the Empire would have a specialty focus.

From Techie to Specialist

Many people in the SLA community know Jahmar Askew for fixing phones around the building. Just about a year ago Mr. Askew launched official. He started a GoFundMe to begin purchasing supplies and posted flyers around the building. Jahmar Askew is now the Chief Executive Officer of his own cell phone repair business.

When asked about his plans for the company he said he hopes to “satisfy all customers with a decent product, enhance his experience of ‘The iPhone’ and also help others get the understand of what phones are capable of.”

Askew is by far one of the cheapest repairmen around the City of Philadelphia. His prices vary from $80-$130. The lowest being the iPhones 5/5s/5c/SE making the iPhone 6 $100, 6 Plus $110, 6s $120, 6s Plus $130.

From Student to Activist

Junior Luke Risher, is the leader of SLA’s chapter of the Philadelphia Student Union with other students launch a student led Nonprofit to advocate for a quality and efficient urban education. UrbEd has a goal of changing the urban education system by 2026. The UrbEd website tells visitors their five key projects that they focus on, which vary from school donations to working to recruit more diverse teachers.

For More Information

If you are interested in learning more about UrbEd or would like to donate visit UEAdvocates.Org.

The Empire can be found at www.theempireofphilacollegebball.com.
To support Jahmar Askew cell phone repair business him via email at Jaskew@scienceleadership.org or on Instagram at Marfromphilly.

Lt. Governor Stack Visits SLA

February 14, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

by Kia DaSilva

Co-editor in chief

On Thursday, February 2nd, Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack made a low-profile visit to SLA. With bodyguards in tow, but without much pomp or circumstance, he represented Governor Tom Wolfe as he toured our school. A Philadelphia native and advocate of STEM, he seemed eager to understand SLA’s unique educational model and chose us specifically for that reason.

“We’re trying to encourage young people to really be involved in Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering,” Stack explained. “I had heard about this great school, and I had always wanted to see it and meet you young people and see what you’re doing.”

As the visit progressed, he visited two STEM classes (11th grade Physics and 9th grade BioChem) and appeared pleased by the school, joking that his briefing to the Governor about the visit would turn into a two-hour meeting because of all that he saw.

In terms of his politics, Stack has a lot of ideas for changing our state’s struggling education system. He’s in support of dedicated funding for education, saying that “The politicization of education is what’s holding us back in the city and in the country.”

A staunch advocate for local control of the district, likely stemming from his mother’s career on the Philadelphia school board years ago, he spoke out against the state-run School Reform Commission.

“I’ve been a person who’s wanted to get rid of the SRC for a number of years and I’ve proposed legislation to do it because when my mom was on the board of education,” he said. “Things weren’t perfect, but most of the decisions were left in the hands of local government.”

The SRC, founded as part of a state takeover of Philadelphia’s school district to address fiscal crises in 2001, has received much criticism from school officials, teachers, students, and legislators.

Current SLA students may take the school’s oddities for granted, but Stack emphasized the value of bringing stories about schools like SLA to the discussion about Philadelphia’s management abilities:

“There’s this notion across the state of Pennsylvania that we have big problems in Philadelphia, that none of our kids are getting educated and that we’re not focused on the future,” Stack said.

“I always tell them they’re wrong and that it’s a generalization, it’s a stereotype, and they’re incorrect. So anytime I can get together with our kids I can tell those stories.”

Students might complain about the constant visitors, but those visit reflect the fact that the school continues to be used as a model.

Stack underscored this message, saying that “Science Leadership Academy is a great magnet school that we can hold up as an example of great things going on.”

Editorial: Our Uncensored Thoughts On EduCon

February 14, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

EduCon is one of Science Leadership Academy’s prized events. Educators from across the country file into SLA’s 5-story building to see students at work. The school is packed to the brink as people roam around in awe of the work being done. From people who aren’t directly involved, the event seems wonderful and perfect. And it is, to an extent.

It is an amazing event where educators get the opportunity to see a unique, ground breaking school. It is also a chance for students to interact with people from different schools, parts of the country, and perspectives that they are not used to.

However, everything is not always so perfect from our daily school days here. It is clear that the school significantly improves when EduCon happens. All the bathrooms suddenly have soap, paper towels, and there are signs on the doors. Everything is clean and the walls are plastered with students’ work. It’s not even a surprise to see a Rocket mascot walking around. Suddenly there’s school spirit in a school that can’t get 10 people to dress up for “80’s themed day.”

Students feel they are put on display. They are thrown into the spotlight and obligated to talk to every visitor they see. The visitors expect to hear about how great our SLA experience is but this puts us in a tough position. While SLA is a great school, it is not 100% perfect. No school is. But when visitors of EduCon come, students are forced to toe the line between always making the school look good and giving them a true sense of what goes on in the school.

While no one is telling students they should lie, no one wants to throw their school under the bus. As a result, everything feels forced on to the students. Even though some of that is good, like the short improvements to the bathrooms and hallways, students are not always comfortable with the way they are shown off.

It is also no secret that EduCon funds a lot of SLA’s resources, however, there is a way that students can have a better EduCon experience. This could start with receiving many of the basic advantages that EduCon provides, like a clean bathroom, on a daily basis. At the same time, students’ feelings are not always considered. EduCon is a great function and allows them to see how much their work means to themselves and the people around them. However, it would be more mindful towards the students’ feelings. In such a big, dynamic, and overwhelming event, students’ standpoints are not always considered. Amongst all of the importance in these couple days, we are the last fiddle.

Although it is understandable why the school acts the way it does, there could be more empathy for the SLA students during EduCon. That would make everything truly perfect.

Unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the student editorial board.

Movie Review: I Admit It, I’m A Weenie

February 14, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Fatu Castillo

Staff Writer

I’ll be the first to admit that I, Fatu Castillo, am a weenie.

There, I said it, you can write it on my tombstone but I just don’t have the nerves for horror movies. Dark hallway with flickering lights? Nope. A poorly lit room filled with mannequins? Nope. Creepy looking antique dolls that move mysteriously? Nope.

Call me any name you want but I’ve learned to take anything mildly scary as a serious threat; I’d rather not have a heart attack when some demonic monster jumps onto the screen.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I could sit through Split without dying.

I went into this movie thinking that this movie was going to be a complete horror-fest.

The trailer made it look like there was going to be some kind of weird transformation, a little bit a cannibalism, and something happening with a dead buck.

And none of that stuff ever really came up during the movie. I mean, it happened but I never got see any of it. Yes, the bad guy did transform into some kind of monster but it was in a dark room. Yes, someone did munch on someone else but I couldn’t see the gore. And yes, there was a scene with a dead buck but it was hunting related.

There really wasn’t any horror going on in the movie, I felt relieved because I’m a Weenie and was misled because the trailer made it out to be the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So the trailer wasn’t the best thing to go by on what to expect, go figure. Overall, the movie wasn’t that scary to watch; if it had been then I wouldn’t have been able to watch it.

To start off, the plot had more holes than a broken, abandoned street in the middle of a ghost-town. There’s a scene where the obvious escape route was completely ignored in favor for an arbitrary reason. A character claims to be bullet proof, yet still feels the need to dodge said bullets and not charge at his intended victim. Several obvious instances where the bad guy can be killed yet no know thinks to pick up the newest sharp object and do it.

And my personal favorite, an old woman, who was fairly logical up until this point, goes off in the middle of the night to check if everything is okay, knowing there might be danger, but decides to keep her mouth shut and bring backup.

You know what I’m talking about, avoidable stuff.

But aside from some, a lot, of obvious mistakes, it was entertaining to watch. It didn’t exactly come off as the horror movie it was marketed as but something closer to a suspenseful mystery.

I had to keep track a background details like some desert conspiracy theorist to piece together what the heck was happening. There’s a lot of backstory that I needed to pay attention to otherwise nothing would’ve made sense. Though it started getting tiring after the movie tossed me seemingly key backstory without any context whatsoever for the fiftieth time, but that’s just me.

And the ending was a piece of work, I left feeling happy that at somebody survived yet exhausted knowing that a sequel probably gonna come out in the next couple of years, joy.

So would Split be worth your ticket fare? Probably not, if you’re looking to pee your pants, you might wanna save it to see Get Out or Rings. But yes, if you’d like to be at edge of your theater seat noting down minute details and trying to piece together a puzzle.