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Movie Review: Upstaged by a Talking Sausage

December 23, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Fatu Castillo

Staff Writer

Hands down, without any competition, Laika entertainment Studios is the best in the movie making industry when it comes to producing stop-motion films. Artists at Laika work their gluteus maximus’ off modeling puppets, making individual faces for characters, and creating sets.

Even if the name doesn’t ring any bells, you’ve probably seen at least one of their feature films. whether it be the nightmare inducing Coraline, the surprisingly emotional ParaNorman, or the family-oriented Boxtrolls.

Now their newest film, Kubo and the Two Strings, has joined their ranks after five years of production.

And I have to say, it’s a pretty epic movie.

The story starts off intense; a full moon looms in a windy night sky as waves crash around a tiny, rickety boat. I was filled with anxiety as the boat comes into focus and I realized that it holds a mother and her infant child. It gets worse as a great wave curls onto the scene, ready to smash the tiny boat to bits, I thought I might have a heart attack.

Saraitu, the mother and a supporting character, manages to split the oncoming wave using a burst of magic played off a shamisen. For a brief moment, I was filled with pure relief as the wind stopped howling and the waves calmed.

Until I saw the massive tidal wave forming behind the boat, the one Saraitu couldn’t see. This one did hit the boat, smashed it to pieces, and left mother and child to the ferocity of the ocean.

They both manage to survive, by some luck of the universe, but just barely.

After nearly having a heart attack, passing out from relief, and having my heart split in half only to have it fixed again: I was hooked.

For the rest of the movie I watched eagerly as Kubo dutifully cared for his mother and told stories in his village to seek out a living, laughed at the endless banter between Monkey and Beetle, two supporting characters, and smiled when it was revealed how Sarai and her husband, Hanzo, fell in love.

Turns out they had tried to kill each other, though that didn’t take away from the romance.

The whole movie had me on an emotional rollercoaster, from laughing to crying to holding my breath over the wellbeing of a talking beetle.

Which is why I was so heartbroken when I learned my new favorite movie had been upstaged by a talking sausage that can’t go 5 minutes without cursing.

As fantastic as a movie like Kubo and the Two Strings is, and it is really fantastic, it had to go up against giants on it’s opening weekend. Giants like Suicide Squad and, you guessed it, Sausage Party. Kubo and the Two Strings had a budget of $60 million and only made $12 million on its opening weekend.

We have to support good storytelling and animation when it arises, otherwise we’ll be stuck watching the same CGI explosions and listening to the same profanity.

Freshmen Feelings

December 20, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lauren Nicolella

Staff Writer

Transitioning into high school is a big step for anyone. Leaving your friends, meeting new teachers, and going to a different building for the next four years of your life can really take a toll on someone. Adjusting to the new amount of school work is different, especially with being at a project-based school with a different setup than other public schools in Philadelphia.

A survey was sent out to the freshmen students containing seven questions about their first benchmark season and difficulty of their classes. The results show how freshmen are feeling about their first year of high school so far

In one of the questions, it was settled that English was the challenging class for a large portion of the surveyed freshman students. Out of every single class, Mr. Kay and Ms. Giknis seemed to be the most difficult for many freshmen.

When asked what would you do for yourself in the future, a majority of freshmen answered time and stress management. These two stressors play into each other, especially during benchmark season. It’s interesting that early on, freshmen are able to recognize what habits they should probably change as they go through high school.

Another question, asking about being satisfied with their social life at SLA at the moment, had pleasing results showing that more than 80% of freshmen admitted that they were happy. If you have a solid group of people around you who are willing to help and support you, there is nothing more you could ask for.

Especially since we are project-based, it is good to talk to everyone. You could potentially be paired with someone you’ve never talked to before. Everyone is most-likely going to be added into a group with a different person at least once, so it wouldn’t hurt to be friendly.

The below pie charts show the rest of the questions as well as the percentages of what was said by the 65+ freshmen who answered.

first-benchmark

Column: The School Store

December 20, 2016 by lpahomov 1 Comment

Ella Petersen

Staff Writer

I am one of the loyal customers of the school store, the room full of food run by all volunteers, one of the really admirable things about SLA’s fundraising. They have a variety of options, from brownies to Doritos. If I forget to pack a lunch, it is a life saver…or a really bad decision.

There have been many days where I rush out of the house and forget my lunch or forget to make one altogether. On these days, I take a visit to the school store. Because I’m a runner I need a lot of food throughout the day in order to make up for all the calories I burn. When I walk inside the store, I am met with a variety of junk food options. I proceed to stock up on all the chips, lollipops, and rice krispie treats my wallet will allow.

Don’t get me wrong, I love junk food just as much as the next teenager, but I need something more sustainable that doesn’t make me feel sick later in the day or groggy when I’m at practice. I think that if we could add a few healthier options, while not changing anything else, we would have a variety of all types of food in the store: more granola bars, maybe some fruit, and trail mix that isn’t all M&Ms.

I am a big fan of the school store and I will continue to go there regardless of the food they have, but I would like to see a change in the food there. I think that if there were healthier options, it would help the business thrive even further.

Youthful Girls’ Basketball Team Prepared To Head into 2016-17 Season

December 16, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Benjamin Simon

Sports Editor

Three years ago, coach Erin Giorgio compiled one of the best girls’ basketball teams in the Public League. After opening up the season 7-0, the Science Leadership Academy Rockets finished the regular season 9-3 and earned themselves a playoff appearance. A year later, while in the top division, the team went 7-7 in the regular season and ended the year on a 5-1 run.

But after losing multiple seniors and two transfers last year, the team struggled, ending the regular season with a 2-12 record. Following a tough season, there isn’t a better time for coach Giorgio’s harpings on team unity. This comes naturally for her, as she has been organizing, coaching, and playing sports for as long as she could remember–although her history is largely with a sport other than basketball.

“When I grew up, I recognized there were a lot of basketball teams out there,” Giorgio said, who is a native of Long Island, New York. “When I started playing lacrosse, I really found that was more of my speed. And I was really disappointed that it wasn’t available in my town. So when I was in 10th grade, I started a Police Athletic League [program] for girls’ lacrosse in my town.”

The experience taught Giorgio some of the resilience she shows in her work with the SLA girls’ team.

“We initially didn’t have enough girls for the first team,” she explained. “We had a clinic of, I think, ten kids that first year, of kids who were going into third and fourth grade. And then the following year we had a couple teams. By the time I left for college, my dad took over managing the program and I think we had two teams per age group, so we had six teams.”

Despite playing varsity basketball for two years in high school, where she was a defensive stopper, lacrosse was where coach Giorgio had the most success. She thrived, earning a spot on Yale’s Division 1 women’s lacrosse team. While she played pickup and intramural with her friends during college, she really didn’t get back into basketball until she came to SLA, where she has built one of the public league’s most successful programs in recent years.

The team began as a junior varsity team during her first year at the school and the next year, they advanced to the varsity level, but had trouble competing. It wasn’t uncommon for them to lose by 65 or 70 points on a regular basis. But years of intensity and continued growth have helped to further advance the girls’ basketball tradition at SLA.

“I think [the program] has gone in waves,” Giorgio added. “When I first got here, kids were used to not showing up to practice regularly. It definitely took a couple years to get kids on board. When the class of 2015 came in [as freshmen], that was our first class where I had kids showing up on a consistent basis. It wasn’t the only class…but that was the first time we had a more kids showing up regularly and really committing to playing basketball and not just being on the team. Then over the course of the years, we’ve built. And again, now as we’ve added Beeber the last couple years, it has been great being able to work with both campuses. Now as Beeber is in its fourth year we have a lot more kids interested in playing and our talent level has gone up.”

One of the toughest parts has been installing the 6:30 AM practices every morning at Greenfield.

“When you practice every morning at 6:30, you’re either in or out,” she commented. “You’re not going to show up at 6:30 if you don’t really care about it. You’re in or out and that’s it. I’m sure we’d have some different players if practice was after school. But I like what we have and we have a really good, dedicated group of kids. And unlike other teams, we only have an hour and fifteen minutes everyday.”

Early morning practices are all part of her message to the players about learning how to better themselves through sports.

“Building character through sport and having kids learn real life lessons through playing basketball [is important to me,]” she added. “I want them to recognize the transfer that basketball or sports has on other aspects of their life and the importance of having a growth mindset. When you make a mistake, don’t shut down. Learn from your mistake and do better. [I like] having kids be able to take leadership positions in sports in a way that they oftentimes don’t feel confident in the classroom. I think being a coach is a great opportunity to see kids excel in many different aspects of their life. So a kid I may teach in math class, that might not be their most confident area, but then all of a sudden I see them step onto the basketball court and I get to see them in a different light.”

Junior guard Tia Roberts also commented on Giorgio’s intensity and how she instills a lot of the principles she teaches.

“Ms. Giorgio is very aggressive and she has an [impactful] voice,” said Roberts. “She makes you run a lot.”

Junior forward Madison Harris agreed, adding to coach Giorgio’s pet peeves.

“She focuses on hustling,” said Harris. “It really bothers her if we don’t run back. If we miss a lot of layups at a time, that bothers her. [Bad] attitudes bother her too.”

However, this year, the early morning practices are more important than ever. With no seniors and only two returning starters, the team will be youthful. In preparation for their first game, coach Giorgio and her coaching staff of Wynetta Ward, the mother of Phoenix and Nile Ward, and tech room worker, SJ, who previously coached girls basketball at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, are working tirelessly for one hour and fifteen minutes everyday to help get the team ready.

“We dropped down a league from last year, and I think that if we play up to our potential, we should be leading this league,” Giorgio said. “And I’m hopeful that’s what we do. Then when we go into playoffs, we play against the teams from the higher league and show them how much we’ve grown as a team.”

After last year, Roberts has higher expectations for the team as a collective unit.

“I want everyone to flow better and be able to work together throughout the whole season,” Roberts said. “We have some good people and some people that require more improvement and I feel like we can’t just single out people who need improvement. We all need to find a medium where we all communicate and work together.”

Giorgio’s tone is noticeably echoed by captains Roberts and Alexis Perkins. Roberts is a defensive specialist and a really good motivator. She is an extension of Ms. Giorgio on the court. Similar to Roberts, Perkins is an extremely hard worker with raw basketball talent, who “does a great job of finding the open lane,” according to Giorgio

A young player with extreme athleticism, Karrine Tucker is another major piece coming back this season. As one of the two returning starters, she has legit college basketball potential and will be relied on for lots of scoring and steals this season.

“She has so much potential,” Roberts said of Tucker. “If she puts her mind to it, she can definitely dominate this season.”

Harris added another player that feels like could play a big role this season.

“I have big expectations for Diamond [Wallace],” said Harris. “She is a freshman. She is really good, but she likes to make sure people don’t look bad while they’re playing. She tries to make sure everything is perfect. She can’t do that; someone is going to mess up. But overall, I think she’s a good player and her head is in the right place.”

Harris will also play a major role on team. After not playing much her freshman season, Harris emerged as the sixth man last year as an attacking and rebounding big. Although they are in good hands, the team is still trying to establish a starting point that will push them to the next level. But that’s all part of the process.

“The team is much younger,” Giorgio said. “I think, in some weird ways, we’re faster and taller…I think we’re really quick. I think defensively, putting on some pressure, we can end up with a lot of steals. We’ll play some really aggressive defense up and down the court.”

The Rockets open up their season this Friday at Math, Civics & Sciences.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Shuter

Finishing Third In the Disney Half Marathon

December 14, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Meymey Seng

Staff Writer

Covering 13.1 miles in the incredible time of 1:21:22 was done by Jeremy Spry! Every year he runs the Disney Half Marathon in California. He has the determination of trying his best before going each time. With all his hard work, he managed to earn the place of being the third male in his age group to finish!

“I was excited. I was really happy. It was an unexpected thing,” said Excellence Coordinator Jeremy Spry. “The race went off and I was running my hardest. I thought I had a good chance of winning my age group and then between hard work and luck, it kind of worked out. It was really cool.” One of the most thrilling things was that he was running alongside Jenny Simpson, an Olympic medalist who got bronze in the 1,500 meter RIO, representing the U.S. “I got to talk to her and I talked to her about SLA and about Students Run Philly Style.”

The Very Beginning

As a big fan of sports, he played ultimate frisbee during high school and college. After he graduated from college, he decided he no longer wanted to play ultimate frisbee, but he still wanted to be apart of a team. Eight years ago, when he first started working at SLA, he noticed Students Run Philly Style posters hung around the school by former Physics Teacher Rosalind Echols. Seeing those posters, he automatically wanted to be a part of it.

Jeremy remembered sitting in his house, before coming to Philadelphia, and seeing the New York City marathon pass by every year. From then on, he always wanted to run a marathon. “The furthest I’ve ever traveled to run was Washington State as a part of a relay race,” Jeremy said.

The Transformation

When Jeremy first started training with Students Run, it was very difficult. After he ran his first marathon, he admitted that he would’ve never wanted to run again. Although, he had already signed up for the Walt Disney World marathon and realized that it was a lot easier to stay in shape than to get back into shape. Now, he has run about twenty-seven half marathons and twenty-two full marathons, all in the span of eight years! After more years of being with Students Run, which starts back up in March, he noticed how running was able to transform students. The students were able to gain the confidence to run marathons at the ages of 15, 16, and 17. They could later use that confidence to succeed in life.

Running became his favorite. He loves running, loves making kids run, and generally loves everything about running; it’s a part of his identity. He has ran many races and the furthest he’s ever traveled to run was for a race called the Ragnar Relay. “We ran from near Canada all the way down to Washington State. We were a relay team that covered about 200 miles in twenty-seven hours.”

Favorite Thing About Running

“My favorite thing is watching people become more healthy, both mentally and physically. Running is not something that could be faked, it’s clear that you get what you put into it,” said Jeremy Spry. ”I believe that everyone can run because most of the time, if someone has the ability to walk, there is a ninety-nine percent chance that they would be able to run.”

One of the biggest transformations that he loves to see is when people say that they’re not able to run a mile to being able to run Broad Street Run, half marathon, or full marathon.

“I love what the Philadelphia marathon represents. I love Students Run Philly Style and I love the next day after the marathon weekend when everyone comes in with their medals and their shirts. It’s like finally over and everyone’s happy.”

Making Everyone Proud

Many different members of the SLA community are impressed with Spry and everything he has accomplished.

“The one thing you will always hear Jeremy say is, ‘I love running!’ And he really does. Nothing makes him happier,” said English teacher Amal Giknis. “He’s super fast, too, so his photos are always awesome and show him all alone on a really cool course.”

Science Teacher and fellow Students Run Philly Style Coach Shannon McCullough agrees. “He is a very committed athlete who demonstrates both persistence and endurance. These are two key ingredients for any long distance runner. As for his performance in the Disney marathon, I’m not surprised at all.”

“I think it’s amazing that he was able to place third in the race, especially since it was a half-marathon. I know he’s run so many full and half marathons, and that makes me feel inspired and motivated to have someone like him as a coach,” said sophomore and participant in Students Run Lauren Nicolella. “It’s also cool to see that Jeremy is spreading his knowledge and skills to kids on the running team, helping them to improve with not only their running, but with their attitude and mentality towards running in general.”

“I am incredibly proud of him. It makes me so happy to call him my running coach. He’s so hardworking and deserves the recognition,” said junior and participant in Students Run Kaamil Jones.

“I was thankful for him before, but this is like icing on the cake.”