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What’s Up With Volleyball?

October 15, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Mekhi Granby

Staff Writer

So, what’s new with girl’s volleyball this year?

For the girl’s volleyball team here at Science Leadership Academy, this team is unique. According to coach Karina Hirschfield, a lot is different this time around.

“This is a real strong team, one of the strongest I’ve had,” says Hirschfield. Despite it being the beginning of the school year, this says a lot about the determination and focus of the team. In particular, Hirschfield definitely sees a great amount of potential in this year’s team.

“This year, the 14 player roster lost one of their best setters, Malwina Dymek, who was on the team for four years,” Hirschfield says. “The team has recovered from the loss with talented freshmen. We started the season playing harder teams, not like previous years.”

The team practices multiple times per week, including the weekends. No other team in the fall practices on their weekends. Because of this, the players has to juggle their courses and still play the game they enjoy.

“I have to learn how to use my time wisely and I have to do my work basically everywhere I go, on the trolley and on the bus,” says Senior Siawale Vesslee. “I also lose a lot of sleep. I have to learn how to use my time wisely, and I like that it’s a big team and we have become like a family of sisters.”

As a student athlete, one has to deal with sleep deprivation and school work. When someone has a lot on their plate, it often stresses them out.

This year, Vesslee feels the team has the skillset to compete, but they have to work on their communication.

“I think that being a part of the team is the best,” she said. “I know we have the skills to make it to the championship playoffs this year.”

Senior Jamira Terrell became a member of the SLA’s volleyball team this year. She states she’s been playing all around positions since 5th grade and settled into outside hitter from 8th grade and now here at SLA.

Jamira practices everyday to build strength and endurance even when we are not in an official practice. “I feel practice makes me a better person overall. Like the saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect.’”

Terrell agrees with Vesslee that the team has a few downfalls.

“Coming from a division one team I feel we need more team cooperation especially during disagreements,” says Terrell. “More team decisions rather than just captain decisions.”
The team currently has a 5-4 record and has the championship on their mind. Their last two games of the regular season are on Tuesday, October 18th against Bodine and Thursday, October 20th against George Washington.

Guide to SLA Running. Where Do You Belong?

October 14, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Aaron Watson-Sharer

Sports Editor

When fall comes around, our running teams aren’t being eased into the sport like how we are into a sleep schedule. They’re in the thick of their seasons committed to their teams. Science Leadership Academy has two major running teams in the fall, cross country and Students Run. We got the opportunity to ask SLA’s best runners some questions. For example, as a runner, what team are you best suited for? How do these teams recruit for the fall season before the school year? These are just some of the questions we aimed to solve.

Cross country is a sport that is running on a terrain as a team. Terrain means grass, dirt, hills or any similar surface. Students run on the other hand, is distance training. Students run is an organization that prides itself on youth development through distance running. Their season last from March until November to partake in the Philadelphia Marathon. As a marathon is 26.2 miles long, a common competitive cross country run is five kilometers, or just north of three miles. Cross country assistant coach Daniel Symonds that “cross country has more of a focus on competition and team building.”

If they’re both running, what could be different? They can be distinguished through practice. Students Run practices mostly consist of mileage and endurance training. Corrs country practices have a variety of routines. Like hills, distance training, ab workouts and sprints. Cross country has much more team oriented practices that revolve around many physically challenging tasks while Students Run strictly builds endurance.

Where they do meet is in recruiting. As a public school, we can’t directly recruit middle schoolers to Science Leadership for the intention of playing a sport. Instead, both teams go old school, get the word out person to person hoping someone has the drive to join. Kobe says “a few people join the team, and then they convince their friends to join.”

Senior runner Kobe Nabried feels better suited for Students Run because he is a long distance runner and feels the training Students Run offers cater to his running skillset. On the other hand, Captain Tomas Arango says cross country pushes him more to be a superior runner. They both play for different teams, but they both share the common goal of striving for greatness.

A runner at SLA should pick their team based on personal passions. Not just the love to run, but how they wish to utilize their ability. If your aim is to run the marathon and Race for the Cure, join Students Run, they’ll help you get there. If you want to play a sport that’s more high school competition based, join Cross country.

Boys Soccer Wins as a Team

October 14, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Saamir Baker

Staff Writer

The heat settles into the bleachers and the soccer field, as the SLA men’s soccer team gathers in a huddle before their game versus Benjamin Franklin High school. In preparation, co-captain Jori Gervani gave a heartfelt speech that he gives before every game.”

Listen up, I want to see 100% passes, 100% effort and we’re gonna go out there as a TEAM. Most of all we’re gonna go out there and have fun and play the game we love.” “Team on 3!” The team is energized, and the team storms of the field, hungry for their first victory.

On Wednesday, September 15th, the SLA men’s soccer team won their first game in a blowout 15-0 against Benjamin Franklin High School. Coach Mark Johnson, who is new this year as SLA’s soccer coach, helped guide the team to victory. This was their first win of the season after losing their first two games., respectively. This win provided the boys with the confidence they needed to take on this season.

“We just really needed this win to continue our season. We played some of the best teams in our division. “We needed this one to stay with the best, we needed this on to stay alive,” said Jori Gervani.

“Ben Franklin may have not been the best team, but this game was a big confidence booster for all. Ben Franklin used to be better. That team was clearly up to play, and they clearly were in the same situation as us and lost a lot of seniors. They even beat us 11-0 last year,” said Junior William Figueiredo.

They all knew this season would prove to be a hard one. The Rockets had just lost 9 of their core players from last year, in an amazing season run that let them advance from C to B division that has left them fighting to stay in A division, the city’s best division. As a result, they are facing better teams than last year.
Though all odds are stacked against them with a new line-up of players ranging from a few seniors all the way down to freshman, they’ve adjusted pretty we’ll for not having a coach in school. Their mission is to hang with the best and enjoy hanging with the best. There are 7 games left in the season.

New Teacher Profile: Joselyn Hernandez

October 14, 2016 by lpahomov 2 Comments

Maddi Etxebeste

Staff Writer

This year we have four new teachers at Science Leadership Academy, including Spanish teacher Joselyn Hernandez. She will teach Spanish 1 and 2, as well as some Rosetta Stone classes, in room 209.

With Puerto Rican origins, she grew up in a Latino neighborhood in North Philadelphia. She currently lives in Olney.

Previous Schools

She attended St. Hugh of Cluny, a Catholic School near Fairhill, in North Philadelphia, and then Bodine High School. Her experience at Bodine High School was very different from what she sees at SLA. For example, at Bodine she wore an obligatory uniform and the teaching method was much more traditional. There was one similarity, however: her Physical Education teacher at Bodine was Ms. Martin! (She taught at Bodine before coming to SLA eight years ago).

Before SLA, Ms. Hernandez taught at Philadelphia’s Military High School which is much smaller that SLA, which she liked.

Getting Used to SLA

As her mentor, Spanish Teacher Melanie Manuel said that the transition has been manageable for Ms. Hernandez.

“The most difficult thing for her has been to get used to SLA, not to teaching Spanish, because she had already done it before, but all the new teachers receive preparatory classes to get to know how SLA works.”

Ms. Hernandez agreed. “The most confusing thing when I arrived was the teaching method, but I got integrated in the school more easily thanks to my new colleagues, who were welcoming and helpful, and made me feel in a comfortable work environment.”

She likes SLA because she has the chance to experiment with something different than what she was used to. In addition, she likes her pupils; she describes them as hard-working and smart students. She wants, from the beginning, to create a strong relationship with them.

Teaching Methods

Her teaching methods vary, and include group tasks and collaboration between students. Her curriculum and Manuel’s are the same, both because they teach the same subject and and because they both enjoy music and dance, which they use to supplement their lessons. “She especially likes singing!” said Ms. Manuel. Ms. Hernandez would like to open a sort of “singing club” and do things with students outside of the school if she had the opportunity.

New Teacher Profile: Morgan Bushnell

October 14, 2016 by lpahomov 7 Comments

Lauren Nicolella

Staff Writer

This year, Science Leadership Academy gained four new teachers. One of them is math teacher Morgan Bushnell. Ms. Bushnell took over Ms. Thompson’s former responsibility of teaching geometry and also teaches statistics. She has exceptional excitement and motivation to teach her new students.

Starting Off

Ms. Bushnell used to work at a very different school : KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy located in West Philadelphia. She taught 9th-11th grade mathematics, so she has had previous experience teaching high school students.

“I’m constantly looking for ways to make content more interesting,” said Ms. Bushnell.

Confusion and Struggles

What is she most confused about? “The schedule is the most confusing part. As a new teacher, I’m learning different traditions and how things work as I go, and so it can be confusing at times when I’m like, ‘Oh, there wasn’t a specific email sent to me, about how to do this certain thing.’ But, you know, I’m learning as I go so, I’m getting less confused every single day.”

As for challenges, Ms. Bushnell noted high temperatures in her classroom — one of the windowless rooms lacking air-conditioning on the 5th floor — and how it was not something she was expecting. “I have sweaters that go with all of my outfits, so now like I don’t get to wear any of my sweaters just because it’s so hot!” She laughed. “I was expecting it to be a lot cooler.”

Help is On the Way!

Mrs. Giorgio talked about hearing Ms. Bushnell’s more challenging experiences at her previous job, and reflected a bit on how she’s lucky that she genuinely enjoys her job at SLA as the Algebra 1 and Geometry teacher.

“It’s really interesting getting to know what her experience is like, so I think from hearing some of her experiences that were negative, it helps me to put some things in perspective,” Mrs. Giorgio stated. “ I really enjoy being here [at SLA], but at times you get frustrated with the little things.“

Mrs. Giorgio has been by her side this whole time helping out with lesson plans, benchmark ideas, receiving feedback, and much more. As Ms. Bushnell continues to adjust to our ways, she keeps herself motivated and students are greatly appreciating her positive support.

“She communicates effectively and asks any questions if she has them and she models that kind of behavior for her students, too. If she doesn’t know something, she’s not afraid to ask about it.” said Mrs. Giorgio.

Student Acceptance

When asked about her experience in Geometry class so far and how it compared to other years, sophomore Kimberly Gucciardi Kreigh responded:

“So far she has refreshed my perspective on math, giving me a fresh attitude and a safe environment to get help with any problems I have. Lots of students tend to struggle with math, including myself, so it’s great to see someone new who is up to taking a big challenge.”

Bushnell has already been welcomed with open arms by the students. Two seniors gifted her with extra Beyonce tickets they won in the raffle for the show on September 29th.

All in all, Ms. Bushnell seems very excited and motivated to be teaching at Science Leadership Academy and to experience her first year here in a project-based school.