Features

Braylon Dunlap

Staff Writer

As many people know, there are a few new additions to SLA’s staff this year with a brand new member being History Teacher Alexis Clancy. If you’re in her advisory or African American history class you may have already met her but there are some other interesting things about Ms. Clancy that not everyone will know about. 

It may not come as a surprise that teaching is Ms. Clancy’s passion. Ever since middle school she says she has wanted to be a teacher and she very much enjoys her job. Despite that though she still has other passions like music. In high school, she said she was a total theater kid but strayed away from it once she became an adult. 

Ms. Clancy hasn’t always lived in Philadelphia. She is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania but came to Philadelphia for college. 

“I went to a Temple for secondary education with a focus on social studies, and I knew that I wanted to stay in state for college but I wanted to be in a city and I didn’t want to go to Pittsburgh, so Philadelphia was my next option.”

 While Ms. Clancy acts super outgoing and talkative as a teacher, she was actually quiet and shy in college.  

“I feel like there are so many things y’all wouldn’t know about me,” she said. “I used to have a lot of stage fright. I think a lot of students see my happy and kind of out there presence in class, I think teaching helped me with that. Now I just chat everyone’s ears off.” 

Now that she’s a teacher in the school district, she has full days and even fuller evenings.

When school ends, Ms. Clancy explained, “I go home, I immediately get off the subway and go to the tech center building on Temple’s campus and try to do work for 2-3 hours and then I walk back to my apartment, shower, and just try to get my life together then hang out with my roommate.”

Just like the Freshman, Ms. Clancy is developing her first impressions of SLA, and they are positive.   

Nearly all students take their work very seriously,”  she said.  “And I find the kids have a lot of personality and a lot of confidence, although sometimes that can lead to too much and some disruption in class.” 

Even with that, the school culture is Ms. Clancy’s favorite aspect of SLA. It allows the students to interact with each other and push themselves to achieve goals they might have not thought they could achieve.

Students and staff alike seem to enjoy Ms. Clancy’s presence in the school.  “The staff are very welcoming and friendly, as compared to other schools where your new coworkers can be a little intimidating,” she said. 

“She is a great person, I would have to say she’s a caring soul and I hope she doesn’t get burned out through teaching,’ said Health and Physical Education teacher Mr. Bracy who is also her fellow advisor. 

 “She’s really nice and I feel like she understands us because she is younger,” said Freshman Fern Duffy, who is in her African American History class.

Ms. Clancy’s energy and enthusiasm are also a part of why she was hired.

 “She gave a fantastic interview, she was clearly really smart and knowledgeable about the culture at SLA, and her energy and enthusiasm really shone through,” said Principal Mr. Lehmann. 

By Maya Smelser

Staff Writer

SLA recently welcomed Spanish teacher Mercedes Broughton-Garcia, or Ms. Garcia to her students. After spending 7 years as a science teacher next door at Ben Franklin High School, she is transitioning to life at SLA.

Background & Family Life

“That’s a loaded question,” Ms. Garcia replied when asked where she was from. 

When she moved to the US, she was in an English learning class, where “little by little it gradually added more English, until 4th grade when it was completely immersed in English.”

Being that she was born in Ecuador, Spanish was her first language. She explained that her parents, “don’t speak much English, so it is definitely the dominant language in our house.” 

In her free time, Ms. Garcia enjoys playing board games, cooking and baking, and being with her family.

She was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and lived there until the age of 6. Her family then decided to move to the United States, settling in West Chester County, New York, located outside the Bronx. In her senior year of high school, they moved again, this time to Greenwich, Connecticut. She moved to Philadelphia with her husband, who is an aerospace engineer, 8 years ago.

“Most of my time goes to my toddler,” she admitted. “Over the summer, I took her out almost every single day, to the Please Touch Museum and different places. I would call that a hobby right now, just parenting my child.”

Teaching Career

Ms. Garcia said she “always wanted to be a teacher growing up.” She recalled making her basement into a classroom when she was around 7 and playing teacher with her younger cousins, who she lived in a two family home with growing up.

She attended Syracuse University for her bachelor’s degree, where her original plan was to be a language major and dual in education. 

She went on to explain, “when I got to Syracuse they told me I could only do one or the other, so I ended up just being a language major. After that I didn’t want to be a teacher, but at some point I moved back to teaching.” 

She then started her teaching career in the Bronx, at Montefiore Community School, and was there for a year. When she moved to Philly, she started at Ben Franklin, and earned her Masters in education from the University of Pennsylvania along the way. 

Transition to SLA

Ms. Garcia called the transition to SLA “exciting.” She admires the supportive community of the school. “Everyones constantly coming and checking in. Good to bounce ideas with, which is something I didn’t really see in the past.” The hardest part for her has been the transition from teaching science to language, but she feels she is getting into her groove. 

When asked what she hoped to bring to the SLA community, Ms. Garcia explained, “as a Latina and Spanish teacher, I would love to bring more awareness to Latin culture, especially now that today’s the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month, I’m planning on leaning heavy on the culture on the different dialects, accents, all of that.”

She also has big plans for future programming.

“At some point, I would love to take students abroad. I did that at Ben Franklin, I took them on a trip to Costa Rica right before COVID hit and it was such an amazing experience.”

SLA Principal Chris Lehmann spoke highly of Ms. Gracia, saying, “[she] really gave an amazing interview, and the committee was very excited by the idea that she wanted to come to SLA. She brings a great deal of experience and intelligence to the school, and we are thrilled to have her. I think she will be someone who will be an amazing collaborator with both her colleagues on staff and the kids of SLA.”

By Maya Smelser & Anouk Ghosh-Poulshock

Staff Writers

Everyone remembers their first concert. But when the pandemic hit, many tours were canceled or rescheduled. There was a hiatus from live music as people adjusted to their new lives– so many teens missed out on their early concert experiences.. 

In the past few months, however, concerts have made a comeback and people have returned to see their favorite artists. But how has the experience changed with COVID still present? 

In an anonymous form, students were asked how events before and during COVID are different. Many claimed there wasn’t a big difference, saying, “the only real difference obviously were the masks and proof of vaccination, but the atmosphere felt somewhat happier during the pandemic than before,” and, “the crowd was slightly smaller but apart from that there was no big difference.” 

“Going before the pandemic, you don’t really think about the events you are going to in the moment because you are taking them for granted,” another wrote. “You can never imagine not being able to go to these events.” 

Before the pandemic started, there were no mask mandates, no vaccination or testing requirements, and no limited capacity. During the pandemic, there were still many virtual events, but none were the same. Some recall virtual plays and meet and greets, which were popular but nowhere near as much as live music. 

Now, concerts are getting back to a pre-pandemic point. Most concerts have a mask requirement, but it is rarely followed, and mask mandates are being lifted gradually. Additionally some concert venues require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. Though this isn’t exactly what pre-pandemic concerts were like, it is very close to it. 

“During the pandemic you are much more conscious of everything. Who is wearing a mask, how close people are to each other, who is coughing and sneezing,” said another student respondent. “But, you do appreciate everything more than before the pandemic.”

Another respondent said concerns are still “Fun but they felt a little less lively.”

“People were just wearing masks and I had to get my temperature taken before going in where the concert was happening but otherwise the experience didn’t change much,” wrote another.

Concerts themselves haven’t changed drastically, and it is almost the same with a few new rules. 

The biggest concert in Philadelphia is Made in America, which was founded by Jay-Z and the first show was in 2012. The festival takes place every year, over Labor Day weekend, and is located on the Ben Franklin Parkway. In 2020 however, the festival was canceled due to the pandemic. In 2021, it was brought back, except there were a few differences. Masks and proof of vaccination was required upon entry, but it was not enforced. The concert said they would require proof of vaccination, but they didn’t check and masks were not worn after people entered the grounds of the festival. In 2021 alone, there were over 50,000 events. The first in-person school year since the pandemic began had just started, but COVID cases were still at a high. In September of 2021, when Made in America took place, there were double the cases then there were at that point the year prior. 

As well as concerts, live sports have gotten more popular again as well. People have started going to baseball, football, and hockey games at in person venues. 

One student noted that the change is more psychological than anything else. 

“The biggest difference for me is the mentality. You appreciate being able to do things more because it might be the last time you can for two years.”

One student shared their experience seeing Harry Styles in concert. They seemed happy with how COVID precautions were handled.

“The event met my expectations specifically for its urge on health safety,” they wrote. “Everyone was required to be both fully vaccinated with the physical vaccination card, your ID, as well as adorning a mask for the remainder of the night.”

“Personally, I am not bothered or uncomfortable wearing a mask for long periods of time but some people around me tended to complain and it dampened the positivity of my experience in New York. Overall it was a great time.” 

Leticia Desouza

Staff Writer

After a long yet quick year at SLA, students from different grades have experienced many new things they weren’t able to experience during the 2020-2021 online academic year.

After almost 10 months of being back in school, students have encountered difficulties and new experiences that further molded how the rest of their academic year would be.

Currently SLA students are going through their fourth quarter before the end of the school year and the beginning of the long awaited summer break. With this being the last quarter before summer break, students are experiencing ups and downs with their motivation and productivity towards their final major assignments.

Overall Experience

After returning to in person schooling, students from all grades reported both highs and lows from the transition. 

Sophomore Rae Alexander had some mixed feelings about her overall experience, which were heavily influenced by what happened last year, during Zoom school.

“My academic year has been good but it is not as good as it can be. But it is also not as bad as it has been in the past,” said Alexander. “Last year was unusually easy for me, so when I came into this year, I expected the same experience. In the future I’ll try to come into the new academic year expecting more to furthermore prepare myself for the challenges of the new year.”

Freshman Eleanor Palmer, another SLA student who came back after being online for almost two years explains her experience during this year.

“I think this year academic wise, it has been a little bit rocky at times because of getting back into the whole in person school situation after being in online school for two years, so it was kinda hard to get into the groove but after a while, I fell into a routine and it felt more easier.” Said Palmer.

Students had their fair shares of experiences, though, throughout this academic year, attendance has had its share of ups and downs, which has impacted the student experience.

“Attendance in January was very poor since we had an increase in covid cases, so a lot of students were not coming to school,” said  SLA Climate Manager Tara Ryans.  “ A trend now is that before the start of spring break, there were quite a bit of absences since many students’ families went on vacation.”

Experiences During Recent Quarters-

“First quarter was horrible, I had no friends, and I wasn’t prepared for the work being given out,” said Alexander about the start of this year. Second quarter was better because I decided to do things differently. Third quarter was alright, I spent too much time with friends and not doing work.” 

“I’ve been more motivated during the second quarter as we talked about our careers,” she added about the flow of the year. “That influenced me to come up with new ideas and know the structure of where I want to go with my life.” 

Though these recent quarters have been balanced, Alexander fears that the last quarter will be tougher. 

“Last year’s fourth quarter was light. Everyone was chill at the end. But for this year, I feel like it will be more overwhelming with more work.” Explained Alexander.

A big factor of motivation and productivity decrease has been the change of weather and load of work.

“I think it is very typical for students to lose their motivation as the warmer weather comes along with the end of the school year,” added Ms. Ryans. “I wouldn’t say I see students who aren’t motivated, I see more exhaustion. I think people, including students and staff, are becoming kinda split during this time of the year.” 

As Ms. Ryans believes that the upcoming warmer weather and end of school year is affecting students’ workflow, there are others like freshman Palmer that believes that the colder winter affects students’ workflow.

Palmer added how different seasons affected her workflow and experience during quarters.

“The first two quarters were pretty steady, but the third quarter was during winter and it was a lot to deal with. Winter is usually just hard for me so that was my biggest difficulty. I do think this quarter has been going pretty well so far.” Said Palmer

“Some of my errors have been to not actually try to do the work. I changed my work setting. This helped me with my workflow.” Said Palmer

How to Improve-

Everyone interviewed for this article had advice on how to beat the challenge of a hard year. 

“Write down the work you have to do. Make sure to try and keep yourself on task even if it is hard,” said Palmer. “I think setting short goals and tasks you can complete pretty easily will help you feel successful.” 

To be able to look at the final picture Ms. Ryans, shared her thoughts on how to achieve this.

“Sometimes you lose motivation because you become overwhelmed with everything that needs to happen or assignments that need to be completed,” said Ms. Ryans. But, if you look at the bigger picture, I think you can be more successful and that can help you become more motivated.” 

But of course, working for long periods of time can become exhausting. Having time off for yourself and your interests can help with your overall maintenance during the academic year.

“I would also suggest spending time doing things you enjoy, and making a point to include fun things.” Added Ms. Ryans

And when nothing else works, there’s always the short-term rewards.

“During past quarters, I was able to set this system that I would reward myself after doing specific tasks with snacks,” said Alexander. “Basically food motivation.”