SLAMedia is a publication of the news for the Science Leadership Academy community. Writers come from the student body in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. We work in unison to create a functioning paper with biweekly postings on a variety of events.
By Lara Rosenbach
The winter can create all sorts of feelings, especially with the multitude of holidays that overlap with the cold and cozy three months. I interviewed Dinah Soloway, a senior at SLA, about her feelings on winter and the holidays.
She talked fondly of her memories of Christmas and the warm feelings of comfort she gets when she’s surrounded by family. I think we can all agree that both the winter, and the holidays associated with it, bring us closer to friends and family.
Claire Powell
Staff Writer
As I scroll on my instagram or tik tok, I see a variety of young women pushing a certain type of style. This usually consists of quirky, colorful tops, pants and bikinis. One trend that has been on the rise recently are crocheted shorts and tops. I’ll admit they are super cute and sometimes I have to stop myself from adding to cart. Sometimes these treds last years but recently, these fashion trends are coming and going quickly. As climate change is a major concern with the new generation, we ask ourselves, is it worth it? To have these cheap-made clothes mass produced, and then thrown in our closet and only worn once.
One major brand that falls into this mainstream fast-fashion category is Shein, an affordable online market for womens clothes. When I visit their website, the top of the page reads, “New Arrivals Dropped Daily.” and “New Trends in Clothes. ” I do browse this website quite a bit, just because of the thousands of clothes that are listed as well as the cheap prices. Last time I bought from Shein, the clothes were thin and see-through as well as extremely over packaged, so I choose to never buy from there again. But it’s not just Shein. Stores like ZARA, H&M, Urban Outfitters, American Eagle are all contributing to this climate crisis.
Dana Thomas from NY times says that our clothes will end up as part of the fossil record for future generations. “More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are now synthetics, derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill (about 85 percent of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated), it will not decay.” (Thomas) The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions. Along with this, toxic dyes are leaking into our soil, oceans, and other waterways. Just the simple act of washing our clothes leaks tons of microplastics into the ocean. Approximately 500,000 tons of microplastics are distributed into the ocean every year.
One way our generation can combat fast fashion is through thrifting. Shopping at thrift stores is not a new thing at all, but it has become more popular to the younger generations through social media. Personally, I love thrift shopping, it is an affordable way to buy unique clothes that most people don’t have. I would say about half of my closet is from a thrift store because I often find great clothes for super cheap.
As we grow out of our old clothes and out of micro trends, donating or selling these clothes are definitely the most environmentally friendly option. Some consignment shops like Buffalo Exchange or Greene street will even give you cash in return for some clothes, which I think is super cool. I personally love shopping at these stores because they are more affordable and I know I am helping the environment. When I clean out my closet, I always have a donation pile that I choose to take to either store.
This issue has also become more apparent to a lot of SLA students, especially Lucy Silveman, a senior at SLA who created her capstone around the reuse of clothes. Lucy set up three clothing racks in the entrance of SLA filled with clothes donated from other students. I saw many people looking through these racks and picking out great pieces, as well as donating! Our community realized our effect on climate change, and luckily a lot of us are trying to slow it down.
Biran Mahmoud, Leo Braveman
Staff Writers
After an entire school year, the masks came off — for a few weeks
When mask mandates were first lifted by the district on March 9th, the effects of students wearing masks were not immediate. We noticed that when this happened, most students kept their masks on, while fewer took their masks off.
We started by asking program manager Jeremy Spry about the effects and new emotions of the mask drop. “Masks are not something anyone wants to be wearing,” he said, referring to the discomfort. He told us about how his own opinions have shifted.
“There are places where I still feel uncomfortable like in grocery stores I will still keep my mask on,” Mr. Spry explained he feels different in the office where he stays around mostly the same people. Mr. Spry also recognized how people might feel about their own individual situations. “If I was a classroom teacher I would probably feel differently.”
This interview was completed before the school district returned to mandatory masks for the week following spring break, only to have Philadelphia drop its mask mandate the week after that.
Although the school district announced its plan to reinstate the mask mandate in march, many students including us were surprised to hear this news shortly before returning to school.
We asked the school nurse, Chris Banchs about the new mask mandate and his knowledge relating to it. The first time he heard about the mask mandate returning was “around 2 weeks before the spring break”.
“I took it seriously, I was very sure that we would all be wearing masks when we came back Monday”.
After we learned more about the effects the re-imposed mandate had on him personally, it went pretty smooth for him. Because Nurse Chris wore his mask whenever he was “around colleagues and peers” it made for a relatively easy adjustment.
After interviewing nurse Chris we became more interested in finding students and negative aspects of the returned mandate.
Responses were mixed
“I feel like it makes sense, it’s just kind of annoying” Said Junior Jave Kelman.
But he wasn’t the only one who agreed in terms of covid but still felt the annoyance. Freshman Dove Smith told us that it made sense to him, but “I had to adjust because it was obviously hard to breathe in and I used to break out with acne and stuff”.
After telling us about the annoyances Dove was sure to explain: “I’ve gotten used to breathing in masks now and adjusted in that way”.
All of the changes have not been easy, especially for some, but with all things considered our SLA community has done a good job of always working together to move past inconveniences.
Claire Powell
Staff Writer
We all have stress, but why does it affect us in such harmful ways? Sleeping, eating, and even speaking can become more difficult when levels of stress are elevated. Over the course of these past two years, our stress levels have heightened to new areas because of the pandemic. Being a student in highschool, the pandemic was certainly not an easy thing to get through. I felt as though my world had been swept up around me, and all of these events formulated into stress. I believe that a lot of students have been going through a steeper anxiety or depression since the pandemic. This week was the mark of two years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. As cases drop, so do our mask mandates. Does this also affect our stress?
When people undergo traumatic experiences of stress, their bodies go through changes that include producing higher than normal levels of stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine. These changes of levels can be helpful for a short period of time. Hormones give us the energy to power through difficult situations. However, these hormones are not meant to stay at high levels for long periods of time and eventually, can harm our bodies. This is what causes physical signs of stress and anxiety. “Our bodies were not designed for the kinds of stressors that we face today,” said Christina Maslach, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
When covid first struck, I was isolated with the same people, in the same environment, for months. My mom, dad, and brother were the only three faces I saw for a while. We were constantly arguing about stupid little things. Being cooped up in a small house, we are always running into each other. I felt like I could not escape my family. Mentally, I was not okay. Neither were any of my friends. Piper, a senior at SLA says, “ At first I was a little confused. Thinking about school and how life would change was really stressful….” Piper says that in the recent months she has been a little less stressed with covid slowing down. “But it’s still stressful with these new variants happening all the time and not knowing what it’s gonna look like in the future is a bit stressful.”
Responses to the Times article about stress reactions say almost the same thing. One student from Baldwinsville NY says, “My body does not handle stress well. When I am stressed I tend to become shaky and get a stomach ache. I often can’t sleep and feel fatigued due to stress. I have anxiety which makes me worry about things I probably don’t need to stress about.”
It’s important to realize that many people are going through stressful times right now. Everyone experiences stress in different ways, but it still affects us all. While I’m no longer stuck at home with my 3 other family members, I still experience stress as the pandemic continues to go on. With college in the near future, I am hopeful that we will return to normalcy, or at least as much as possible.
Claire Powell Val Escobar. Shawnice Sloan. Fatima Abashera
Staff writer. Staff Writer. Staff Writer Staff Writer.
Sex on television has always been a hot-button issue, now more than ever before. However, are these popular shows like Euphoria and Sex Education portraying the accurate description of what sex is and how it affects teenagers? And what do SLA students think about teenage sexual behavior — both their own, and on the screen?
To figure out the answers to these questions, SLAMedia looked at national trends, conducted interviews members of the school community, and also sent out an anonymous student survey to assess attitudes about sex and media.
Sexual Behavior
88 SLA students answered various questions about their feelings on sex and their opinions of how well sex is portrayed in popular TV shows.
The big takeaway? Most students do not have very strong opinions on their own sexual beahvior.
50% of responses said that sexual activity was either very important or important to them personally, but 69% said that they think sexual activity is either somewhat or not important at all for teens in general.
When it came to SLA opinions on the value of sexual activity, responses were mixed. Some students felt that sex can create stronger connections between people and it could serve as a way to explore people’s own sexuality, others said that teens might think sex is the only form of intimacy or connection, and others mentioned how sexual encounters can go wrong since bodies are in the process of developing.
The SLA findings echo national trends. The percentage of high school juniors who have ever had sexual intercourse has declined to 42 percent from 62 percent since 1991, according to a national survey of teenagers conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alongside this fact, teenagers have more access to porn than ever before. The new generation is able to have everything right at our fingertips. This may be a reason that teenagers are having less sex compared to previous generations.
Although the number of people having sex has declined, the attitude towards sexual behavior has increased. Differences in attitudes toward sex among different generations is quite obvious. Is this because our society is more progressive? As our generations evolve, we come to terms more with sexuality and the openness of it.
In addition, acceptance of same-sex relationships has tripled in the past 25 years, rising from 13 percent in 1990 to 44 percent in 2012. (HealthLine) This is because of state laws that now make same-sex marrige legal. Developments such as these may make the dialogue around sexual orientation and behavior more accepted — which may actually lower sexual activity, as it becomes less taboo.
“When the culture places more emphasis on the needs of the self and less on social rules, more relaxed attitudes toward sexuality are the almost inevitable result,” (Twenge)
Sex in the Media
Shows like Euphoria, a newly popular series on HBO that focuses on teenagers life arangged around sex and drugs. The show has been criticized for the way it portrays these behaviors , especially the party scenes.
As for how sex is portrayed in pop culture, SLA students had much clearer opinions.
96% of respondents said that TV portrays teen sex either somewhat or not realistically at all. A repeat comment was about how TV shows don’t show the awkwardness of teen sex.
One responce said “Sex is so awkward! No TV shows how awkward it is!” and another response said “That sex is supposed to feel good but they don’t show the parts where the weird things are normal.”.
Many responses also mentioned how TV shows overdo teen encounters. Several students challenged the idea that Euphoria is relatable, or if it has any connection to the sex lives of real highschoolers.
“I feel like the media in general always have teens hooking up, but there are also a lot of people who don’t or don’t value it as much,” One respondent wrote, “They oversexualize teens and that’s not how teens would usually do it.”.
An anonymous student from SLA said that “It’s a drama meant for enjoyment, not an accurate portrayal.”
Another student wrote, “I think shows overly sexualize teens, especially girls in order to get more views which is wrong. I also think overall they make it seem like teens center their life around sex which I think is wrong.”
Only one student had a formal idea for improvement. Maya West, a senior here at SLA said “I feel like we talked about the stuff around sex but not really sex…and I feel there needs to be a lot more inclusitivity. Everyone’s in a different place right now.“
SLA faculty had a different take on the show.
“No I haven’t heard of Euphoria”, Ryans further explained when asked about the popular television show. “If it educates students about drugs and the potential harms and treatment I don’t mind.”, she adds when asked about controversy that can surround shows like Euphoria.
SLA Students and Consent
The last set of questions asked about teens’ own experiences and thoughts relating to consent.
51% of respondents said that their consent has never been violated in a sexual enconunter, the other 49% said that their consent had been either somewhat violated or violated.
Of those who said their consent had been either somewhat violated or violated, Only 16% said that that situation had been resolved.
The final question asked whether SLA students take consent seriously, students said 35% take it seriously, 56% somewhat seriously, and 9% not seriously at all. These numbers aren’t very surprising to us considering what the rest of the world has to say about consent.
It’s safe to say that most students at SLA do not feel our Sex-ed program is reflective of the modern-day teenager’s sexual experience. Considering the exaggerated nature of sex in adolescent geared content, one can only assume that high-school students don’t know what to expect of sex or a sexual education course. It is a shared view that from every angle they are only being fed bits and pieces, it’s either not enough or entirely too much. Perhaps the lack of substantial improvement suggestions can be explained by this observed media-blindness.
We hope that the curriculum on consent changes so that our percentage of students who take it seriously will rise. As our society grows, people should realize the effect that media has on teenagers, and should consider showing more realistic perspectives on teenage sexual activity. Thinking about the media we consume as individuals can lead to better choices being made.