Author Archives: pattersonpress405

¿Porque los estudiantes usan drogas? (SPANISH)

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Por Lithza Juarez (traducción por Adarely Perez-Angeles),

Editor’s Note: This article is written in Spanish for the benefit of our Spanish-speaking readers. To read this article in English, click here.

Depresión es algo común en los adolescentes que provoca que usen drogas para sentirse bien, pero las drogas y alcohol son la manera más fácil para causar más depresión. Muchos estudiantes les gustan usar drogas para resolver sus problemas o simplemente para olvidarlos. Algunos estudiantes tienen mucha presión del trabajo de escuela, o puede ser que tienen problemas en su casa o en otro lugar. La escuela Patterson High School no es fácil y hay muchos caminos malos que puedes tomar. Todos necesitan un escape y casi siempre todos los estudiantes escogen lo más fácil para ellos que son drogas o alcohol.

Algunos estudiantes usan drogas porque sus amigos les ofrecen o porque les gusta seguir lo que los demás adolescentes hacen solo para que crean que son “cool” o para que sean populares. Adolescentes siempre necesitan expresar sus sentimientos y en mi opinión enojo, retraerse y drogas ofrecen lo mismo. Cuando los adolescentes tienen o sienten depresión todo lo que quieren es detener ese sentimiento o lo que sea que estén sintiendo. Alcohol y drogas son muy peligrosos pero a veces hay algo pasando en nuestras vidas que nos hacen pensar que es la única solución. Las drogas pueden ayudar a parar ese sentimiento pero también puede hacer que regrese, y por eso ellos creen que drogas son la manera de salir de tus problemas.

Padres, maestros, consejeros, y amigos pueden hacer una diferencia en la vida de un adolescente.

Cross-Country team makes big strides

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Makel, one of the runners on Patterson’s cross-country team (Photo: Coach Smith)

by Coach Smith,

The Cross-Country season ran from mid-September to early-November.  The 2014 season was the best Patterson’s had in the past 8 years.

Our #1 runner, Tesfalem Buluts, was a consistent second in all our races, and he won a second place medal in the City Championships.  A second runner, Yonas Fishaye, won a ribbon for placing among the top 15 in these same championships.  At the state meet Yonas also had a strong finish.  All along the way Makel McCoy and Tevon McGuire were consistently improving, with both of them taking minutes off their near-20 minute times for the 3.1 mile course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2014 Patterson cross-country team: (From left to right) Tesfalem Buluts, Tevon McGuire, Yonas Fishaye, Coach Smith, Wilmer Cruz, Rama Goloco, Yero Goloco, Da’Mica Benton (Photo: Coach Smith)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tesfalem 2nd place medal City Champions (Photo: Coach Smith)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darren Wilson’s acquittal was the wrong decision (OPINION)

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By: Xavier Williams

Protests and riots broke out in Ferguson, Missouri after a  grand jury decided not to charge Darren Wilson with a crime on November 24th, 2014. Darren Wilson was a  Ferguson police officer who fatally shot an unarmed teen, Michael Brown, on August 9th.

When I found out that the jury had let Darren Wilson go, I was very upset, because what he did to Michael Brown was wrong and insane. I mean, how could the judge be so stupid to let that sick man go? It’s just not fair to the family of Michael Brown; Wilson doesn’t deserve to see another day free at all. Michael Brown was a very bright young man. He didn’t deserve to die like that; he had so much life ahead of him.

The judge had no guilty charges on Officer Wilson, so he decided to let him go. Its like history is repeating itself: it gets more and more dangerous for everyone in the United States of America, and it’s not fair. I believe that the grand jury should have charged him with murder because he killed a boy who was innocent with no intention of hurting anyone at all. He had his hands in the air and Wilson shot him multiple times.

The Michael Brown case is an example of  what goes on in other cities, including here in Baltimore, and how police officers get away with doing bad things to African-American people. This is not okay; it’s not okay because it’s racist and people should stand up against it.

Patterson holds pep rally for Homecoming game

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The varsity football team lays the Douglass Ducks mascot to rest. (Photo: Jamal Artis, Patterson Press)

by Ramatouleye Goloco,

Today at Patterson, we had fun! Everybody gathered together in the auditorium and watched the sports teams celebrate the Homecoming Football games. The first team on the stage was the boys’ soccer team. The second group to take the stage was the cross country team. Third, the volleyball team and lastly, the boys football team sang, chanted, and danced.

Then, some of the boys carried a huge fake coffin to “bury” Frederick Douglass’ mascot (a duck) in. Three boys were dancing. One was singing. The photographers took a lot of pictures. Some Patterson Press reporters took pictures and toke some notes to post online. They ended with one boy break dancing.

The finale was having our own Baltimore City mega-talented performer Ricky Williams on stage. A good time was had by all, a really fun and exciting celebration. If you didn’t make it, attend next year!

Local talent Ricky Williams dances at the pep rally (Photo: Joshua Carr, Patterson Press)

Swim Team Improving

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(Photo: Stephanie Megginson, Patterson Press)

By Stephanie Megginson,

Sadly, the swim team did not win their last meet, but luckily, we got great reviews from other teams. A few people said that Patterson High students are getting very good at swimming and that they can see that we improved a lot in that sport. The swim team really put their hearts into this game. They really pushed themselves and did the best they could.

For some of the swimmers, this was the first time they got to race in one of the meets. They did an awesome job for their first time. There are also some students who have been on the team longer, like Hannah McComas, Damian Gaither, Adam Rolek and Zac McCord. These students have been swimming for a while now.

Refugee students meet after school

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By Dhan Bhattarai and Manisha Monger,

Refugee students who are here today at Patterson have a lot of opportunities to learn after school. The International Rescue Committee helps to provide support for these students through a group called the Refugee Youth Project (RYP). This program helps refugee students. The RYP meets every Tuesday and Wednesday and is open to all refugee students.

This program helps students to learn reading and writing skills, helps them with their homework and many other things. All the students who participate in the group enjoy spending time together after school. It helps them to learn more things and provides every student with basic knowledge that they need for success. For more information, see Ms. Harris in room 314.

To read this article in Nepali, click here.

Why do students use drugs?

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By Lithza Juarez,

Depression can be a common thing between teenagers. That may lead them to use drugs to make them feel good. Also, drugs and alcohol are the easy way out. Students are more likely to use drugs to solve their problems. They have the pressure of school work and then there may be problems at home or somewhere else.

Patterson high school is not an easy school, and there are a lot of wrong paths to take. Everyone needs an escape and most of the time, students will choose the easy way out. Teenagers always need to express their feelings and, in my opinion, anger or withdrawing and drugs offer both.  When a teenager is depressed, all they want is stop feeling whatever they are feeling. Alcohol and drugs are very dangerous, and sometimes there can be episodes in our lives that makes that behavior, though dangerous, the only solution.

Drugs may help the feeling stop but the feeling will come back, and at that point they will think that drugs are the way out. Parents, teacher, counselors, and friends can make a difference in a teenager’s life.

Para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí .

EMT students participate in fire department thrill show

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Patterson EMT students pose with Fire Chief Ford (left), Lt. Governor Anthony Brown (center) and EMT teacher Jason Casey (right) (Photo: Patterson High School Yearbook Committee)

By Dabreonna Waddell,

The Baltimore City Fire Department held its annual Fire Department Thrill Show at its training facility on Pulaski Highway on October 4th 2014. This thrill show has been an ongoing event put on by the department to gives the public a chance to see how and what the fire department really does.  The thrill show has been running for several years.

I along with several other Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) students in the Patterson High School EMT program were invited and given the opportunity to participate in the thrill show. This was a very exciting experience and I had lots of fun. The opportunity gave me the chance to interact with children by doing arts and craft such as face painting, and demonstrating and modeling how firefighters suited up and wore fire turn out gear (fire equipment). We were able to interact with firefighters and fire apparatus.

While at the Fire thrill show, we also had the chance to meet and interact with new people, including the new fire chief Mr. Ford and also Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown who was running for Governor of Maryland at the time.

I believe going to this event has given me and the others a better opportunity at becoming an EMT because we met two these two important people now that they know our name and faces and see that we are very interested in this career and they may help us out in the long run with getting an EMT job.

This experience was very fun and interesting. It gave me a better understanding of how things are done and it also showed me what my EMT teacher, Mr. Casey, loves to do. I am very interested in coming back and helping out again.

 

A refugee’s story of hope

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Dhan Bhattarai, Patterson student and Nepali refugee (Photo: Patterson Press)

By Dhan Bhattarai,

A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disasters. Refugees are strong people because they have to survive many difficulties and hardships.

Some Nepali people lived in the neighboring country of Bhutan for many years. They were forced to leave the country in 1990. They lived in Nepal as refugees for about 22 years under the shelter of bamboo, plastic and tents.

I lived in a refugee camp in the eastern part of Nepal. The conditions were miserable and did not offer many opportunities. We did not have fresh food to eat, clothes to wear, adequate sanitation, health services, or even a place to sleep.  We did not have an opportunity to receive a good education due to our poverty. We must give thanks to God because, fortunately, we found UNHCR and CARIAS Nepal. These organizations changed our lives. These two organizations provide food shelter, clothes, plastic, bamboo and free English education to Bhutanese refugees.

The conditions were gloomy; our school was made of bamboo and plastic and our classroom was very small, and there were 42 students in one class. There I completed up through the eighth grade despite not having air conditioning or electricity. It was such a tough experience.

Some time had passed before the international organization for migration offered a third country resettlement program. Today we are here in this land of opportunity because of that organization. When we were in the refugee camp, we did not have any hope that life would get better. Yet today we have lots of hope to build a better future because we have a golden chance to study in an American high school and also we have a chance to become American citizens. If the U.S. government helps me to study on the college level then I will be very grateful because I’m very hopeful to accomplish many goals.

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