Decidí venir a hacer una visita porque quería conocer y
saber cómo son las universidades. Creo que sería maravilloso aprender y
experimentar nuevos horizontes. He aprendido que en la vida con esfuerzo uno
puede lograr todo lo que se quiere. Es necesario que estudiemos para tener un futuro
mejor para cuando seamos grandes. Sin embargo, la educación es cara y por eso me
gustaría saber cuánto me costaría una clase en Goucher.
Conocer a Goucher College fue una experiencia incredible
porque compratimos tiempo con el director y conocimos a algunos alumnos y ellos
nos enseñaron sus recámaras y nos hablaron un poco sobre sus propias
experiencias en la universidad. Nos explicaron las reglas universitarias y por
qué es importante seguirlas. Nos dijeron que todo es posible y que luchemos por
nuestras metas y sueños.
Patterson AFJRTOC cadets at the 5th Regiment Armory JROTC Citywide Drill Meet competition at Poly High School (Photo: Lt. Col Humble)
By John Dingzon
Patterson students participated in a citywide JROTC drill competition on March 29th. The event was took place at the 5th regiment Armory.
There were a lot of JROTC schools that participated in this event. Everyone was competing for the CEO Cup that is the trophy to win overall. Whatever the outcome, at the end each school would still receive a trophy.
Patterson won 2nd place for the overall competition, while Poly won 1st place and took home to CEO’s cup. Patterson also won trophies in the following categories: drill – unarmed platoon, drill – armed platoon, squadron – armed drill, squadron – unarmed drill, and color guard.
There was also a competition called the knockout challenge, which the cadets participated in. The knockout challenge is when you have 4 element line leaders and the cadets stay in formation and the drill Sergeant gives them a command and they will move and execute the command. If the drill Sergeant says the command wrong and a cadet executed the command wrong, then that person is out, but if the person keeps up, then they stay until the drill Sergeant declares a winner.
During the event, there were also breaks where cadets had time to relax and socialize. During this time, some students saw familiar faces that they knew from previous events.
Patterson High School’s AFJROTC cadets did an outstanding job performing at the different levels of the event. A lot of eyes were focused on Patterson because last year Patterson won the CEO Cup and were in 1st place overall.
Technical Sergeant Smith and group commander C/Col. Batista were both proud of what the group had accomplished, and they thought that the cadets really did a great job.
Student Aaron Carrington plays traditional African drums with a profession drummer at Patterson’s 2019 Black History Month celebration (Photo: Thomas Miller)
By Shayvonne Hennix
For Black History Month, I interviewed two students from Patterson High School to hear their thoughts about celebrating black history and about how black people are perceived by other Americans. Here are their responses:
Sharissa Hennix (Cohort 2020)
Q: What is your ethnic background?
A: African Trinidadian.
Q: How do you think America views your ethnicity and your country?
A: I think they like view us as aggressive Trinidadians because for some reason people think West Indian people are rude, but for my black side of the family, I think people regardless think black people are bad and thieves, that they always kill black people for no reason.
Q: Do you think that black history should be celebrated all year long?
A: I mean, I feel like it is celebrated all year but it’s just highlighted more during February.
Q: Why do you think that is?
A: I don’t know. Probably something that happened a long time ago caused it.
Anonymous boy (Class of 2022)
Q: What is your ethnic background?
A: Black.
Q: How do you think America views your ethnicity?
A: Oh nah, them white people be geekin’, like, “F*** wrong with them killing people and s***?”.
Q: Do you think that black history should be celebrated all year long?
A: Hell yeah!
Q: Why?
A: What you mean? White people do it. Why can’t we?
The Patterson Press would like to thank these two students for their time.
The Patterson dance team was excited to perform for the audience. (Photo: Makhia Burley)
The dance team at Patterson had their first major dance event on Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 6 pm in the auditorium. The show was called “Pretty Hurts”. In addition to the Patterson dance team, teams from other schools also participated in this event, such as Majestic Dance Team, Fatally Fem, Code Blue, Torch Dance Company, Douglass Dance Company, and Prestige Dance Team.
According to Ms. Green, the dance coach at Patterson, dance helps kids show self-awareness and social awareness. It helps kids know and understand their worth.
The first dance at the event was a flash mob and the song they danced to was “Pretty Hurts” by Beyonce. This was the opening of the show and the song was basically saying, “Hey, pretty really does hurt no matter what you wear or have, if you’re messed up on the inside, it really does hurt.”
The next song “I Was Here”, also by Beyonce. It is basically saying that the seniors wanted to leave their footprint at Patterson High because it is important to them and then they were turning the torch over to the freshmen and sophomore dancers.
The last song, “Scars to Your Beautiful”, by Alessia Cara, was basically reiterating the first part of the show but saying that it doesn’t matter because all of your scars are beautiful, so even if it does hurt, your scars are your story. They tell you who you came to be and who you are.
Dancers from other schools also performed at the event. (Photo: Makhia Burley)
Tamia Johnson, one of the Patterson dancers, expressed how it felt dancing on stage. She said she was nervous but once she got up there, she was happy.
Ms. Green said seeing her dancers up there, she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. “A lot of them always tell themselves what they can’t do. This shows them that they can do it.”, Ms. Green said.
Tamia Johnson said we need dance here at Patterson High “because it allows people to express themselves and feelings and allows people to come out of their shyness.”
Ms. Green also thinks it is important to have a dance program at Patterson High. “That’s the only way of self-expression. Instead of being angry or feeling down on yourself, sometimes people dance away their frustration and their anger and it actually helps you be creative.”
This basketball season, Coach Tarver felt proud of Patterson High School’s girls basketball team for trying their best to win. The girls basketball team won 8 games and lost 7 games.
Coach Tarver was proud when they played against Central High School even though Patterson lost that game. Patterson High School had a close game against Central. The score was 40 to 46.
“I was most impressed with the performance of the girls at that game. All the way to the end they worked together very hard. It was a really tough game; it was a high emotion game for Patterson High.”, Coach Tarver said. “I was impressed by the score because they had lost last year but it was score of a blow out, but this year they were very close.”
Tyshenna Avery scored 12 points, the most points in that game. Patricia Escobar had 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 6 points.
The Patterson High girls basketball team is looking towards to what they hope will be an even better season next year.
Public speaker Carlos Ojeda poses for a picture with Patterson students Meylin Diaz and Brayan Pacheco. (Photo: Meylin Diaz)
Three students from Patterson’s Student Government Association attended a leadership convention in Ocean City, Maryland from March 27 through 29. Meylin Diaz, Keon Johnson and Brayan Pacheco represented Patterson High School at the Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC) as delegates of the Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City.
The students learned great tips and received the keys to leadership. Ms. Brenda Moreno Martinez was doing a great job by helping others as an adviser.
This trip was a great opportunity to learn more about how to get the keys to leadership. I learned how to be a leader and that our voice is our power . The part that I enjoyed most about the trip was when we got all the keys to leadership. I think Patterson gave me this great opportunity because this way I can teach others what I learned. The purpose of the trip was to learn about how to be a better leader and how to help others.
A student from another school gives a speech at the leadership convention in Ocean City. (Photo: Meylin Diaz)
Versión en español (Spanish version):
Yo decidí venir a Ocean City porque esta es una gran
oportunidad para aprender como obtener las claves para el liderazgo. Aprendí
como ser un mejor líder y que nuestra voz es nuestro poder. Lo que más disfrute
del viaje fue cuando obtuvimos todas las claves del liderazgo. Patterson me dio
esta gran oportunidad porque de esa manera puedo enseñar a otros lo que
aprendí. El viaje consistía en aprender como ser un mejor líder y como ayudar a
los demás.
Meylin Diaz, Keon Jonhson y Brayan Pacheco
representaron a la preparatoria Patterson en la Asociación de consejo
Estudiantil de Maryland. Como delegados del congreso de Estudiantes Asociados de la Ciudad de
Baltimore, los Estudiantes aprendieron grandes consejos y recibieron las claves
del liderazgo.
Ms. Brendahizo un gran trabajo ayudando a otros como
consejera.
RETRACTION: In the article, “Students show off professional skills at conference”, which ran on the front page of the January 2019 print edition of the Patterson Press, Jill Biden was incorrectly referred to as the “former First Lady of the Obama administration”. The correct title for Mrs. Biden is “Second Lady”, as she is the wife of former Vice President Joe Biden. The former First Lady is Michelle Obama, who was not present at the Great Schools conference.
This error was NOT made by the students who wrote the article. The authors correctly used the title “Second Lady” and it was erroneously changed to “First Lady” during the editing process. The Patterson Press takes full responsibility for this error and sincerely apologizes to its readers and the authors of the article. This retraction will also appear in the May 2019 print edition of the Patterson Press.
Coach Callahan gives a pep talk to the varsity boys soccer team (Photo credit: Moses Jeuronlon)
Dasia Whitfield
The varsity boys soccer team at Patterson High School has completed another successful season. The team had a total of 8 wins, 3 losses and 2 ties throughout the season.
I know that coaching can be very challenging because it is not easy trying to get the players to actually stay focused and make sure that this is something that they are willing to commit to and make sure that they are willing to give their all throughout practice and the game. Yet a good coach knows that if being part of the team is something that the players really want, then they will show it and put forth their best effort.
Mr. Callahan, the varsity boys soccer coach at Patterson, says that “the toughest thing about being a coach is finding the players that are going to be committed to coming to practice every day”. This is the toughest part for him because if you don’t have committed players then you won’t really have a team.
One of the team’s biggest highlights this past season was that they made it to the regional finals. Some of the lowest points of the season were when they lost to City without scoring any points, and also when they lost the regional finals to Hereford by a score of 5-0.
When asked if he had any players on the team that were his favorites, Mr. Callahan responded, “My favorite players on the team are the people that come to practice everyday and are working harder to get better.”
Every year in Baltimore people walk to spread awareness and raise money to prevent suicide. This year’s walk took place at the Inner Harbor.
The walk, called Out of the Darkness, focuses on every age group from teenagers to senior citizens. About 1000 people were at this year’s walk. The awareness walk helps people who have lost people because of suicide or who have struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts themselves. The walk helps people to feel comfortable talking to other people about what they are dealing with when they realize that they are not in it alone.
Ms. Marchewka, an art teacher at Patterson High School who participated in the walk, says that “the walk at the harbor brings awareness to people, it lets people come out and talk about their issues or experience and not be shameful”.
The website AFSP explains that suicide claims more lives than war, murder, and natural disasters combined. Yet suicide prevention doesn’t receive anywhere near the funding as other leading causes of death. It’s up to us to make a difference.
According to Ms. Marchewka, the experience is very uplifting. You should consider going next time if you believe in the cause. I would recommend the awareness walk to anybody, especially to the people that are actually going through the situation so they can be more comfortable talking about it. I would have them surrounded by people that could relate to them and have empathy.
Ms. Marchewka participates in the awareness walk every year because she has been around and witnessed situations that have occurred and she can relate because of the fact that she has lost many people in her family due to suicide. She also knows people that have dealt with anxiety and depression.
I think coming up with the awareness walk was a good idea because we never know what people go through and or how they feel, and this walk could really help a person and give them that positive idea and see things on the brighter side. This walk can open the eyes of a lot of people.
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