Category Archives: Arts (Visual Art & Music)

Drama Club performs unique adaptation of Snow White

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By Deontay Blackwell

The Patterson High School Drama Club, led by Mrs. Ritter, portrayed the story of Snow White on its opening night on April 27 at 7 PM. Mrs. Ritter, the cast, and the stage crew all worked hard over the 3 months of rehearsing. In between times of rehearsing the people behind making props were people from different classes of the art teachers and outside help. Beforehand Patterson had no costume for the play and Mrs. Ritter had to make and buy costumes but with the school help and money coming out of her own pocket to make this incredible play happen. Overall, the people behind the play were mostly Freshmen and Sophomores along with some Juniors and Seniors. For many, it may have been their first time performing in or assisting with a play.

The main character in the play, Snow White, was played by Jazzy Blessett–a sophomore. This play featured a different portrayal of the story of Snow White than the Disney version most people are more familiar with, with comedic aspects ranging from sarcastic new lines to recreating a popular dance from the platform TikTok. With a different portrayal of the story, there comes a new perspective focusing on the Evil Queen from the story with the leading actor Jenny Beanszsz  giving an outstanding performance of this version of the character. A new character not seen in the original was the dancing chicken, a best friend of Snow White played by Salome Birindwa with the stunning costume and eventfully doing a popular dance on Tik Tok, usually to the music “Her Way” with Snow White. The play itself came in two acts with an intermission for selling snacks and drinks with the money from that and the ticket sales to put into future projects next year. 

All of this could not have been possible without the director Mrs. Ritter and Ms. Weygant as co-director both working hard on ensuring that the acting and the technical aspects of the play all went smoothly for the second ever play in the new building. There was an encore performance of the play the following night, which was also a big success. A special thanks to the crew members who were working backstage and the people in the sound booth keeping the lights on this play.

Shout out to the cast:

  • Salome Birindwa (ACTRESS 2/DANCING CHICKEN)
  • Jayzanay Blessett (SNOW WHITE)
  • Jenny Beanszsz (ACTRESS1/WITCH/QUEEN/OLD WOMAN/DOOFY)
  • Re’Mya Spence (ACTOR 1, TREE #1/KING/TEACH)
  • Joy Conde (NARRATOR 1/QUEENS GUARD/TIMID)
  • Maiyia Oliver (ACTOR 2, MIRROR, GROUCHY)
  • Joann Conde (NARRATOR 3/TREE 2/QUEENS GUARD/SNOOZY)
  • Myaira Jones (TREE 3/ GLEEFUL/ HANDSOME/ PRINCE)
  • Nalia Jenkins (GESUNDHEIT)

And the crew:

  • Araya Brinkley (RUNCREW)
  • Kayla Cain (STAGE MANAGER/LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR)
  • Estrella Cardenas (RUNCREW/PROPMASTER)
  • Kaleif Mumford (RUNCREW/PROPMASTER)
  • Kendall Shaw (RUNCREW/PROPS MASTER)
  • Amira Plummer (RUNCREW/CURTAIN OPENER)
  • Salem Garrett (PROPS MASTER/RUN CREW/STAGE MANAGER)
  • Kevin Allen (ASSISTANT DIRECTOR)

A blast from the past: Fashion inspired by history

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Students in Ms. Tucker’s cosmetology class created hairstyles, makeup and nail designs inspired by several different cultures and time periods from history.


1. The Middle Ages

We were inspired by the Middle Ages.  Why, one might ask?  Because this age falls between Classical Antiquity and the Renaissance Period (A.D. 476~1450), we wanted to see how the previous and the following era influenced the Middle Ages.  “Madam Butterfly” was created as a result of us demonstrating the towering hair styles from the Middle Ages which were considered very flattering and elegant.  This striking presentation was accented with complimentary nail color bringing this look into the twenty-first century. 

-Mo-Yah Jones Benjamin, Author

-Olga Reyes Villanueva, Contributor


2. Victorian Age

In the Victorian Age (1837-1901), women preferred a more soft and natural look.  Because of her fair skin and blonde hair, we decided to use earth tones both with her make-up and nail color.  Women from the Victorian Age pinched their cheeks to create a natural blush effect.  When wearing subtle makeup, earth tones such as dark chocolate nail color is very complimentary.  Her overall look, including her conservative hairstyle, is perfect for a professional woman.

-Bryonna Butler: Author

-Bre’Asia Thomas, Aislinn Garcia: Contributors


3. The Greek Culture

Hairstyling became a highly developed art in the Greek culture (~500 B.C.).  “The Mermaid” reflects the Greek contributions to beauty because of her curly locks and hair accessories.  We used shells to create a decorative hair clip emphasizing her soft waves.  We used multi-colored loose glitter that could be mistaken for such minerals as chalcopyrite, epidote and apatite to mimic the colors and textures of fish scales.  The Greeks used lavish cosmetics made from ground cinnabar (an orange to brick-red mineral) and kohl around the eyes creating what we now call the ‘smoky eye’. 

-Shauna Key, Author

-Meylin Diaz, Co-Author

-Beontae Carter, Contributor

-Dayonna Ckyyou, Contributor


4. The Egyptians

The Egyptians were very innovative with their creativity.  They used minerals, insects and berries for makeup. That’s amazing!  Don’t you think? Not only that, they used henna paste to stain their nails red.  Red is the color of power, so we painted the mannequin’s nails fire engine red and applied the same color to her lips.  The Egyptians were the first to cultivate beauty in an extravagant fashion, which is why they used a lot of jewelry in their hair.   Wearing jewels was believed to protect the owner and give them strength.

-Adamary Reyes, Author

-Arnyah Brown, Contributor


5. The Chinese Culture

Throughout the Chou Dynasty (1100 B.C.), gold and silver nails were  strictly reserved for royal family members.  The color purple is also associated with luxury, power, and ambition. Naturally we selected our home football team to create our Ravens Girl a.k.a. Ms. Jackson #8. Not to overdo it with the gold, we incorporated silver glitter with her purple nails.  We also used clip-in hair streaks, colored hair spray and gold hair accessories to complete her look.

-Shayla Jackson, Author

-Ariell Hayes, Co-Author

-Luz Amaya, Contributor

-Ayslinn Garcia, Contributor

Back to School Night brings smiles to Patterson faces

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By Hailey Shifflett

Ms. Williams and the band as they are walking in to perform at Back to School Night (Photo: Patterson Press)

Patterson High held its 9th annual Back to School Night and Community Fair on September 26th from 5-8 pm in the school cafeteria. There were many things to do and many more things to see. From belly dancers to our own marching band’s performance, Back to School Night was a fun time.

Patterson has multiple groups and clubs that you can participate in during or after school. Back to School Night introduced students and their families to the teachers and organizers that host many different clubs. There were many tables for clubs like Art Club, the Student Government Association, the Patterson Press, etc along with a number of other groups from the community. Everyone who attended enjoyed Back to School Night, including some parents.

Ms. Ciera Garner, mother of Destiny Garner, remarked, “I love this Back to School Night. It is a lot of fun and I love how they have music too. My favorite event so far is the band performance.”

Not only parents enjoyed it, but students did too. Moussa Bombwe, a tenth grader, felt that Back to School Night was “good.” His favorite table was Soccer Without Borders, one of the groups that were featured at the event.

Some more clubs and groups at Patterson are SGA, run by Adam Sokolski, a social studies teacher, Roberta’s House, and Empowering Minds.
The SGA is the Student Government Association, The SGA’s goal is to teach student leadership, and to work with SGA all around Baltimore, and to work on teamwork skills. Also, in the past the SGA went to City Hall.

Roberta’s House is a family support group. They have multiple programs that help both parents and children for family loss (death, deportation, missing, etc.) Also, they help mothers with child loss (miscarriage, child died, etc.) They work here at Patterson and any student can join. Lastly, There is Empowering Minds. They are also a support group which has therapeutic counseling and talks to you about your problems, mental health, and many other things.

Mr Benton, Patterson’s principal, also shed light on what he thought about the Back to School Night. “I’m always excited about the Back to School Night. It doesn’t matter about the amount of people that come, but the smiles on their faces.”

His favorite event of the night was the band’s performance and the people enjoying the band’s performance as well. He’s appreciative for the adults that help out at Patterson and spend their own time with students to make new and exciting clubs. Mr. Benton loves all of the Back to School Nights because people showed up and had a good time and he is grateful for that.

Overall, Back to School Night was a good time. People had fun and enjoyed themselves. Some joined new clubs or met new people. Back to School Night was a way for the community to join together and forget, even for a second, the problems that might be going on in their lives. Their main focus was to just have a good time. And that is what Back to School Night is all about.

A collection of some of the groups that were featured at Back to School night (Photo: Patterson Press)
Our principal, Mr. Benton, showing that he is even having a good time (Photo: Patterson Press)

African dancers celebrate Black History Month at Patterson

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Dancers and SGA members (Photo: Patterson Press)

By Sartre Ndebaneza

Patterson High School hosted a group of Imani dancers on February 24, 2017, to celebrate the history of African Americans as part of Black History Month. It was an exciting event that Patterson High School students enjoyed, as they have testified. “I liked the dance and music. It was fantastic.” a Patterson student, Jonas, said.

The group performed a variety of songs and dances in the auditorium. All of the songs performed had a different story to tell and dancers wore different clothes to illustrate the message of each song. Imani dancers began with African traditional songs and dances, which showed African culture before slavery. Dancers were wearing clothes made of grass. Other songs performed were to honor Black activists who fought for freedom, and other songs were to recognize the part religion played to help African Americans express their opinions and feelings through music. When they started dancing in African style, the audience screamed and turned around to look at their immigrant classmates.

It was surprising to see those young dancers perform varieties of songs that awaken the spirit of unity in young generations. In conclusion, the leader of Imani dancers left a message of hope and love to the audience. “We have come together like never before,”  said the leader of Imani dancers, Eme Funderburke. The performance wasn’t only for fun, but also recalled the history of African Americans. The Imani dancers announced their next trip will be to Ghana, in Africa.

 

Patterson band performs at City Festival

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(Photo: Ms. Williams)

(Photo: Ms. Williams)

By Lionell Green,

The Patterson band had been working hard all semester to perfect their songs, and they took their talents to City College High School on March 29, where they were in the yearly City Festival with several schools, including Carver and a couple of middle schools. It was not really a competition; it was more like a showcase of skills.

It was very entertaining to see the band do great in another setting. Multiple other schools praised Patterson’s band and the three judges were impressed. They played a total of three songs called “The Thunderer,” “Aftershock,” and “Chillaxin.”

Ms Williams was asked, “How did you feel about your band traveling to another school to play? She responded, “Traveling to City High School was  an amazing opportunity for our students to showcase their musician skills that they acquired during the year. They got to experience listening to other bands and perform their best at the City Festival! As their teacher, I am proud, but as a musician I’m even prouder.”

Here are some of the comments from the judges:

“Very strong playing today!”

“Good job with a small ensemble!”

“Let me congratulate the bands from Carver, Reginald, and Patterson;  I personally thought your students had great performances.  Many times even the students get wrapped up in the sizes of the group or the ability of the players, but I thought your groups were confident, well-rehearsed, and committed to making you proud.”

 

 

Where is Patterson’s New School Building?

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The current building, constructed in 1959, will be demolished after the new building is finished. (Photo: http://baltimore21stcenturyschools.org)

The current building, constructed in 1960, will be demolished after the new building is finished. (Photo: http://baltimore21stcenturyschools.org)

By Alvaro Flores & Amadou Bah,

In 2013, funding was approved to replace the whole Patterson High School building with a brand new one, but little progress has been made since that time. Patterson High School has a poor facility condition which means that the school is pretty run-down and is now getting worn out. The Patterson Press decided to investigate the reason for this delay and discover what the plan is for the new building.

Back in 2013 a bill was passed and the General Assembly agreed on a financing plan to allow Baltimore to spend roughly $1 billion dollars on school construction to repair or replace broken-down buildings over the next seven years. The plan is known as the 21st Century Buildings fund. The plan requires Baltimore, the city school system, and the state to put up $20 million a year each to help pay back this loan over the next 30 years. Patterson High School is among the schools scheduled to benefit from this money.

The Patterson High School building is currently 303,582 square feet. The original building was built in 1960 at 230,000 square feet. Additions were built in 1968 with 49,634 square feet and in 1977 with 23,948 square feet. In 1977, a 9,211 square feet renovation was completed. Science lab renovations of 10,800 square feet were completed in 1995 and locker room renovations of 9,225 square feet were completed in 2001. This means that in previous years, instead of building a new school building, they were adding more space to the school.

Not only are we going to get a new building in the near future, we are also going to be pairing up with a Special Education school called Claremont Middle/High School. Also, there are some really special features planned for the new school, such as three additional basketball courts, two additional tennis courts, bleachers for visiting teams, a press box and scoreboards for baseball and softball fields.

According to Jessica Clark, “In 2013 the Government Association approved for the construction of the new Patterson building to occur and will be complete in 2019.” This proves that the new Patterson building is guaranteed, but no updates have been made since that time. The Class of 2017 seniors were all wondering why they won’t see the new building before they leave. It’s coming, Seniors! You’ll just have to come back as alumni.

Patterson High School’s program contains several education programs which will impact the design of the building and the space requirements. These programs are: AOP program, Life Skills, Academy of Engineering / Project Lead the Way / Design Technology, Advertising and Graphic Design, Allied Health, Emergency Medical Technician / Homeland Security, Business Administration / Finance and Accounting, Cosmetic Services, Child Care, and ROTC.

The new building has been delayed for a number of reasons, including disagreements about how to spend the money that has been allocated for the new school (for example: we currently have a pool but a new pool will cost millions of dollars that could otherwise be spent on technology or other things). With that being said, the plan is finally moving forward. Construction on the new building will start this year. It is expected to be finished in the school year 2020-2021. This will be the 3rd Patterson High School building. This new school building will be the future.

 

Enrollment projection:

Source: http://baltimore21stcenturyschools.org/schools/104

RYP students visit National Geographic Headquarters

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Students who participate in RYP program with National Geographic staffs in Washington DC. (Photo: Ms. Kursten Pickup)

by Sartre Ndebaneza,

Students who participate in the Refugee Youth Project program went on a field trip to Washington DC on March 17 . The trip featured a tour of the headquarters of the National Geographic Society where students learned how experts in different fields use photos to express their messages.

National Geographic’s employees who work in the studio showed RYP students how they take some incredible pictures to illustrate ideas in magazines or to break down myths. One experience students benefited from was an explanation of the meaning behind a broken glass that contains water. The information that the broken glass with water gives is to tell people that the concept of drinking eight glasses of water a day is wrong. There is not any scientific proof that drinking eight glasses of water a day is beneficial.

After that, students took a tour of a building where they went to see the archives. Because all RYP students are from different countries, everyone got a chance to observe some historic photos taken in their countries. Another thing students got the opportunity to visit was National Geographic museum.

This field trip was a great experience for all the students who participated in it.

 

Winter Concert showcases musical talent at Patterson

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The band performed classic holiday songs at the Winter Concert. (Photo: Marina Siebor, Patterson Press)

The band performed classic holiday songs at the Winter Concert. (Photo: Marina Siebor, Patterson Press)

by Marina Siebor,

A winter concert was held in the auditorium on Thursday, December 22nd, 2016 at 6 pm.  Music teacher Ms.Williams directed the entire show and there were dozens of students preforming in front of parents, teachers and other students.

The winter concert was a success this year. There were snacks, music, and special performances from Patterson High School students. The drum line played a few songs followed by a solo dancer and a group of girls dancing to “All I Want for Christmas”. The audience really enjoyed the solo singer, Mason Nines, as he preformed a moving rendition of “Cadences”. Before the solo performance was done, everyone was clapping and yelling. There were estimated to be just a little over 90 people there at the show.

Keon Williamson, who played bass drum, expressed his opinions about the concert. “The show was a good show overall, even though we had some tech difficulties, but overall we got a lot done during the show. One thing we believe we should work on is outfits and making sure everyone looks good as well as sound good”, Williamson said.

Ms. Williams was satisfied overall with the concert, but there were some things that she thought could be improved. “There will be more great performances to come”, she promised.

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: CHECK BACK LATER FOR VIDEOS FROM THE CONCERT. THE FILES ARE TOO LARGE TO UPLOAD TO THIS WEBSITE.

 

 

Students create Japanese tea bowls

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Some of the finished Japanese tea bowls that Mr. Pesa's students made (Photo: Patterson Press)

Some of the finished Japanese tea bowls that Mr. Pesa’s students made (Photo: Patterson Press)

By Alvaro Flores-Villegas,

Mr. Pesa’s World History students made Japanese Tea bowls out of clay and decorated them in October with Ms. Holter as part of an arts integration project. The students were learning about the history of Japanese culture and how the tea bowls were very essential in history. The old tea bowls were actually made from clay.

After the students learned about the bowls, they actually made the bowls out of clay. So the next day the students went into the art classroom. Ms. Holter, who is one of the art teachers at Patterson, helped them all make the bowls out of clay and decorate them in the process. So Ms. Holter made the clay hard by putting them in a kiln. A kiln is a special type of oven made for making ceramics. After the students painted the bowls she put them back into the kiln to give the paint a glossy appearance.

“My experience with the bowl was nice because I got to try and make one like the Japanese did theirs back then”, reflected Aisha Alavez, one of the students who participated in the project.

Mr. Latanishen’s World History students also worked on an arts integration project with Ms. Holter around the same time. Their project involved making cuneiform tablets out of clay using symbols that the students created.

These projects overall were quite enjoyable to the students because they got to learn about art and world history all together. Mr. Pesa, Ms. Holter, and Mr. Latanishen plan to work together on more arts integration projects like this one in the future.

(Photos: Patterson Press)

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