Category Archives: Academics

Third annual community fair is biggest yet

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Principal Vance Benton dances with a sword on his head (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

By Shane Braden

Patterson High School hosted its third annual community fair and back to school night on September 19 in the cafeteria. There where 446 people there including over 200 students, making this the largest community fair yet. The purpose of the fair was to bring the community, parents, students and Patterson staff  together. The fair is a chance to to have fun, eat, play games and learn about a variety of programs and opportunities offered by the school and its community partners.

There were also some special performers there who showed everyone their talents. One of the performers was a belly dancer who danced while balancing a sword on her head. Even our principal, Mr. Benton, tried dancing with the sword on his head, as the crowd cheered him on. Another performer did a flamenco dance, which is a type of Spanish dance. She used castanets and danced around as she clapped them in her hands. Patterson students performed as well, including a group of four girls who performed a traditional dance from their home country of Bhutan, along with hip-hop style dancing by sophomore Quincy Mims.

In addition to many school-based organizations and projects like the school garden, Spa La La (which offered  free manicures), DECA, the athletics program, the Health Corps and the Patterson Press, dozens of  organizations from the community also set up information tables at the fair. One of  the groups was CASA de Maryland, a non-profit organization that works to defend the rights of immigrants and offers a free after-school program for college students. Other organizations present at the fair included Afrikan Youth Alchemy, the Real Food Farm, Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffeehouse, the Red Cross, Evergreen Health Co-op and several colleges and universities. Free flu vaccinations were provided by Rite Aid.

“I think  it’s outstanding  that there are so many people and different cultures here that interact with each other,” Mr. Benton told the Patterson Press. The community fair has become an important tradition for Patterson High School and event organizer Ms. Kelly Flores hopes to see an even bigger turnout next year.

 

 

(Photos by Anthony Ward and Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

With help from the Ravens, Patterson plants trees on Earth Day

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Students plant a new tree outside Patterson High School (Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

By Brennan Meeks

Patterson students and staff members were joined by the  Baltimore Ravens and the Parks and People Foundation as they planted trees in front of the school on April 22. By getting their hands dirty, students helped to make the school more beautiful and also improved the environment. This event is the way Patterson celebrated Earth Day, which takes place at this time every year.

“The trees are helpful to the environment in many ways. They help prevent the storm water runoff, and they help clean the air we breathe. They’re beautiful,” said Parks and People Foundation spokesman Dennis Sykes.

“I like it because it doesn’t usually look so pretty, and these are nice, pretty colors and everything. They’re making our school pretty,” said 10th-grade student Shahara Tatum.

The new trees will help Patterson become a more green school. This has been the first time in many years that Patterson students helped to plant trees on the campus.

Several members of the Baltimore Ravens football team along with environmentalists and other Baltimore residents came out to support us on Earth Day. “For every sack the Ravens got during the season, we would plant a tree. So, at the end of the year, we had 37 sacks, and we had 37 trees to plant,”  said Ravens, spokeswoman Emily Scerba.

“We want to be more concerned with the environment, and here in Baltimore, we want to help with building the watersheds,” Chen said.

(Photos: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Patterson students join rally for immigration reform

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Patterson students join thousands of other demonstrators at a rally for immigration reform in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington DC (Photo: Ms. Flores)

By Ms. Kelly Flores

Two buses full of Patterson students, faculty, and community members participated in a rally and march in support of immigration reform on the West Lawn of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C on April 10th, 2013. This was a nationwide movement crying out to urge Congress, who just returned to session, to address the issue of there being over 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country.

Cries of “¡Sí se puede!”  (Yes we can!)  and “Obama escucha–estamos en la lucha”  (Obama listen–we are in the fight!)  filled the air as the students and faculty from Patterson arrived onto the scene of over 100,000 people rallying together for the same cause. During the rally speakers such as Dolores Huerta and Congressman Luis Gutierrez passionately addressed the audience, urging them to keep pushing Congress and that this is the year for reform.

This was a fantastic real life learning opportunity for students to see government in action and the importance of people being an active participant and making their voice heard.

(Photos: Ms. Flores)

Students participate in health study

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Students keep careful records of everything they ate (Photo: Robin Morrison, Patterson Press)

By Brennan Meeks

Patterson students are participating in a program called “Spice My Plate”. The University of Maryland wanted to study what and how teenagers eat. At the beginning of the study, each student received a food log to write what they eat for three days. Patterson students who completed the food log for the study received a $25 shopping gift card and kitchen instruments such as pots, pans, spices, etc.

The study began in the first week of March and will continue until May 15th. At the end of the study, students will  receive a $150 gift card for finishing the study. For more information about the health study, see Ms. Diehl in the Health Corps office.

Students and staff practice Yoga after school

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Students and staff members practice yoga after school in Patterson’s cafeteria (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

By Tamika Addison

Ms. Jess with Yoga Across America teaches yoga to students and staff members for free every Tuesday after school in the cafeteria from 4:00-5:00 PM and every other Friday in gym.

In Yoga Club, participants practice a variety of moves and positions, including Sun Salutations, Downward Facing Dog, Warrior 1 , and Crow. These exercises involve a lot of stretching and strengthening and they focus a lot on breathing.

Yoga is good for developing strength and flexibility, clearing  your mind and coping with stress. Yoga can also be a lot of fun for people of all ages and ability levels. For more information, see Ms. Diehl in the Health Corps office.

 

(Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

Yoga instructor Ms. Jess (right) models the correct body position for an exercise (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

Black History Month exhibit showcases African art and much more

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By Brennan Meeks

(Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

In honor of Black History Month, Patterson hosted an African/African American history exhibit in Room 162. Staff member Mr. Ricardo Jordan organized the exhibit.

The exhibit explored black history and culture over the years and featured portraits of black inventors, spiritual objects, sculptures and other artwork. The exhibit also included books written by famous African Americans.

The exhibit was open during homeroom and class times and some teachers took their classes down to visit it. Students who saw the exhibit were very interested in learning about African American history and different African cultures.

Patterson celebrates Black History Month with special performance

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Drama Club members perform original poems modeled after the poetry of James Weldon Johnson (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

By  Tamika Addison

Members of  the Patterson Drama Club and Patterson Dance Team performed for our Black History Month assembly on  March 4th  in the auditorium. The Patterson Drama Club did a staged reading of  poems by Patterson students. These poems were written in Ms. Bell’s African American Literature class and were modeled after James Weldon Johnson’s ” Lift Every Voice and Sing “. The Patterson Dance Team performed a  series of  pieces which created a timeline from African Dance through modern hip hop. The performance demonstrated how modern hip hop moves evolved from African dance. The invited audience showed enthusiastic appreciation. Stay tuned for more activity performances!

With files from Ms. Bell

The Dance Team shows how African dance developed into hip-hop moves (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

Government students present posters about the Egyptian Revolution

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Students present their poster about the Egyptian Revolution (Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

By Brennan Meeks

Ms. McDermott’s Government class held a presentation about the Egyptian Revolution on February 11 ,2013 in the Skills USA room. Several other teachers, staff members and students were in attendance to witness the presentation. The class had been studying the revolution in Egypt for several weeks leading up to the presentation.

The presentation was divided into different groups. Each group had to present on a principle of democracy relating to a picture they had displayed on poster board. Each group talked about about how Mubarak, the government leader of Egypt until 2011, was a dictator. Mubarak had limited his people’s rights by using the force of the military to control the people. Mubarak had been in power in Egypt for many years and the people of Egypt were tired of his rule. Beginning in January 2011, the citizens of Egypt started protesting and rioting because they wanted him out of power. The class discussed what happened in the revolution.

“The revolution in Egypt happened two years ago. Egypt had an authoritarian government,” said Ms. McDermott. In the end, Mubarak’s government was overthrown by his own people. In February 2011, Mubarak was forced to leave the government.

“Egypt had been going through a lot of changes when he was dictator. Mubarak took away peoples’ rights and this led to  riots in Egypt.” explained students Kelvin and Xavier.

“[What happened in Egypt teaches us the importance of]  freedom of speech. Protest for your own rights and fight for freedom. [In Egypt,] they didn’t agree with the government because [Mubarak] treated the people badly,” said Regia Bell, another of Ms. McDermott’s students.

“President Mubarak had an authoritarian government, and he was powerful leader. He  didn’t allow any [free] press and he didn’t want people to know about what was going on Egypt,” offered students Breona and Malika.

By the end, each group had presented its principle of democracy and how it related to the Egyptian revolution. Everyone agreed that it was a very good discussion and they learned many new things from this project. As events in Egypt continue to make headlines, it is important that everyone understands what is at stake and is able  to appreciate the value of democracy. Ms. McDermott’s class has helped us to do just that.

 

(Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Opinion: Women still face discrimination, stereotypes

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By Qu’Chae Madison

Illustration by Elizabeth Christopher

Equality affects all of us, no matter what our race or gender we are.  Equality, to me, means treating everyone with respect, no matter the race, nationality, or gender of the other person.

In the olden days, many people in the world believed very strongly in stereotypical gender roles. A gender role is the standard role that a man or woman takes in society.  For example, men work hard and bring home the bacon, while women stay home, cook, clean, and take care of children.  But as the gender roles have blurred, more women are working while taking care of children, becoming CEO’s while going to school, and making a living for the family.  At the same time more men are taking on the role of “manny,” taking care of kids while the mothers are out of the home.

Equality is a very important thing to me because I believe in treating everyone fairly.  Equality is about treating people with respect. I don’t think women are being treated equally right now. For example, if a woman and a man are competing for a job as a business-person, I think the man would get the job nine times out of ten. I think some men believe women are weaker and naive so it is easier for some women to be dominated by men.

I do not think girls are being treated equally at Pattterson either.  For example, sometimes students are categorized based solely on gender and the stereotypical thinking might be: “Oh, just because she’s a girl, she can’t beat me”, or ,”Oh, she’s a girly-girl. She might break a nail.”

If you label and stereotype people, you automatically put them in a group and do not give them the chance to be known as individuals.  I think women are being mistreated sometimes because of how people see them.  For example, if you see someone who is quiet and who is always looking down, someone would immediately think they can step over them, because of the visual impression they make on others.  Equality is something that is very important to me, and I believe we need to stand up for it.

Patterson students participate in CyberPatriot competition

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By Ms. Ball

Patterson’s amazing cyber security team, the Cyber Trolls, performed quite well in the first two rounds of Northrop Grumman’s Annual CyberPatriot Competition.  The first round was held in November and the 2nd round was held on December 7, 2012.  The time frame for both rounds was from 12:00 to 6:00 PM.  Our industry mentors were Tyler Lillard, a former Patterson student, and Sergeants Jessica Yanzick & Rain from the Air Force.  Students put in a full day’s work trying to find computer system vulnerabilities and prevent others from hacking into their system.

Cyber security is one of the fastest growing STEM careers in the world.  The U.S. desperately needs computer engineers and software programmers to help fight the cyber attacks that threaten our businesses on a daily basis.  Our students are learning the skills necessary to protect the virtual machines they work on.  Please congratulate the students listed below for doing a fantastic job in the competition.  Round 3.5 will be held in February, 2013.  Wish us luck!

DeOnte Green
Onyekachi Ekeagwu
Aaron Wheeler
Abhishek Younghang
JeVaughn Taylor
James Siebor

S. Ball, Cybersecurity Coach

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