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Category Archives: Clubs and Organizations

Clipper Productions brings Poe’s “Shuddersome” tales to life with dramatic performance

Posted on January 17, 2024 by pattersonpressonline Leave a comment

By Jamira Ellison

Students perform in “Shuddersome: Tales of Poe” *(Photo by Patterson Press*)

Patterson High School Clipper Productions hosted its annual fall play on November 15 and 16 at 7:00 PM. The play was called Shuddersome: Tales of Poe. Tickets were $2 for students and $5 for general admission.

The play was inspired by the works of the famous writer and Baltimore native, Edgar Allen Poe. At first some of the students were unfamiliar with Poe but they quickly gained interest when they learned more about Poe and his spooky stories.

“Production of the play was long, hard and rigorous.”, recounted lights operator, Kayla Cain. “At the start of the play everyone was like, ‘Edgar Allen Poe, who?’. And now the crew were definitely more interested in the play.”

On opening night, the student performers were excited and a little bit nervous.

“I am just praying that I remember my lines and hoping that everyone else remembers their part.”, said actor Caleb. “I hope it goes well and I’ll do the best I can.”

The first story was a very creepy story. The main character started greeting a girl every morning and being nice to her, but then quickly her thoughts shifted and she started to get thoughts of killing her. Eventually she actually did it. One night she killed the girl in her sleep. The next day the police showed up and arrested her and took her away.

The second story was a beautiful one but a creepy and nerve-racking one. It started off as a painter wanting to paint a girl because she was beautiful. But the artist was taking her soul and putting it into the portrait. Actors would dance around, grab little parts of her soul and return it to another painting with another girl being given life while the first girl was losing her life.

In another story, there was a village and nobody who lived there had a nose but one. He was praised for having a nose that no one else had and one day they took him to see the prince and the prince called him ugly and funny looking. When people found out what the prince had said, they stopped praising him. Everyone hated his nose after that. His own father was disappointed and turned him away.

In yet another story, there was a prince who locked his gates to escape from a very dangerous plague, but one day he decided to throw a masquerade ball. Each room in his house was decorated with a single color. He showed his guests around. The first room was blue, the second was purple, then green, orange, white, violet, and finally the last room was black with red windows and an ebony clock. When the clock struck midnight a new guest appeared with the face of a corpse. The guests were afraid but the prince was angry. They went into the other rooms but the strange guest found them. When they tried to get the prince to help, they realized he was dead and they all died a gruesome death.

In the post play interview the cast and crew said the play went about as well as they expected, with a few more mistakes that they would clean up for the next day’s show.

“[The] progression of the play was positive and attendance definitely improved as the play went on.”, floater Salem Garrett reflected. “I don’t know how the play will go [on the second night], but I know I’ll laugh a lot.”

Audience member and Patterson Press Editor Kylayah Davis said, “It was very funny, I didn’t really know what was going on but it seemed like they were having fun and I’m glad I came to support my friends.”

All in all, the show was great, filled with laughs, occasional mistakes, and lots of fun. The cast and crew are already looking forward to the next Clipper Production, which is scheduled to take place in the Spring of 2024.

Patterson wins first place in chess tournament

Posted on January 17, 2024 by pattersonpressonline Leave a comment

By Kaniya Gardner

The Patterson chess team won first place in a novice tournament at Green Street Academy on November 4. Everyone on the team had at least two wins and the team tied with Forest Park with a combined score of 17.5, securing the win for Patterson.

Members Keith Tooles and Nelson Vasquez tied for third place individually and they both won medals.

“I actually enjoyed the competition”, said chess team member, Kailani. “At first I was nervous but after the first game I was alright.”

According to some of the players, it was their first time competing in a tournament ever, so the win surprised them.

Make sure to congratulate everyone on the team when you see them!

Back to School Night: The start of a new year

Posted on January 17, 2024 by pattersonpressonline Leave a comment

By Thayer Oosterman

Paterson High School held its annual Back to School Night on Wednesday, September 20th from 5:00 until 7:00 PM.

There were many organizations present including Thread, The Y, the U.S Army Recruit and Command, Home Away from Home, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Coppin State University, and the Baltimore Medical System.

Patterson has many opportunities for all students, whether they are doing well or struggling academically. One group that helps students who are having a hard time in school is Thread.

“We are Thread, a relationship building organization, and we enroll students in their 9th grade year based on grades.”, explained a representative from Thread who was at Back to School Night. “We pull the bottom 25% academically and they work with us in their first year and they get matched with a volunteer and we just basically are here to build a stronger community across the city of Baltimore.”

There were also faith-based organizations providing services to the people of Baltimore City.

“We provide services for new immigrants that are taking asylum, refugees, and others.”, explained the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service representative.

Members of the U.S. Army were also present at the Back to School Night.

“We’re just here to promote the Army, talk to the kids about the benefits, if they have any questions”, said a representative of the U.S. Army Recruit and Command.

At Back to School Night, the Patterson High School Marching Band played music. Students and their families had delicious food served after the band performance. In the end, many parents and family members knew more about what was going on in the classrooms and they met their young scholars’ teachers.

The event was a success and parents and students alike knew more about how to succeed in the coming school year.

(Photos by Patterson Press)

Student Government Association gives students a voice

Posted on October 23, 2023 by pattersonpressportfolios Leave a comment

By Jayzanay Blessett

SGA members have a discussion at a citywide meeting (Photo: Mr. Frederick)

Student Government Association (SGA) helps students speak up on issues that go on in their schools. They also help plan events and make decisions regarding how the money is spent on the events. Currently, Patterson only has a few students who are interested in participating. I would highly encourage students to join or even check out some of the meetings because if you aren’t satisfied with some of the things that are going on, you can promote change and possibly even fix the issue.“SGA (Student Government Association) offers a forum for students to have a voice in their school and to also offer a as vehicle how they can voice their concerns to the school administration and look for ways to change the school to make it better for everybody–Students and staff–so that everybody can have an enjoyable time while they are in high school.”, explains Mr. Frederick, Patterson’s SGA faculty advisor.The elected positions in SGA are President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The president oversees the whole association and focuses on their primary responsibilities. The treasurer focuses on how money is spent on events and the budget we have. The secretary records documents of the SGA and helps with planning and meetings. Lastly, the vice president works with the president, helping with primary issues and solutions. We are currently collaborating with another student group called Catalyst for Change during advisory since we have a small group.

I would also like to mention that students are eligible to run for a city-wide position for the Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City (ASCBC). ASCBC is a city-wide SGA that focuses on bigger issues that impact every student in Baltimore City Public Schools. On October 3rd, Patterson SGA members attended the ASCBC General Assembly, which focused on things that could make our experience as BCPSS students better. We talked about how we could improve high school choice, school lunches, how we could add more robust class courses in our schools, and more.

I am currently running for the Diversity Committee Chair, which targets issues that minority and LGBTQ+ identifying students face in BCPSS. My goal is to ensure equity in every city school and get rid of the stereotypes Patterson and many other city schools have, while also implementing policies to make sure our schools are as inclusive as possible. As a participant, I’d highly encourage students to take this opportunity because it will help you grow as an individual, build your communication skills, give you a sense of accomplishment, and will help you make a change for you and students. If you feel as though you have no voice to speak on issues at Patterson High, think again and join our SGA!

Patterson Wins 31 Matches in 2023 Chess Nationals Tournament

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Haileyyyyyyyyyy Leave a comment

By Hailey Shifflet

Chess Nationals is a big thing for students throughout the country, ranging from kindergarteners to 12th graders. Chess Nationals can take place anywhere in the country, the 2022 tournament took place in Memphis, Tennessee, but this year was close to home, Washington DC at the Washington Hilton Hotel. The Chess team, led by Mr. Baron and Mr. Tola, brought 11 students with them: DeShown Streater, D’Andre Murray, Jauan Bennett, Coenia Sanchez, Alexandra Artiga, Hailey Shifflett, Julian Shifflett, Abel Kahsay, Aseel Alradaei, Brandon Lopez-Piedrasanta, and Kevin Lagoom.

The tournament had a total of 7 matches spanning over a period of 3 days, from the 31st of March to the 2nd of April. The competition had over 1700+ people join to compete. On the first day of the tournament you play the first two days, the 1st you play 3 games, then play the remaining two games on the 2nd. After all of the games are completed, we had some downtime until the award ceremony started. The Patterson Chess team had a total of 31 wins. The team was split into two separate sections, unrated and U800 (under 800). Because of the scores, The unrated players were ranked 35th out of 67 teams and they played against 407 players. The unrated players ranked 17th place out of 40 and played against 233 other players.

The Chess team was able to gain new experiences and grow their ability to play chess. They learned from their mistakes in game playing and were even able to meet grandmasters (high-ranked chess players), develop new chess techniques, and experience new things such as food or places. While Patterson didn’t win any trophies, the entire experience was positive and we all grew from it.

We also would like to give a special thanks to all the teachers that supported the chess team and helped us even get to Nationals in first place. We also like to thank the Principal Mrs. Myrick who even came to support us at Nationals. And most importantly, we like to thank Mr. Baron and Mr. Tola. Without them, we wouldn’t have a chess team and certainly wouldn’t have been able to go Nationals.

New Student Group Working Towards Positive Change

Posted on May 24, 2023 by pattersonpressonline Leave a comment

By Sierra Skaggs

As many readers may know, in the beginning of March we lost a fellow student due to gun violence. As a response to that tragedy, a group of students here at Patterson decided to form a group called Catalyst for Change.

The Patterson Press interviewed Christina Johnson, a senior who is a member of Catalyst for Change. At the time that we interviewed Johnson, there were 6 members in the group, but that number may have increased since then.

The students had a specific goal that they wanted to achieve when they created Catalyst for Change.

“We created the group so students can have a voice, they can voice their problems, opinions, and be heard, and to show the cultural diversity of Patterson, and make a difference.”, explains Johnson.

According to Johnson, the group has consensus-based process for making decisions.

“We voice our concerns about the school and we come up with different ideas, brainstorming, and we each come up with a mutual agreement.”

Catalyst for Change held a Culture Day event on April 27 to celebrate the cultural diversity of Patterson High School, which is the most diverse high school in Baltimore City. Principal Myrick called the event “phenomenal” and expressed her appreciation for the student organizers who “have been working consistently for six weeks to put their vision into reality”.

Many students and staff members are hopeful that Catalyst for Change will continue to be a force for positive transformation at Patterson next school year.

Drama Club performs unique adaptation of Snow White

Posted on May 21, 2023 by pattersonpressonline Leave a comment

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)

Patterson celebrates Culture Day

Posted on May 21, 2023 by pattersonpressonline Leave a comment

by Thayer Oosterman

Patterson High School celebrated Culture Day on On Thursday, April 27, from 4:00 to 6:30 PM. There were many cultural expressions, with food and music from many cultures around the world. They had Latin American, African, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern food. Musicians were playing Latin and West African music. During the playing of the West African music, there was dancing, where people would be in a circle and would go and dance in the circle.

After the music, they gave out food with a lot of delicious food items, like Jamaican rice and beans, Syrian shawarmas and Tandoori food, Libyan kebabs, and many other tasty foods from a variety of cultures. They also had a thick, sweet drink and lemon tea.

Near the end of the culture event they had a Kahoot game about the flags of the world, with many students and teachers and Principal Myrick playing. The Kahoot game went from 6:15 until around 6:30. After the Kahoot game and the end of the event, many students helped with the clean up or went to wait for the start of the play that was also taking place that night.

Culture Day was organized by a new student organization called Catalyst for Change. This was the group’s first big event and it was a huge success.

Back to School Night brings families together

Posted on December 16, 2022 by pattersonpressonline Leave a comment

By Nateshia Anderson

Patterson High School held its annual Back to School Night on September 22 from 5:00-7:00 PM. The purpose of this event was for the parents and families of students to meet the teachers and the community and learn about opportunities that were offered to their children.

The school provided free snowballs for everybody. A lot of people had fun. We talked to teachers at the event to find out how they help the students learn.

Ms. Jones said, “Give them extra attention, adjust my lessons so that each child is able to reach them and able to understand the material, make sure that I also pair them up with a buddy in the classroom… When they need some additional help, I can give them additional resources like…Khan Academy…”

Patterson High School is a place where students can come and talk to teachers and find out who they truly are.

“I can create an environment that feels safe and nurturing”, said Mr. Mike.

Administrators were also there, like Ms. Edler, who explained, “The first thing is I believe in holding students accountable and also supporting them in that accountability. Also, we present opportunities like college visits. However, students must be in full uniforms and they must be in school on time and be able to attend those visits.”

All in all, Back To School Night was a successful event where everybody came out and helped their children’s futures.

(Photos: Patterson Press)

Back to School Night brings smiles to Patterson faces

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Haileyyyyyyyyyy Leave a comment

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.