Category Archives: Clubs and Organizations

Patterson High student election postponed due to internet failure

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By Moses Jeuronlon

The Patterson High School Student Government Association held a election on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018 to select their new new president and officers.

Students were required to vote through Kahoot, an internet tool used for surveys quizzes and discussion. While preparing to vote, The internet connection was lost and they could not show the results. The teachers tried refreshing it but it ended in failure.

The audience was whispering, saying, “someone is trying to hack the school WiFi”. In reality, the voting was not being conducted on the official school WiFi network (which does not have a strong enough signal to work in the auditorium) but instead utilized a teacher’s private network.

They kept trying over and over and time ran out. Students got dismissed and the election got postponed to a later date. According to John Digzon, the former SGA President, “the internet connection in the auditorium is not good and too many people used Mr. Bey’s WiFi.”

Dingzon gave his opinion on the candidates, saying, “I’m proud of them and the things they have accomplished.” He suggested that perhaps the candidate can see this as a opportunity and try to encourage more people to vote for them when the true election takes place. It also gave Dingzon the chance to enjoy few more days as President. “I feel happy because I’m trying to finish what I can” said Digzon.

The election was rescheduled to take place early the following week in social studies classrooms.

 

 

Building STEPS prepares students for college and careers

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By Christian Pietrowski,

Building STEPS is a program that prepares students in Baltimore for college and careers with a focus on science and technology. I want to say thanks to everyone in Building STEPS and everyone that’s involved with the program. My journey through Building STEPS has been an experience of a lifetime, from climbing trees at Genesee Valley all the way to learning science, technology, and engineering and mathematics skills.

When I got the acceptance letter into Building STEPS at the end of my tenth grade year, I was so excited. I was excited because I knew I was going to get the help I needed to get into college. Believe it or not, before Building STEPS, I was shy and would not approach people for help and would not talk to people unless spoken to.  They made my confidence level go from zero to a hundred. Building STEPS has helped me overcome a lot of challenges. The main challenge I overcame was being put outside of my comfort zone. I learned how to talk to people I didn’t know, and learned how to appreciate working in groups instead of on my own.

Building STEPS has also helped me with the college process.  Without them, I probably would have pulled my hair out while I wrote my college applications.  They helped me write my college essays, which I didn’t think were good until my Building STEPS writing advisor helped me. I am extremely proud that I got accepted to more than one college. I would not have been able to do that without Building STEPS. Building STEPS has helped me get into colleges I would have never dreamed about being accepted to.

In the fall, I plan to attend Mount Saint Mary’s University. I am going to play college baseball and to study criminal justice so when I graduate college I can be in the FBI.

Building STEPS has taught me a valuable lesson in life, which is to never be afraid to leave your comfort zone and don’t be scared to ask for help if needed. Thanks to Building STEPS, I have made friendships with people that I know will last a lifetime.

International chess champion visits Patterson

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Phiona Mutesi with her coach Robert Katende holding the Chess along with the patterson students and teachers. creadit Faran Nadeem.

Phiona Mutesi with her coach Robert Katende holding a chess board, along with the Patterson students and teachers (Photo: Faran Nadeem)

By Faran Nadeem,

Phiona Mutesi, the international chess master, came to Patterson on Thursday, April 20, 2017. She is also known as “The Queen of Katwe.” She came to have a little talk with the students and tell about her life and how she reached where she is now. It was a great afternoon. We all had fun. It was a pleasure to have Phiona and her coach, Robert Katende, in our school.

She was born in 1996, Kampala, Uganda. She is Uganda’s first female international chess player. Before she learned about chess, she was not interested in it. In fact she didn’t even know what chess was until she stopped by the chess room in Robert’s program. She went in the chess room just for milk, according to her.

She played and won many games in Uganda, as well as internationally. She was the best player in her class and on her team. She used to beat her coach, Robert Katende, sometimes. She belonged to a very poor family. She used to sell maize with her younger brother for living. In 2016 Disney made a movie called “The Queen of Katwe,” which tells about her amazing life, and her triumph over difficulty. It shows the challenges she faced in her life. I, myself, watched the movie. It’s actually a really great and emotional movie.

I have to say that she is one of the nicest and most polite ladies I have ever met. We all had questions that we asked. She and her coach were more then happy to answer each question. “It was nice meeting her,” said Sartre. She also played chess with 4 students at the same time, while Coach Robert gave a chess lesson to one of Patterson’s top players, Jeremiah Lemmon. Another top player, Nan Wang, played against Phiona, and said, “That was really good. I had a lot of fun and I learn a lot of moves.” Both Phiona and her coach had some really good tips and lessons that they shared with Patterson students and staff. The biggest lesson they told was  “Never give up, never surrender” both in the game and in the real life. That is what she did and we all can see where she is now.

 

REFERENCE/SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiona_Mutesi

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.”

 

 

Patterson chess team ties with Mervo

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A Patterson student (left) plays chess against a Mervo student (Photo: Mr. Baron)

“Patterson High Team Co-Captain Jeremaiah Lemmon (pictured on the left) plays Mervo’s top ranked player (Photo: Mr. Baron)

 

 

 

 

 

 

By John Dingzon

During their home game on March 21, 2017, the Patterson Chess team tied with Mervo.

Coaches Mr. Tola and Mr. Baron had trained the chess players and prepared them for what was coming.  All of their practices made the Patterson chess players look forward to this competition. Even though some chess players lost, they were still happy that they had the chance to participate in this competition.

Mr. Baron said, “I’m proud of how the team played. It’s a good reminder that every move in chess, just like in life, counts.”

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.

 

Code Baltimore teaches students how to program apps for Apple products

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(Image: Jonathan Bradley)

 

By Faran Nadeem,

Code Baltimore is an after school program at Patterson High School. The program is about learning the Apple’s official language, “SWIFT”.

The teacher is not from the our school. His name is Ian Han and he is a technology officer at Iron Forge. He teaches us how to code our own apps for Apple iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers. He brings a MacBook Pro for every student, because of the fact that we can only code SWIFT on Apple products.  The program takes place every Wednesday after-school from around 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

So far we have made 3 apps in total with the assistance of Mr. Han. These apps we made were somewhat difficult to make but it did not take long to make them and they are useful. Then we were given 3 weeks to complete one app on our own by doing research. When the app is complete we will upload it to the Apple Store.

It is really interesting to have our own app on the app store where everyone can download it. I am working on an app with Amadou Bah and Yamen Khalil and I really want our app to be on the app store. Our app is a sticker pack in which there are different emojis and text and most interestingly we three have our own face emoji. Hopefully it will be done next week.

Coding is always fun when you know what to do and how to do it. I remember when I used to code for website development. I sat down in one spot and keep coding all day long because I knew what to do. Wednesday, March 29 is the last day of Code Baltimore, but there is another session that is starting about one week after the end of this session. Anyone who is interested in coding can join this program. It is free of cost and also you will get a certificate after you are done making your own app.

Journalism class visits Newseum

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By Alvaro Flores-Villegas,

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The Journalists Memorial remembers reporters who died in the line of duty (Photos: Amadou Bah, Patterson Press)

Students from Mr. Pesa’s journalism class along with students from several other classes participated in a field trip to the Newseum in Washington D.C. on March 24, 2017. The purpose of the trip was for the students to learn more about how the news is made, explore issues surrounding first Amendment freedoms and see the history of news back in the day through rare artifacts, hands-on exhibits and multi-media displays.

It took students and teachers several hours to explore the massive 7-story building, where they saw all kinds of news articles and other exhibits. One of the other things that students saw include a piece of the World Trade Center that was destroyed on 9/11, surrounded by news headlines and video footage captured by journalists during that tragic event. Another interesting thing students checked out was the virtual reality (VR) room where we could interact with the screens and see how virtual reality brings media to a whole new level. “It made it seem like I was in a video game. It was a wonderful experience”, said Amadou Bah, a student who tried out the VR goggles. Another room that really got a lot of students’ attention was a memorial for all the journalists that died doing their jobs.

Because there was so much to see, some students went off on their own to visit parts of the museum that others skipped over. A student named Faran Nadeem went into a 4-dimensional movie and shared his experience. “That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen! I didn’t know technology can go so far.”,  Nadeem exclaimed. The movie contained the first woman journalist ever and a radio reporter who was outside when German planes were bombing London at night during World War 2.  Other students recorded themselves reading the news using a teleprompter and a green screen to make it appear like they were reporting live on the scene.

The field trip to the Newseum was such an amazing experience, not only for the journalism class but for all the other students who were not part of the class but will hopefully be in it next year.

Patterson’s newly formed baseball team

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By Christian Pietrowski,

The Patterson baseball team is off to its best start in years.

We started off with eight wins and three losses. The losses were really close games. The losses came from Baltimore City College twice and Dunbar once. The wins came against Mervo twice, Douglass, Digital, FAET, Edmonson West Side, Southwestern and New Era.

This season has been amazing. We have a team that has a lot of potential. There are two new coaches to the baseball team: Coach Martin and Coach Funk. They have been a great contribution to Patterson’s baseball team. The players all help each other to succeed. The Patterson baseball team helped improve the field to better its condition so we can actually play on it. Every player on the team contributes one way or another. The weather for this season has not been at its best with games being cancelled and having to practice inside, but the baseball team has toughened its way through the bad weather.

 

 

New student group brings different cultures together to solve school problems

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By Natasha Abrev-Moran,

There is a new group in Patterson High School called SPIRIT.  This group started on October 16, 2016 with about 60 students involved.  The meaning of SPIRIT is Students Problem Idea Resolution of Issues Together.  The purpose of this group is to bring different cultures together to find out the concerns they all have and find resolutions.

The  sponsors of this group are CASA de Maryland and Jamya Ceisa de Maryland. In the group, students are the leaders who talk about their concerns. These concerns involved school safety. They advocated for more security and fixing the alarm detectors. This issue was brought up to the principal who took action by hiring new security staff and stating he would look into resolving the detector problem.

Another issue many students are concerned about is safety before and after school. “Most students fear for their safety while on the bus. Thanks to the SPIRIT group, they will be working on fixing that and pushing to have a positive outcome,” said Margot Harris, ESOL department head.

SPIRIT meetings occur once a month, usually after school or during lunches in room 315. If you have any concerns or wish to join feel free to speak with Ms. Harris.

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