Category Archives: Clubs and Organizations

Gone With the Wind (OPINION)

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(Image: Seattle Public Schools)

By Anthony Ward

If you are a senior, you are one of two types of people right now. Either you are the one planning ahead for your next chapter once out of high school or you are the one gazing back on unfixable mistakes with blissful nostalgia trying to find some sort of closure with high school and being a child all over.

Why? Maybe because being entitled as a high school senior is like being an old woman or man being diagnosed with one week to live. Plus, with the constant reminders that the senior year will go “like that” (said by the Principal, Vance Benton) you’ll begin to cling to what is familiar, including teachers (the ones you have known for more than two years); friends (those who have actually been there till the end), and office staff who can tell you have come so far from being a rowdy ninth grader by the number of times in and out of their office.

But there are also perks as well (and no, not the senior discount at IHOP or Denny’s). Because everything is oozing finality it can push a student to open up and possibly participate in as many events as possible. These events include joining the band with Mr. Gagne in the singing club, throwing on some gloves with Ms. Diehl in the Cooking Club, or even getting political with Ms. Brett in the SGA. Like the end of 1999, it’s the end of an era. But whether you were the bad-turned-good-student or the perfect-at-being-bad student you can take this short school year in and embrace it as if it were your last, because we will all soon be gone with he wind.

¿Qué vas a hacer con tu vida? (SPANISH)

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Por Makenzie Reyes-Schettini

El lunes 30 de septiembre un grupo de estudiantes de Patterson fueron al R2L (ready to learn) Congressional Hispanic Caucus en Washington D.C. Allí nos enseñaron cómo podemos los requisitos para entrar en la universidad y cómo podemos encontrar nuestra universidad preferida. También nos mostraron cómo podemos buscar los recursos necesarios para pagar por la matricula y otras necesidades. También nos aconsejaron que no pusiéramos fotos “inapropiadas” en las redes sociales porque al buscar trabajo e incluso en algunas universidades muchos buscan la red social para ver si eres un buen candidato para ellos.

Entonces, ¿nos pone a pensar algo este artículo? Sin duda debemos de pensar desde ahorita que hacemos y cómo nos comportamos, tanto al estar adentro del colegio como cuando metidos en nuestras redes sociales en el internet. Recordemos chicos y chicas que tenerlo presente nos ayudará en nuestro futuro. Entonces hagámonos la pregunta, ¿Qué haremos con nuestra vida?

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)

Patterson receives grant to build hoop house in school garden

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The future site of the hoop house (Photo: Corey Grisson Jr., Patterson Press)

By Corey Grisson Jr.

Coming soon to Patterson High School is the Patterson Hoop House, which will be an addition to the Patterson School Garden. It will be built in back of our school, in the fenced- in area near the Garden. This is a nice little cool area which the students can see from Mr. Yates’ and Ms. Roberts’ classroom windows.

The hoop house will be paid for through a grant called the Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant, which a group of staff members applied for:  Ms. Hope, Ms. Snyder, Ms. Diehl, Ms. Solomon, Ms. Githua, Ms. Wongus, Ms. Bridgeforth, Ms Heneson, and Ms. Holter. Our grant was awarded in January and a couple of estimates have been given to Ms. Diehl regarding hoop house construction.  It has been hard to find a pipe bender for rent locally. Ms. Diehl is currently reaching out to people like Arthur Morgan with Gather Baltimore, Greg Strella with Great Kids Farm, and Andreas Spiliadis with Baltimore Hoop Love for guidance about constructing the hoop house.

A hoop house  is designed to be used in colder months but ours needs to be built in the spring to comply with grant guidelines. Plastic will be put over the hoop house in late fall when we want to raise the ambient temperature in which plants can grow. In the meantime, we can still grow in the space it covers and use it as an outdoor education space. The hoop house will allow us to grow fruits and/or vegetables all year long.

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)

Patterson participates in “Teens for Jeans” campaign

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Students help collect jeans that will be donated to shelters across the country (Photo: Robin Morrison, Patterson Press)

By Robin Morrison

Patterson High School recently participated in a campaign called “Teens for Jeans” whereby students donated jeans to people in need. In return, students received two service learning hours and a discount coupon for Aeropostale. The campaign was co-sponsored by the Student Government Association, the senior class, and the Jonathan Ogden Club. Ms. Brett, Coach Kelly Bagdasarian and Ms. Rue were the teachers in charge of the campaign within the school. This campaign lasted from February 12th to February 22nd.

“I found out about the campaign from Ms Rue and it seemed interesting, so I searched more about it online”, Ms. Brett told the Patterson Press.

Aeropostale was a sponsor of the campaign. The jeans collected at the school will be sent to Aeropostale and then they will send it to shelters throughout the country.

“It feels good to be making a difference in our community while allowing our Patterson students to give back to the community”, said Coach Kelly.

The campaign was a big success as the school collected many jeans from the students and sent them off to go to the shelters.

Ms. Rue (left) and Ms. Brett, co-organizers of the Teens for Jeans campaign (Photo: Robin Morrison, Patterson Press)

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)

Patterson Press visits the Newseum

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Students use a teleprompter to broadcast the news (Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

By Jevaughn Taylor

The Patterson Press, the official student news publication of Patterson High School, organized a field trip to the Newseum in Washington D.C. on January 31, 2013. We went on this trip to learn more about news reporting and to witness some of the great stories and events that have happened in history and made the world what it is today. We saw exhibits of significant events, like the 9-11 terrorist attack that happened in New York City. This exhibit included the wreckage of the antenna from the top of the world trade center, along with news headlines, photos and videos taken during the attack. We also saw the cell door that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived behind after one of his many arrests during the Civil Rights Movement.

Another section of the Newseum featured an FBI exhibit that showed some of the murder weapons used to commit famous crimes.  We also got to see a “4-D” movie that uses new technology to make the viewer feel like they are actually in the movie. We even took a tour of a live broadcast studio that was used during the 2012 Presidential debates.

Many of the exhibits at the Newseum were interactive. This included an exhibit that allowed students to make their own news broadcast. By selecting a background screen and reading from a device called a teleprompter, students could make a video of themselves reporting the news. Most of the students on the trip participated in this activity and had a lot of fun doing it.

The trip to the Newseum was fun and educational. We learned all about journalism, history and life in general. Students who weren’t a part of the Patterson Press news team are now considering joining us because they realize how much fun they can have and how becoming a student reporter can help them to become  that special person they want to be in life. We would like to thank Mr. Pesa, Mr. Cox and Ms. Deihl for organizing this trip for us.

(Photos by Brennan Meeks and Brenden Williams, Patterson Press. Click on a photo for a larger image.)

Former Ravens player visits Patterson to announce opening of new community center

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Principal Benton and Jonathan Ogden cut the ribbon on the new community room. (Photo: Jevaughn Taylor, Patterson Press)

By Jevaughn Taylor

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Patterson High School  on the morning of Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 to announce the opening of the Jonathan Ogden/Cristata Cares Community Center. The Community Center will be located inside the school and will be a partnership between Patterson and several community organizations.

Jonathan Ogden, a former Baltimore Ravens player and NFL Hall of Famer, is working hands on with the community to build a better future. Ogden spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony to show his support for and involvement with the project.

“You’ve got to help educate the parents to help their children. So this is another way to continue to make this a better community, a better school, a better environment for these people around here,” Jonathan Ogden declared. Ogden has been providing academic support to student athletes at Patterson for the past 16 years through his Jonathan Ogden Club.

The purpose of the community center is to give back to the community and dive deeper into students’ family life. They also plan to  have sessions where they can teach financial literacy so people will know how to be wise about their money. They will help out the homeless by making sure they have access to resources like food, computers with internet, and staff to help to assist families going looking for jobs. Families are helping out too, by donating clothing to people who need them. It’s all about helping our community to rise so we can be a better city and make it possible for everyone to be successful in life. By doing this as a team we can accomplish anything.

“I love giving back to the community,” said senior Sherrod Hawkes, a member of the Jonathan Ogden Club who has been helping out with the new community center. “It feels good.”

“I think it means a lot. They look back and are proud of themselves as well as they should be,” says Coach Kelly Bagdasarian, who also works for the Jonathan Ogden Foundation.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, 30 families were given holiday food baskets and got a chance to meet Jonathan Ogden for the first time in their life. The Jonathan Ogden/Cristata Cares Community Center is located on the first floor of Patterson High School and will be open two days a week from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, several other days for classes, and some weekends.

With files from Great Kids Up Close (http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/greatkids).

Students and visitors pose with Jonathan Ogden in the new Community Room (Photo: Jevaughn Taylor, Patterson Press)

Jonathan Ogden gives a holiday dinner to a member of the community (Photo: Jevaughn Taylor, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Jevaughn Taylor, Patterson Press)

Patterson staff members and community partners celebrate the opening of the new community center (Photo: Jevaughn Taylor, Patterson Press)

 

 

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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