Things happened to me when I was in Uganda and this is my story.
One day I was with my friend at home. Then, there was one friend that came to pick us up to play soccer. We went to the playground. There was a crazy woman who was always sitting near the road. We were playing and then the crazy woman threw us something like a small ball. One of my friends took it and started to play with it. Then he said that it started to get hot and it was burning his hands. We all came to see what is happening, so at that time we saw it. It was made of steel and other metals. One of my friends said that he knew what it was because he saw it in the movie, and it kills. The one who was playing with it said that he’s lying to us. We ran far away after we heard that it kills people. There were two who remained there playing with it. They were throwing it with each other. So, in a few seconds they threw it down. Then it exploded. One died and the other broke his leg. We who were far away had some small metal fragments enter our bodies.
At that time we couldn’t hear anything because it was so loud. The ambulance came and took us to the hospital. I was at least okay, but others were in bad condition. There were about ten children who were playing soccer. They took the crazy woman to jail and they found out that she was not actually crazy; it was her mission to kill us.
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)
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.
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.”
A screenshot from the NFL ad (photo: Youtube.com )
By John Dingzon & Amadou Bah,
A special chess event took place at Roland Park Elementary/Middle School on October 10, 2016. An NFL guest, Ravens player John Urschel, came in and played with students from multiple schools, including Patterson, Dunbar, and two other schools.
The point of this event was to show that football players have hobbies besides football. It also gave the chess team a chance to meet a professional athlete. A TV commercial was filmed at the event; the NFL has spent over $40,000 for it to be prepared.
John Urschel is a master on the field…and on the chess board. He took on 50 of Baltimore’s youngest chess whizzes. It took between 4-5 hours to make a 30 second ad. Several Patterson students and Chess Club co-advisor Mr. Baron are featured in the ad.
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.
Baltimore City Public schools aren’t as interactive as people may think. I think every city school should have at least one field day where the students go outside and play games and interact with each other. In other Maryland districts every school from elementary to High school do field days at least once a year.
If City schools would have field day for every school in school violence would decrease by 23% according to Baltimore city public schools. According to BCPS the main reason the city hasn’t pursued this is because parents are afraid of the neighborhoods and scared of what would happen if their kids where outside for 3+ hours. A couple states have made this move and made it mandatory for every school to have at least 1 field day per school year. A state that has done this is Ohio and according to Ohiopublicschools.com in school violence for the worst schools decreased dramatically.
According to Amadou Bah, a student at Patterson High School, “it would be a great thing for schools to have a field day at least once per school year because then students can get out and get exercising and get stretching and active”. Ms. Masati, an English teacher at Patterson High, says “Yes, but students should also have a hour of activity and movement every day.”
I think every school district in the country should pursue this it really would help build bonds between students and teachers.
A stand from the community Fair (Photo: Patterson Press)
By Mikal McCoy,
Patterson High School had its 6th annual Back to School Night and Community Fair on the evening of September 22, 2016. Students, teachers and family members met together in the cafeteria to share a night of fun.
During the fair, there were games, activities and food. “It was a lot of food, a lot of chicken, vegetables and drinks”, said Yero Goloco, a student who attended the fair. For entertainment, different activities were planned. Students who were asked agreed that the fair was entertaining. “There was a lady belly dancing, people played drums, and there was a dance battle”, said Amadou Bah, another student who attended the fair. These responses reveal that people enjoyed the food and activities, but the Community Fair served other purposes as well.
Many families attended the fair. Students from Patterson High School invited their parents, friends, and relatives. Around 500 people attended the event. Dozens of community organizations, businesses and universities participated in the fair, along with many school groups and programs such as Robotics, Gardening, Coding Club and more. Each club had a stand with representatives who spoke with students and family members about what they do.
One group that attended the Community Fair was Patterson’s AFJROTC program. Cadets who attended the event helped out with setting up and seating visitors. “I was standing outside, greeting people, giving them their tickets for their sheets”, explained Abdullah, one of the cadets. Teachers, students and family members came together to make the Community Fair a success.
This year marked the 6th consecutive year that there has been a community fair event at Patterson. Ms. O’Brien and Mr. Alukwu started the event in 2011. “It was an idea that Mr. Alukwu and I came up with the summer before Mr. Benton became the principal”, recalled Ms. O’Brien. It takes planning, organization, and thought to come up with an idea like a school community fair and make it work. This year’s event was no exception.
Here are the cover pages and inside spreads from all of the winners of the Patterson bookbinding contest. More information is available on the front page of the May 2016 print edition of the Patterson Press.
A student (right), Ms. K. O’Brien (formerly Flores), and Patterson Principal Vance Benton dance with a belly dancer (right) (Photo: Patterson Press)
By Valerie Flores
Patterson High hosted its 5th annual Community Fair on September 24, 2015, in the cafeteria to welcome new students and old students back for another great school year.
As always, there were so many people, from jobs like State Farm, to after-school programs that we have here at our school, like the J.R.O.T.C program. Several colleges came to visit our school, too. Towson University came to this great event to help students make it to college by providing information about their college, as did B.C.C.C.
Lauren Hepner from Art With a Heart said, “I never had this during my high school years. This is different and cool to bring people together, which is awesome for us because not many schools have any events like this.”
Ms. Mahoney, who has been a teacher for about 16 years, loves the event. She said it’s really nice to be part of the Patterson family because it creates events like these.
Ms. Dagostino also stated that the event is great because it gives her a chance to meet new members of the Patterson family.
Kendric Senior, a freshman this year, said he enjoyed the flamenco dancing (there has been a flamenco dancer at the event every year) and the group of students selling snow balls to support their club.
Michael Candelario, a junior, has been at Patterson since his freshman year. He said the school is diverse (Nepalis and other Asians, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, Arabs, etc.) and he gets to see these people and meet new students at the event.
The Community Fair has become a cherished annual tradition at Patterson, drawing hundreds of students, parents and community members every year. It has even been copied by other schools in the city. If the success of this year’s fair is any indication, it is safe to assume that this remarkable event is not going away any time soon.
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