Category Archives: Good Works

Refugee students meet after school

Posted on by Leave a comment

By Dhan Bhattarai and Manisha Monger,

Refugee students who are here today at Patterson have a lot of opportunities to learn after school. The International Rescue Committee helps to provide support for these students through a group called the Refugee Youth Project (RYP). This program helps refugee students. The RYP meets every Tuesday and Wednesday and is open to all refugee students.

This program helps students to learn reading and writing skills, helps them with their homework and many other things. All the students who participate in the group enjoy spending time together after school. It helps them to learn more things and provides every student with basic knowledge that they need for success. For more information, see Ms. Harris in room 314.

To read this article in Nepali, click here.

Mindful Moments program teaches students breathing techniques and more

Posted on by Leave a comment

Students and Mindful Moments staff members practice breathing exercises in a circle (Photo: Shane Braden, Patterson Press)

By Nasheira Johnson,

Patterson High School has partnered with a group called the Holistic Life Foundation also known as the Mindful Moments Program to help students learn about their inner selves through breathing exercises, yoga and plenty of other methods.

The Holistic Life Foundation is a Baltimore-based nonprofit organization committed to nurturing the wellness of children and adults in undeserved communities. In the 2013-2014 school year members from the group contacted Mr. Benton to see if he was interested in the program. He decided that this program would be a great opportunity for not only students but staff as well.

This program is a great asset to our school. Not only are the methods from this program used at school but outside of school. In fact Mr. Benton practices these procedures from this program with him and his son every morning. He believes that these methods help better himself. The staff of the Mindful Moments Program who work at Patterson High School are very helpful. They talk to students about their problems and also give them advice.

I spoke with a few of the staff members from the program and asked them their opinions about the program. Sideaque is one of the staff members here who works at Patterson High School associated with the mindful moments program. She used to work at John Hopkins hospital and felt that she was no longer interested in the job she was doing, She then started applying to many places. Her goal was to work with younger people. One day she received a text message and was given an opportunity to work with the program. Sidaque believes that this program benefits all students. “We want students to change the world by changing themselves”, she told the explained. She encourages all students to try this program because it will help them do better and concentrate more.

Larry and Oba are two other associated with the Mindful Moments program at Patterson High School. They enjoy practicing the exercises with students in the room and sharing ideas with them. They had been practicing yoga for about thirteen years and decided that helping students better themselves would make their lives easier. Students in this program believe it is very helpful to them. This program keeps them from doing wrongful actions and leads them to be positive.

Latoya Morris is a student here at Patterson High School who believes this program is helpful.She says she comes here to get everything off her chest. Her goal is to master yoga. Before this program many students used to fight but now because of this program they are more relaxed. She recommends that all students here at Patterson should at least try to participate in the program.

For more information about the Mindful Moments Program please visit the Mindful Moments room right across from the nurses office.

Community Partner Profile: Jonathan Bradley

Posted on by Leave a comment

Mr. Jonathan Bradley, founder of Cristata Cares (Photo: Jamal Artis, Patterson Press)

By Jamal Artis

Patterson High School partners with a lot of people in the community. One of the most important ones is Mr. Jonathan E. Bradley.

Mr. Bradley is a founding board member of  Cristata Cares, Inc. He began his work with Cristata Cares, due to the disparity of wealth, savings, and mentoring within our Baltimore community. Cristata Cares, Inc.’s mission is to work with students and community in mentoring financial literacy, lifeskills, career development, and self-improvement (grades and attendance).

Cristata Cares has worked with Patterson High School since 2012, Cristata Cares first endeavor was to sponsor a book for students interested in medicine or a health related career.  It was a book signing and speak featuring Dr. Alfredo Quinonnes MD, neurologist at JHU, he spoke and shared with students his life in his book “Becoming Dr. Q.”  Since the initial event PHS has become a key partner school for Cristata Cares.  Mr. Bradley is on campus at least one day per week, many times working with fellow board member Mr. Matthew Wyskiel.  Cristata Cares has sponsored or hosted guest speakers ranging from rappers to epidemiologists to entrepreneurs.   The purpose is to help students to dream or have a vision of a better tomorrow.

Cristata Cares has worked closely with Principal Vance Benton, Coach Kelley Bagdasarian, Coach Heggins, Ms. Shannelle  England, and Ms. Loretta Kavanaugh and administrators, faculty, or teachers in seeing where  Cristata Cares can serve or work with Patterson and its community in helping PHS to reach its long term goals of becoming a top tier school.  Some of their activities or developments is, giving students who perform gift cards as an incentive, a live shopping exercise that encourages students to stretch their dollar through use of coupons, investment savings incentives, and establishing a small endowment seed fund for promising PHS alumnus who are facing financial challenges in pursuing a college or technical degree, and coaching the golf team (which he was not able to do this year due to lack of transportation) but is planning a golf club for Spring 2015.

One key milestone that has been reached in working with Patterson High, is launching an investment club to encourage students to save, the investment club meets after school and is in its fourth semester, the club has averaged 15 students per semester.   The PHS investment club rewards students who perform well compared to their peers.  The students learn how investments perform in various market cycles, compounding of interest, and other investment considerations or decisions.  Cristata Cares is pleased to continue its work with Patterson realizing that much work needs to be done in assisting and mentoring students to help give them the best opportunity to live or achieve their dreams.

Mr. Bradley is very thankful to Patterson High and in having board members who work and believe in a bright future for kids who are willing to work hard to achieve their dreams. The Patterson Press would  like to thank Mr.  Jonathan Bradley  for  taking time out of his schedule to talk to us.

With files from Jonathan Bradley.

Patterson hosts 4th annual community fair

Posted on by Leave a comment

A youth percussion band performs at the Community Fair (Photo: Patterson Press)

by Xavier Williams,

Patterson High School held it’s 4th annual community fair and back to school night inside the school’s cafeteria on September 25 from 5:30 to 8:00. It was held to motivate students to help and support their school and get help from their community.

At the community fair there were different organizations sharing some services to students so they can help them be successful in the future. So many great colleges, companies and non-profit organizations came like, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center,  Morgan State University, Towson University and the University of Baltimore, New York life insurance and the Real Food Farm. One of the people that worked at the University of  Baltimore explained that they had come to the fair to “[recruit] students to come to the university and to inspire them to go to college”. There were more people from different groups that participated in the community fair, including a United States Marine who said he is looking forward to speaking with male and female students to help them become successful.

There was a belly dancer, flamenco dancer and hip hop dancers as well. The hip hop dancers were male students from Patterson who did an amazing  job performing at the fair.

I asked Mr.Benton,  “After seeing the laughter and happiness here at the community fair do you think that Patterson High School will be a top 500 school?” and he said he always believed Patterson High School would be a top 500 school and that the school strives for greatness.

I agree with that 100 hundred percent because we do strive for greatness and after seeing how great the fair turn out to be i’m just really proud of my school.this years community fair turned out to be a blast. Everyone enjoyed it, they danced they laughed and they ate. It felt like they were happy to be there and they had a great time. People who were at the fair expressed that next year’s fair will be even bigger.

CHECK BACK LATER FOR MORE PHOTOS (OR SEE THEM ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE NOW)!

Secretary “Mama” Jones vows to beat breast cancer

Posted on by One comment

Mr. Benton and “Mama” Jones (photo: Patterson Press)

When Patterson Principal Vance Benton and long-time secretary Linda Jones (known affectionately as “Mama Jones”) announced that they were having a “showdown” on Friday, October 17th, most teachers and staff members had no idea what to expect.

The “showdown”, as it turns out, was a contest to see who had the best bald head. As Mr. Benton showed off his shiny dome to a crowd of spectators in the Media Center, Mama Jones pulled off her head scarf to reveal that she too had no hair. She also revealed the reason: Mama Jones is battling with breast cancer and has lost her hair as a result of chemo-therapy.

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 232,670 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the United States by the end of 2014. About 40,000 women in the U.S. will die from breast cancer by the end of the year. Yet there is also great cause for hope:  There are currently about 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

To raise awareness and money to combat this terrible disease, October has been declared National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. On October 16th, students, teachers and staff wore pink to school to show their support for breast cancer awareness. Mama Jones’ announcement the following day brought the issue closer to home for many Patterson staff members.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mama Jones was upbeat and optimistic. “I’m gonna kick cancer’s a** before cancer kicks my a**!”, she declared to cheers and applause. Needless to say, Mama Jones won the contest with Mr. Benton, just as she has vowed to win her battle with cancer. After her announcement, dozens of teachers and staff members lined up to hug her and give her words of encouragement. Her daughter and grandchildren also came out to support her. Her daughter even shaved her own head in solidarity. Everyone in the Patterson “500” family admires Mama Jones for her courage and wishes her a speedy recovery.

Patterson participates in ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Posted on by Leave a comment

by Joshua Carr,

Patterson participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge on Sept. 5 to help raise money for ALS. ALS means amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It is also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, named after the Yankees baseball player who died of it in 1941.

Poly High School challenged our school to do the Ice Bucket Challenge and Mr. Benton, the school principal, accepted. To do the Ice Bucket Challenge you have to dump a bucket of ice water on your head and put a video of it on the internet to help raise money for ALS.  The Ice Bucket Challenge was a fun experience for the students and staff of Patterson High School.

Click to download video of Mr. Benton’s Ice Bucket Challenge

 

Student mentors help freshmen avoid making the same mistakes

Posted on by Leave a comment

Illustration by Shane Braden, Patterson Press

By Ty’Shawn Key,

Individual Advancement Mentoring (I.AM) is a peer mentoring program started last year by my brother Alonzo Key. I.AM was created because too many students throw away their freshmen year. Whether it is due to chasing popularity, getting involved with the wrong crowd, focusing on other things, having too much fun, or just pure goofing off, every year a large percentage of students squander their Freshmen year. I.AM was designed so we can get that year back. Our goal is to reach the minds of our incoming freshmen classes, and influence them to get on the path of having a more proactive high school career through the acts of peer mentoring. Our mentoring uses the simple tools of motivation and enlightenment through student voices. Older students are acting as the big brother or sister figures that some of our younger peers may lack. These mentors are a select few members of this year’s senior and junior classes.

The program is supervised by Mrs. McIntosh, myself and several other upperclassmen, including Kwynten Brooks, a star player on the Patterson Clippers Boys Basketball team, Johnny Alvarez, an amateur skater and photographer sponsored by Fly Geenius, Jamahl Loney, a DECA Regional competition placer, and several other decorated individuals. Together we are actively trying to change the lives of our Patterson 500 Family’s young men and women, the future faces of our school. Our mentors sacrifice every other Tuesday and Thursday Futures period to shed some light on these young individuals, so that they can have the advice and help that we all wish we had as freshmen.

Olagoke Sanusi, one of junior leaders, described working with the freshmen as an experience that he would never forget. “Never would I imagine that me and my few life experiences could ever really help someone else with their life and situations just by talking to them about it”, he said. “It put me in a position where I was that external factor for someone else. I was the one who decided to either give them the assist, or let them get fouled…”

This has been one of the best years of my entire high school career, and it’s not because I’ve been accepted into the school of my dreams or because I have achieved some of my personal goals. It has been one of my best years because I can now leave my school saying I helped change someone’s life. As the saying goes, “a diamond in the rough shines its brightest only after someone picks it up to polish it.”

If you know of any intelligent, caring, respectable, productive and well-spoken individuals who will be juniors or seniors in the fall, please direct them to Mrs. McIntosh’s office for mentor enrollment for next school year.

 

Paid advertisement

New group connects motivational speakers with latino students

Posted on by Leave a comment

By Makenzie Reyes-Schettini,

Our school has the privilege to participate in a new group called Palante for Spanish and English speaking students. The word “palante” means moving forward in Spanish and that is exactly what they do! Many students take their free education for granted and don’t really think about their education. This group brings in people who have been through many challenges and succeeded in accomplishing their goals.

During a meeting last fall, Patterson High’s students from Palante have met many extraordinary people. There was Alicia I. Arbaje, who is a geriatric medicine specialist and health services professional at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Students also met Andres Anirt Gonzales, who is the co-founder and director of marketing for the Holistic Life Foundation, Inc. He is also one of the founders of the Mindful Moment program in which our school has the privilege of taking part in. Another speaker who came to the meeting was George Julnes, who has a doctorial degree in psychology. Lastly, there was Patricia Omana, who is the regional outreach manager for the connector entity of Healthy Howard.

What do all these people have in common? They are all latinos who have started with nothing and reached extraordinary heights. As they told their stories they didn’t forget to give us advice to keep focusing on our goals. So remember, don’t give up no matter how hard it may seem!

Students participate in Chesapeake Bay Service Learning Experience

Posted on by Leave a comment

Patterson students net fish in the Chesapeake Bay (Photo: Ms. Warzer)

Patterson students participated in a Chesapeake Bay Watershed project with the Patterson Park Audubon Center during this past fall.

Chris Homeister, the Experience Educator with the Audubon Center, had this to say about working with Patterson students, “They showed great interest in the presentation and the accompanying activities.”

Two classes participated in the project: Mr. Hopp’s Environmental Science students and Mrs. Warzer’s ESOL students. First, the classes welcomed the guest speaker, Chris Homeister, into their rooms. They listened to a presentation on the Chesapeake Bay, and how humans can impact the Bay, both positively and negatively. Then, each class joined Mr. Homeister for a day on the Chesapeake Bay. There, the students used fishing rods, reels and nets to find and catch various species of fish. Students placed the fish in small aquariums and identified the species using Fish I.D. sheets. They also conducted water quality testing.

Later, each class joined Mr. Homeister in an environmental stewardship project. Mr. Hopp’s students planted trees on Patterson’s school grounds on October 23, 2013. Mrs. Warzer’s students went to Patterson Park and cleaned up trash on November 8, 2013. The students participated with great energy and were very helpful. The students made picking up trash into a “game”, where a student would earn “a point” for each piece of trash that they picked up.

“Each time someone spotted a piece of trash, all the boys and a few girls would sprint to the trash. It was fun to watch,” said Mr. Homeister.

Both Mrs. Warzer and Mr. Hopp were very pleased with the learning experience.

“The Audubon Watershed Experience was a true gift to my Environmental Science curriculum”, said Mr. Hopp. “Not only did my students learn by wading out in the waters and testing oxygen levels in the Bay, but they also made a positive impact on their own community’s environment. Ultimately, this experience has better connected our students with the gifts of the Chesapeake Bay by helping them develop advocacy leadership skills for their future.”

“ This was a terrific opportunity for our English Language learners to have a hands-on experience with the environment in their new home and learn the vocabulary and ideas related to environmental science”, explained Ms. Warzer. “We followed up by watching videos of water restoration projects in their home country regions, and having an environmental conference to discuss the projects as examples of the scientific method in action. The students’ response was truly ‘awesome’!”

The students were also very grateful for this unique experience.

“ I appreciate you for helping us to understand why the leaves are falling down and the colors are changing”, Yamen Khalil wrote in a thank you letter to the Audubon Society. “I liked learning about how we can be sure if the water is dirty or if it didn’t have enough oxygen. I am glad we helped to make Patterson Park clean.”

“ I learned to take care of the environment- not polluting the rivers, lakes, and beaches and taking care of the animals”, added Rocio Valdez. “If we take care of everything around us, it is going to be better for ourselves, our families and for the future.”

Finally, Chris Homeister had one more comment to add, “It was an honor to work with your staff and students this semester. I hope we can partner up again in the future. Take care and thanks for supporting our partnership with Patterson High School.”

 

(Photos: Ms. Warzer)

Patterson launches anti-violence campaign

Posted on by Leave a comment

Students model clothing in a peace-themed fashion show (Photo: Mr. Canty)

By TyShawn Key,

It started with a bang. Punches were thrown, mace was sprayed and cameras were rolling. Television sets everywhere all over the city were tuned in to see the set of malicious brawls going on at Patterson High School. A school once known for its success with career pathways and production of superb athletes is now being depicted by the mass media for its “jaw dropping” fights. What happened? Where did things go wrong? Did things go wrong? Does this article really represent Patterson?

The media has this picture of Patterson colored in with the dirt found around the outskirts of the boundaries of our school, only showing a certain aspect of it. They’ve taken one extreme incident, and exploited it to make it seem as if this type of thing is a norm for our school. The media has attacked us, but will anyone respond? Is there one who has the gall or can muster the courage to take a stand for our school–for our Patterson family?

Our response is a new campaign called Patterson for Peace. Designed by Mrs. Shanell England, Patterson’s Community Outreach Coordinator, Patterson for Peace was created to reduce the level of violence in our school. The campaign was created because of fights like the one mentioned above. Mrs. England wants to change the community’s perspective of Patterson High School. She wants to show them what Patterson is really about. Patterson for Peace is calling for a full month without any fights at the school. The ultimate goal of this thirty day period of peace is to completely change the vibe of Patterson.

No longer will Patterson be known for its fights. Soon it will hopefully be known for its unity, peace, sports career pathways and other positive accomplishments. Under Mrs. England’s leadership, Patterson for Peace has already partnered with several outside businesses and organizations that have agreed to aid its efforts. Mrs. England understands some of the problems being concealed in the children of today, and knows the struggles of not having enough resources to solve these problems. Her ultimate goal is to reduce this problem. No longer should there be a “I don’t have” response  if there is ever a need in the mouth of Patterson 500 Family member. Mrs. England ultimately wishes to evoke, or rather resurrect, the spirit of brotherhood at Patterson, making it an even better place.

Most recently the Patterson for Peace organization presented the school with a fashion show where gorgeous student models graced the student body with their best expressions of peace through fashion, strutting their stuff, and making swag the ultimate understatement. Also, students have been creating many beautiful works of art promoting the message of peace. Some of this artwork can already be seen decorating the hallways. According to Mrs. England, this is just the tip of the iceberg, meaning that the best has yet to come. Patterson for Peace has promised to provide even more exhilarating events and jaw dropping experiences, along with many other character and confidence building activities.

Mrs. England would like to make a shout out to all of the beautiful models and everyone else who has volunteered their time, and the Patterson 500 family for keeping up with her. She looks forward to further engagement with the students, faculty and staff and sends her best regards to the Patterson 500 family. Anyone who wishes to take the Pledge for Peace or get involved with the campaign should see Mrs. England for more information.

(Photo: Mr. Canty)

« Older Entries Recent Entries »