Category Archives: Departments

AFJROTC participates in Color Guard competition

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By John Dingzon,

On March 10, 2017, Lt. Colonel Jones and Technical Sergeant Smith took the Color Guard units to compete against other high schools in the Baltimore City district. It was a city wide Junior ROTC drill meet. There were sessions for unarmed and armed drill units, as well as unarmed drill sequence regulation, and unarmed drill inspection.

It has been nearly 10 years since the Patterson High School Air Force Junior ROTC competed against other high schools in a drill meet competition. The Color Guard team started practicing from the beginning of the school year. They practiced marching, and learning all of the techniques. The new students started learning the maneuvers, but the Color Guard did not practice hard enough until January 2017.

Lt. Colonel Jones started the selection of students who will be on the events and began the training for the actual competition. The real competition did not start until the month after the event. They all work hard to get prepared for the competition and even, the Color Guard took on new maneuvers and drill sequences.  They worked hard and did a great job, all the way through the finish line.

The ROTC faced the challenged of finding the time, and created the Color Guard team as the extra-curricular or co-curricular activity and did not have consistent attendance, and that’s because many of the students are part of extra-curricular or co-curricular activities, including the varsity athletics.  So they are pulled in different directions. So the biggest challenged this year for the ROTC is for them to come to practice. They had to also use some class time to be able to practice, but this was limited so it did not take away from the academics.

Lt. Col Jones goal was to able to find a time for practice after or before school, so they were not interrupted from their studies. The next event for Junior ROTC is next year again. So anyone who want to can able to participate and also be part of an annual event. It’s also part of Junior ROTC, and what they’re calling the CEO’S Cup, and the Chief Executive Officer for the district. It’s also basically like the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy with the military academy. So the team who wins more events throughout the year will earn this trophy of ROTC in the units.

There were also individual awards. There’s what they call individual drill or Knockout. It’s basically like Simon says. They give commands and people are ask to dropped out if they do the commands incorrectly or if Simon doesn’t say the commands correctly. Patterson High School ROTC made a great showing, but Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly) won the overall event.

It was a great, fun-filled event. In the city this event will happen again next year. Lt. Col Jones hopes the ROTC will participate more in other categories next year. “This year Baltimore Poly won 1st place in the Color Guard, but I think the other schools know we are the school to be watched for next year,” said Lt. Jones.

 

 

 

 

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Where is Patterson’s New School Building?

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The current building, constructed in 1959, will be demolished after the new building is finished. (Photo: http://baltimore21stcenturyschools.org)

The current building, constructed in 1960, will be demolished after the new building is finished. (Photo: http://baltimore21stcenturyschools.org)

By Alvaro Flores & Amadou Bah,

In 2013, funding was approved to replace the whole Patterson High School building with a brand new one, but little progress has been made since that time. Patterson High School has a poor facility condition which means that the school is pretty run-down and is now getting worn out. The Patterson Press decided to investigate the reason for this delay and discover what the plan is for the new building.

Back in 2013 a bill was passed and the General Assembly agreed on a financing plan to allow Baltimore to spend roughly $1 billion dollars on school construction to repair or replace broken-down buildings over the next seven years. The plan is known as the 21st Century Buildings fund. The plan requires Baltimore, the city school system, and the state to put up $20 million a year each to help pay back this loan over the next 30 years. Patterson High School is among the schools scheduled to benefit from this money.

The Patterson High School building is currently 303,582 square feet. The original building was built in 1960 at 230,000 square feet. Additions were built in 1968 with 49,634 square feet and in 1977 with 23,948 square feet. In 1977, a 9,211 square feet renovation was completed. Science lab renovations of 10,800 square feet were completed in 1995 and locker room renovations of 9,225 square feet were completed in 2001. This means that in previous years, instead of building a new school building, they were adding more space to the school.

Not only are we going to get a new building in the near future, we are also going to be pairing up with a Special Education school called Claremont Middle/High School. Also, there are some really special features planned for the new school, such as three additional basketball courts, two additional tennis courts, bleachers for visiting teams, a press box and scoreboards for baseball and softball fields.

According to Jessica Clark, “In 2013 the Government Association approved for the construction of the new Patterson building to occur and will be complete in 2019.” This proves that the new Patterson building is guaranteed, but no updates have been made since that time. The Class of 2017 seniors were all wondering why they won’t see the new building before they leave. It’s coming, Seniors! You’ll just have to come back as alumni.

Patterson High School’s program contains several education programs which will impact the design of the building and the space requirements. These programs are: AOP program, Life Skills, Academy of Engineering / Project Lead the Way / Design Technology, Advertising and Graphic Design, Allied Health, Emergency Medical Technician / Homeland Security, Business Administration / Finance and Accounting, Cosmetic Services, Child Care, and ROTC.

The new building has been delayed for a number of reasons, including disagreements about how to spend the money that has been allocated for the new school (for example: we currently have a pool but a new pool will cost millions of dollars that could otherwise be spent on technology or other things). With that being said, the plan is finally moving forward. Construction on the new building will start this year. It is expected to be finished in the school year 2020-2021. This will be the 3rd Patterson High School building. This new school building will be the future.

 

Enrollment projection:

Source: http://baltimore21stcenturyschools.org/schools/104

Softball team having “best season ever”

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The Patterson Lady Clippers softball team (Photo: Ms. Mahoney)

The Patterson Lady Clippers softball team (Photo: Ms. Mahoney)

By Alvaro Flores-Villegas,

The varsity girls softball team is still continuing their dominance against all the other Baltimore City schools in the 2016-17 school year, resulting in a 13-2 record for the season so far.

 

The softball team suffered a loss against Benjamin Franklin on April 18th with a final score of 11-18, ending their undefeated streak. But they did not let that affect how they played, because soon after that loss, Patterson won several complete blowouts, including a 20-5 win over Lake Clifton and a 26-0 win over FAET.

“It’s our best season ever!”, declared Coach Mahoney.

These victories wouldn’t have been possible without the softball team’s hard work. According to Coach Mahoney, the team practices daily. They complete several drills use a pitching machine and they scrimmage during practice.

Four seniors on the team are graduating this year: Morgan, Naydean, Justist and Damanique. “We are sad but wish them the best in their future plans.”, Ms. Mahoney said.

Patterson wins state championship

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Coach Martin and the basketball team celebrating their State Championship win (Photo: Patterson High School)

By Christian Pietrowski

and Lionell Green

Patterson’s varsity boys basketball team defeated Century High School on March 11th in the Division 2A State Championship. It was a hard-fought game and our own Patterson Clippers came out strong with the win. With a final score of 49-43, the Clippers finish the season with the 2A championship title.

The whole season has been hard but the Clippers fought their way through and put their heart into the game to win the championship. Century High School was winning with six minutes to go until Patterson stepped up their game up to win the State Championship.

“You come down here and they don’t give away state championships,” Coach Martin said. “It’s not easy. You have to battle and fight. We battled and did enough.”

The Patterson basketball team made nine free throws in the last 1:38 to secure the title and Gerard Mungo hit six of them.

Darrion Pitts, a Junior on the basketball team said ” It felt amazing to win the State Championship. Its great to be known as a person that won. The hard work, practices and close games [all paid off].”

Pitts described how the team felt during the game. “Every game we took it step by step, getting inches closer to it and when we where playing the game, looking at the scoreboard every time making sure we had the lead was like [having] a heart attack. When the clock struck zero, joy, happiness and excitement just spread to the floor. Getting that gold medal, taking the picture with my team, holding up the state title, is a memory and forever will be a memory.”

Always put your heart into everything you do. That’s what the Patterson basketball team did to win the State Championship.

The team roster consists of

#        Name                   Position   Grade

1 Daesean Jones Guard So.
2 Harrison Brandon Guard Sr.
3 Marvin Price (C) Guard So.
5 Gerard Mungo Guard So.
12 John Thomas Guard Sr.
15 Rico Lang Forward Fr.
20 Byron Easter Wing So.
23 Christion Adams Forward Sr.
24 Isaiah Clemons (C) Guard Sr.
30 Darrion Pitts Forward Jr.

 

Lacrosse team defeats Reginald Lewis 6-1

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By Alvaro Flores-Villegas

The varsity boys Lacrosse team defeated Reginald Lewis High School on March 30, 2017 with a final score of 6-1, achieving their first win of the season. The goals scored against Reginald Lewis were made by John Thomas with three goals, Alvaro Flores-Villegas with one goal, Jonathan Amaya with one goal, and Antonio Laster with one goal. During the game, there was an altercation between a player from Patterson and a player from Reginald, but ultimately, the Clippers helped focus their teammate, and motivated him to keep playing, resulting in a win. The team fought their hearts out and worked hard to get their win. Hopefully there will be more wins in the near future, and Patterson will finally have a successful season and bring home a City Championship.

Is keeping animals in zoos a good thing?

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By Sartre Ndebaneza,

The San Diego Zoo contains animals from around the world, including this giant panda named Bai Yun. (Photo: Matthew Field)

The San Diego Zoo contains animals from around the world, including this giant panda named Bai Yun. (Photo: Matthew Field)

We are all familiar with taking a short walk in a park, visiting zoos, and even taking some food to feed those poor animals. How about giving your loved ones a visit to a Sea World show? How about protecting animals and providing them with good healthcare and feeding them? There are a lot of significant reasons to consider in order to keep these animals behind bars. But what is the purpose if we do all these things for our own interest?

It has been said that we need to protect the environment, but we still hear some leaders say that climate change is hoax. Big corporations polluted the air but noone can point fingers at them. Government agencies and private organizations seem to care about nature but many people do not. So why do we really keep animals in captivity?

First, people started the open parks for wild animals. Then, so sea animals were not left behind, people took them from their world in order to keep them in pools. Is pool water better than ocean water? Were the jungles where those zoo animals used to live worse than those little shelters people enclosed them in?

If you are a true world-saver think about this: An African elephant covers about 80 kilometers (around 50 miles) a day. Is there any comparison that we can make with these elephants locked in zoos? It is better to take care of animals and love them but why do we deny them the right to live naturally?

For instance, at the San Diego Zoo, trainers trained animals, including dolphins, to do tricks. Trainers make animals do tricks by rewarding them with food. It sounds good but this is a technique to change animals’ psychology, and when animals act differently trainers call it rebelling or bad behavior. We know that when those animals lived in jungles or in oceans they ate when they were hungry, not when they did tricks. And they got food by hunting, not by being fed by people’s hands. What would you do if you found out someone was changing your lifestyle in a way you don’t like?

There may sometimes be good reasons to keep animals in captivity, such as helping endangered species to breed, but most of the time wild animals are better off in their natural environment, not locked up for our entertainment.

Investigating Patterson’s rodent problem

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Photo: National Institutes of Health (public domain)

By Christian Pietrowski, Lionell Green and Jessica Branch,

Patterson is known for the roaches and mice that can be found all throughout the school. A lot of classrooms have mice living in the walls and sometimes during the day they make an appearance. So why does Patterson have this rodent and insect problem if the janitors clean every day–both after the students leave and during the day?

Ms.Rivera, head custodian at Patterson High, told the Patterson Press, ”I honestly have no clue why there is a rodent problem in Patterson because I work like crazy and so do the other custodians.”

Morgan McCafity, a senior at Patterson High, said, ”The rodent problem is sad and scary.” She doesn’t want rodents running across her feet when they could possibly have a disease.

Honestly, the rodent problem at Patterson is sad because Patterson is a really nice school and is actually cleaned on a regular basis. So if Patterson is cleaned regularly, why is there a rodent problem? To discover he answer to this question, we went around the school and asked questions to random students and teachers in school. Here are the questions we asked and a random sample of some of the answers we received:

  1. Why is Patterson so dirty? (Because students leave trash everywhere, not caring about trashcans.)
  2. Why are there so many rodents in Patterson? (They are smart creatures and they find their way in no matter what.)
  3. If the custodians clean, WHY is it so dirty? (Because students throw trash wherever they can and whenever they can even if there is a trashcan 5 feet away.)
  4. What makes Patterson so dirty? (The students.)
  5. Why haven’t we gotten an exterminator? (We have a couple times but it doesn’t work.)
  6. Where are they coming from? (The outside of the school.)
  7. Why haven’t we stopped this? (Patterson has tried numerous times.)
  8. What is causing the rodents to come out? (The cold and the trash and food crumbs that are on the ground.)
  9. How many rodents have you seen in a day? (About 8 or 10.)
  10. How can we stop them from coming in? (Block all the small holes and ways that they come in.)

As an experiment, two of us walked around the school to see how many mice and rodents we could each find in just 5 minutes (for a combined total of 10 minutes between the two reporters). Here is what we found, broken down minute by minute:

pietrowski- Lionell-Branch (1)

All in all, Patterson has a really bad rodent problem. Patterson might be one of the worst schools with a rodent problem. Part of the problem is because the school has small holes in the floors and walls and the animals are small so they can come in through the holes. The custodians clean as often as they can, but as long as students continue to throw trash everywhere the rodent problem will not get any better.

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