We did it Again! Back to Back! The Patterson swim team came in second place in the Baltimore City Swimming Championships.
This was a tremendous year for the team. The new school building did not have a swimming pool built into it. Coach Mahoney did everything she could to keep the Varsity sport here at Patterson High School. She discussed a plan with LA Fitness on Eastern Avenue for the team to use their facilities during practice sessions. The pool does not have a deep end, so the team practices starts when we show up early at the Swim Meets. The pool does offer three practice lanes, which has been very beneficial. We also have a new second Coach, Ms. Blum, who came from a different school and brought her expertise to help the team.
The members of the team were very hardworking and willing to learn all the new strokes. The team showed tremendous improvement each meet. What a fantastic season!
The following students were the members of the Swim Team:
The Snowboarding program Patterson attended this year is called Chill. We received this wonderful grant and opportunity again. The mission of Chill is to inspire youth to overcome challenges through board sports. Chill does this by organizing and running snowboard, skateboard, surfing, and stand up paddleboarding programs, pairing the fun, challenge, and experience of learning to ride a board with core values that cross over into everyday life. Each week students learn a new theme and practice with a Liberty Ski Instructor. The program lasts for six Tuesday evenings.
Revolving around a core value-driven curriculum, Chill programs consist of experiential learning activities, reflection, and discussion, paired with board sport lessons. Chill’s six core values (Respect, Courage, Patience, Persistence, Responsibility, and Pride) provide youth with a foundation and framework for learning and growth, supported and enhanced through progression in board sports skills and adult mentorship. Chill strives to remove barriers to accessing board sports by providing youth with everything they need to get after it, at absolutely no cost. New skills gained through board sport progression and core-value exploration are then directly applied to everyday life, challenging youth to step out of their comfort zone – both on and off their boards.
Ride, Inspire, and Lead has been the cornerstone of Chill’s positive youth development programs since inception in 1995. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of sliding on a board in the snow, sharing stories and excitement with friends on the lift, and succeeding at your first turns. Even more importantly, there’s nothing quite like the moment when you realize you’re capable of a lot more than you imagined, and that’s why snowboarding is so perfectly aligned to aid in self-empowerment and growth.
Patterson’s 2023 Outdoor Track & Field season was marked by outstanding relays, a superstar sophomore, and the hardest working distance runner in the city of Baltimore.
Patterson’s 4 x 100 meter relay team of Joel Jackson, Romero Ison, Nicholas Carter, and Mekhi Dukes won 2nd place in their heat at Penn Relays and qualified for nationals. The same quartet ran the 4 x 200 meter relay team and earned 2nd place in regionals (and qualified for states and nationals with their time). Superstar sophomore sprinter Romero Ison won the 100 and 200 meters at regionals (breaking the school record in the 200 meters and qualifying to run both in nationals). Our distance contingent was led by 3200 meter silver medalist Humed Nura, who also set school records in the 1600 and 800 meters. Jauan Bennett won the regionals in the shot put and broke a school record in the process. The future looks bright with outstanding freshmen sprinters Marquise Brown, Aaden Hopkins, Jamie Rucker, and Rancel Corporan Lagombra.
The girls team was marked by outstanding relays as well. The girls 4 x 800 relay team of Janae Mack, Najah White, Quintine Nterere, and Ahmawanyah Lewis earned 2nd place in regionals (breaking the school record in the process). Additionally, many girls’ track & field records were broken this season. Najah White broke the school record in both the mile and the 2 mile. Nyijae Tibbs broke the school record in the discus throw.
Patterson’s 2023 Indoor Track & Field Season was also marked by an outstanding relay and record breaking distance runners. The girls 4 x 800 meter relay team of Janae Mack, Danait Gebru, Najah White, and Ahmawanyah Lewis came in 2nd in regionals and qualified for the state championships. Humed Nura broke school records in the mile and 2 mile, while earning silver medals in both at Baltimore City Championships and also qualifying for state championships. Najah White broke school record in both the mile and 2 mile and is only a freshman.
On January 24th, the boys basketball team won a game and it happened to be their coach’s birthday. Happy belated Coach. Our boys’ basketball team, led by senior guard Dawon Williams led our Clippers to a crazy game against number 2 ranked Edmondson High School.
Our Clippers did not disappoint, beating the Red Storm and officially knocking out any doubt of Patterson’s skill. Heading into the playoffs, Patterson faced off against Woodlawn High in an action-packed game with a Clippers packed house. The pressure was on.
The game was an even game all the way down to the final seconds with a nearly tied score of 49-51. Coach Baseline chose glory, and backed by the entire Clippers gym, chose to go for 3 to win it all, a final shot that would decide who would go home and who would advance to the next round. Junior Delvis Nunez took the heavily contested 3-point shot but sadly could not hit it, ending the Clippers’ season but with promises from Coach Baseline that next season will be different. I have no doubt our Clippers will have an undefeated season next year.
(Photos are of Varsity and JV teams from several different games)
Our Patterson Clippers football team, led by Quarterback Nickolas Carter, finished its season with a heartbreaking defeat at the hand of Hereford High School. Despite the end score, the game was a showcase of all Patterson’s skilled superstars, with senior Deshown Streater putting Patterson on the board first, quickly followed by Senior Mehkhi Dukes who also rushed for over 200 yards in that single playoff game. However, our Clippers were defeated 33-52 to end yet another action-packed football season.
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)
The Patterson High School varsity girls basketball team defeated Lake Clifton High School in a home game with a score of 21 to 19 on Feb. 8.
The game was not really crowded but that turned out to be a big advantage since the place was hot.
The game was very interesting and engaging. Lake Clifton was the first to score in the game, but not long after that, Patterson tied the score and eventually passed them. The Lady Clippers did not keep their dominance for very long before they were overtaken again. After Lake Clifton surpassed Patterson, they maintained their lead for most of the game. The Lady Clippers scored points but never passed the Lake Clifton girls.
While the game went on at that pace, it approached the final quarter. In the last 40 seconds, with Lake Clifton leading by one point, Tyshenna Avery saved the day with a three-point shot and ended the game with a victory for Patterson.
Coach Callahan gives a pep talk to the varsity boys soccer team (Photo credit: Moses Jeuronlon)
Dasia Whitfield
The varsity boys soccer team at Patterson High School has completed another successful season. The team had a total of 8 wins, 3 losses and 2 ties throughout the season.
I know that coaching can be very challenging because it is not easy trying to get the players to actually stay focused and make sure that this is something that they are willing to commit to and make sure that they are willing to give their all throughout practice and the game. Yet a good coach knows that if being part of the team is something that the players really want, then they will show it and put forth their best effort.
Mr. Callahan, the varsity boys soccer coach at Patterson, says that “the toughest thing about being a coach is finding the players that are going to be committed to coming to practice every day”. This is the toughest part for him because if you don’t have committed players then you won’t really have a team.
One of the team’s biggest highlights this past season was that they made it to the regional finals. Some of the lowest points of the season were when they lost to City without scoring any points, and also when they lost the regional finals to Hereford by a score of 5-0.
When asked if he had any players on the team that were his favorites, Mr. Callahan responded, “My favorite players on the team are the people that come to practice everyday and are working harder to get better.”
Patterson played well and came very close to winning the game. (Photo credit: John Dingzon)
By John Dingzon
Patterson High School’s homecoming football game occurred on Saturday, Oct. 13th. Patterson played against Edmondson Westside. There were Patterson alumni from previous years that came to watch the game and it was also the class reunion of other previous classes.
School Principal Mr. Benton and Assistant Principal Mr. Alukwu were also there and enjoyed the game.
“Today we have a good football game.” Mr. Alukwu said.
The game was well-attended with students, staff, teachers, former football players, school police officers, former faculty members and alumni all there to cheer on the Patterson Clippers. The game was enjoyable and although Patterson was defeated, it was still a good football game and the athletes put on a good show.
There were moments during the game that Patterson football team had some great plays and looked like they might win the game.
Many of the people came for the game, while others came for the class reunion.
The alumni and other previous students all agreed on one thing:
“Everyone is accepted and they are considered family, whether old or new student.”
Patterson Varsity Football Coach Larry Mitchell said, “The only thing that I was concerned about for the team was where their focus was at and their communications”.
Coach Mitchell had the football players prepare by practicing during the summertime.
“Usually for Homecoming day/senior day we try to start preparing for the game months ahead of the game.”
In the end, Patterson narrowly lost the game to Edmondson by a score of 14-12. If Patterson had managed to win the game, then they would have made it to the playoffs.
The Patterson High School varsity boys basketball team defeated Baltimore City College High School in a home game with a score of 62 to 48 on Dec. 20.
Marvin Price led the team with 23 points and 10 rebounds, Jaylin Wills had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Gerard Mungo contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The game was very crowded and heated. More and more people arrived as the game went on. At first when the game started, both sides had a solid defense and offense. As soon as they got the ball they were running to score points. They were losing the ball and regaining the ball very fast.
This game of hide and seek ended when Patterson scored their first point. Players started to get more and more serious in the game.
Joe Jones, a senior on the team, said, “It felt really good to win and I liked the game results.”
Patterson is having a very successful season and the team is hopeful that it will continue to dominate the court in 2019.
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