Category Archives: Technology

Community Fair brings school and neighborhood together

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Participants join in a traditional Mexican dance

Participants join in a traditional Mexican dance (Photo: Patterson Press)

By Brennan Meeks

Patterson High School held a Back to School Night and Community Fair on September 20, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The event was held mainly in the cafeteria but spread out into hallways and classrooms because there were so many things to do and see. Many local organizations from the Bayview area came out to support our school and inform students and their families about the services they provide. Among the community partners present were Johns Hopkins University, the Building STEPs program, CASA de Maryland and the Refugee Youth Project. Johns Hopkins Medical Center even sent a giant truck that provided free HIV screening and other medical services. Patterson put its many different resources and programs on display, such as sports, career pathway programs, health programs and much more.

Patterson had many visitors from the community, such as a local McDonald’s, which came to support us by giving away free sandwiches.  There were exciting entertainment acts, including a belly dancer, a hip-hop group and a a group of traditional dancers from Mexico. At the fair, the school also provided meals for teachers, students, staff, and families that were involved in the fair. At the fair, there were prizes that you can win just by completing a task. Also on display were many Patterson clubs that students can join. The Patterson Press table even featured old issues of the school newspaper dating back to the World War 2 era. The school store was open for anyone who wanted to purchase Patterson logo-ed shirts, mugs, pens, binders and much more.

Many Patterson students volunteered to help set up and run the fair, earning community service hours in the process. All of our Patterson family participated in this special event, making this year’s community fair a huge success.  We hope to do it again next school year. We would like to see a lot of family, staff members and students come back next time. Our mission is to make our school one of the top 500 schools in the nation, and this year’s community fair showed that we are well on the way to achieving that goal.

Rayvis Mitchell contributed to this article.

Ms. Diehl from Patterson's Health Corps, demonstrates how to eat a healthy diet. (Photo: Patterson Press)

Ms. Diehl from Patterson’s Health Corps, demonstrates how to eat a healthy diet. (Photo: Patterson Press)

CASA de Maryland

Latino rights organization CASA de Maryland promotes the Maryland Dream Act, which would grant more rights to undocumented immigrants in Maryland.  (Photo: Patterson Press)

Female coaches

Patterson’s female coaches encourage students to get involved in athletics. (Photo: Patterson Press)

belly dancer

A belly dancer performs for the crowd (Photo: Patterson Press)

Nail tech

Ms. Bridgeforth’s nail tech students give hand treatments and manicures. (Photo: Patterson Press)

eating

Students, family members, staff and visitors enjoy a meal together. (Photo: Patterson Press)

Clipper Corner

The school store (now called the Clipper Corner) sells Patterson T-shirts and other gear to students and visitors. (Photo: Patterson Press)

Free medical screenings

Health professionals provide free medical screenings on their mobile trailer. (Photo: Patterson Press)

STEM Competition showcases student talent in engineering

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By Tyler Lillard

Patterson High School held its 4th annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competition on November 17th, pitting teams of students against each other in a variety of challenges.  There were approximately thirty teams of four students each, including one middle school team and two visiting high school teams.  First, the students met in the auditorium with their teams for the orientation.  Then the competition began in the breezeway and near the auditorium.  The competition was fierce, and the students had a lot of fun competing.  The judges had fun also.

During the competition, each of the six stations was an activity related to one of the four STEM areas (science, technology engineering and mathematics). While some activities were easy, others were very challenging. Stations included a zip line challenge, a double egg drop, a math page, a paper rocket, an aluminum foil boat to hold marbles, and a tower that is supposed to hold a tennis ball on top of it to withstand an earthquake.

Industry partners served as judges, including representatives from AT&T, the Baltimore City Fire Department, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Whitman, Requardt, & Associates, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Morgan State University, and Booz Allen Hamilton.  Many Patterson teachers and staff members also served as judges. Another industry partner, Northrop Grumman, sent their video crew and recorded our whole competition including the awards ceremony.

After the students went through the six different stations, they went to the media center for lunch while the judges tallied up all the teams’ scores.  After lunch the winners were awarded trophies, and everyone received a certificate of participation. The winners are as follows:

1st Place: Sarah McLaughlin, Sonia Mbock , Stephanie Megginson

2nd Place: Indigo Newsome, Tori Jones, Parshu Nepal

3rd Place:  Salah al deen Al-Batayneh , Baha al deen  Al-Batayneh ,and Hassan Al Defaaei

This year’s STEM competition brought attention to some of the incredible talents that Patterson’s students have to offer, while also allowing participants to have some fun. Many students are already looking forward to next year’s competition in the hopes that it will be even bigger and better.

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