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Editor’s note: The 2023 Spirit Week article is not showing up in the main feed, perhaps because of the large number of photos. Check out those photos and the article itself, here!
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Political cartoon: “The innocent pay the most”
Concept by Thayer Oosterman, Artwork by Ariana Placido-Molina
Patterson students still in mourning
Today, Patterson High continues to mourn the loss of Ivan Carlos Funez. Ivan was a 17 year old boy who was originally from Honduras, a country in Central America. He was educated at Patterson High School in Baltimore, Maryland. He had a passion for wanting to join the military when he was older and even decided to join the JROTC program at Patterson.
During his free time Carlos would make music and experiment with his friends because he loved music. He was also a big fan of cars. He would collect a bunch of hot wheel cars and put them up on his wall. He was really proud of his background. He would always rep his country, no matter what. He would always mention his country and even post his flag. He was into trap music. He would often experiment in his room and rap about his love. His lyrics were always really deep, talking about having it hard and his romantic life.
His friends at Patterson always referred to him as the chillest dude they’ve ever met. He was always helpful, always thankful for everyone and everything he had in his life. They referred to him as being one of the best people to have a friendship with because he was always putting others before himself.
He went missing in the Month of December, then was reported to be dead. There were a lot of rumors telling multiple stories such as he was shot and then others said he was stabbed but later on people found out it was due to gun violence. it was confirmed he was dead on December 1, 2023 at 9:09 AM.
People were devastated. His family prayed that their son would be found alive. They had spread awareness on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. His friends helped set up a GoFundMe and hoped they would make enough in just 3 days to send Carlos back to his home country to get buried. His death made a lot of people and students tear up. Several people broke down in school crying.
Thankfully, Patterson is a very supportive high school that cares about their students. They offered support and comfort to students who were heartbroken and affected by the death of their loved one. They would check up every day on their students and go around the hallways asking every student they saw if they needed comfort or anything or wanted to talk about Carlos. This all lasted until the day it was finally time to bury Carlos.
Several of his friends and relatives went ahead to post a black ribbon bow and their profile to honor him. They made a shirt of the year he was born and the year he passed with his name and a lot of signatures of his loved ones. On the day of his funeral, everyone wore little badges of his face on their shirts and wore black. It was a really depressing death and affected a lot of people, especially his parents.
Rest In peace and fly high, Ivan Carlos Funez.
Ugly Sweater Contest 2022
Patterson teachers and staff got into the holiday spirit today by showing off their most outrageous ugly sweaters! It was a tough competition, but the judges determined that 3 winners tied for the ugliest sweater. Here are the winners:
Congratulations to these three winners, as well as to our 5 runner ups:
And shout out to all the other participants:
SENIOR SUPERLATIVES 2021
As we prepare to say goodbye to the Class of 2021, we present the winners of the Senior Superlatives and Teacher Superlatives as voted on by this year’s graduating seniors:
Student Superlatives:
Biggest Flirt:
Nassly Castro
Mario Giron Oyula
Most likely to become a comedian/Class clown/Biggest prankster
Soliana Abrham &
Daquan Adams/Khairee Adams/Taron Blue (three-way tie)
Most Athletic
Kobe Evans
Soliana Abrham
Most likely to succeed
Nassly Castro
Malik Jordan
The most unforgettable
Soliana Abrham/
Khairee Adams
Most Outspoken/Most likely to lead a protest
Khairee Adams/
Maylin Aguilar Reyes
Best Snapchat Stories
Qais Albataineh/
Soliana Abrham
Best entertainer/Best Rapper/Singer
Donta Jeffrey/
Maylin Aguilar Reyes
Most Likely to Become Internet/Instagram famous
Rosmer Ramos Caceres/
Nassly Castro Espana
Most Likely to Come Back to Teach at This School
Solina Abrham/
Daquan Adams
The Class Heart throbs
Nassly Castro Espana & De’asia Eberhart/
Daquan Adams & Kharee adams
Most Likely to be on Catfish
Soliana Abrham/Daquan Adams
Best dressed/Most fashionable. The hallway is their runway!
Khairee Adams/
DeAira Crawford
Most likely to become a famous artist and get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Daquan Adams/
Nassly Castro Espana
Most likely to become a professional athlete
Kobe Evans/
Solina Abrham
Most likely to star in their own reality show
Taron Blue/
Zaire Avery
The Biggest drama king/queen
Daquan Adams
Jasmine Beach
Most likely to brighten up your day
Khairee Adams
Ecupe Waso
Most upbeat attitude/Most spirited
Rosmer Ramos Caceres
Solina Abraham
Teacher Superlatives:
Best Hair:
Chardae Tarver/
Maxwell Alukwu & Nicholas Anderson (Tie)
Funniest:
Mr. Alukwu & Ted Smith (Tie)
Ms. Leilani Jones
Staff member that speaks the most languages:
Yazmine Boumaiz &
Richard Tiras
Most Memorable:
Chardae Tarver &
Mr. Alukwu
Most likely to end up on the News:
Mr. Benton &
Chardae Tarver
Most likely to be late to their own Zoom meeting:
Bomar & Phillips (tie)
Holter,
Teacher Most likely to be your friend on social media:
Phillips &
Weiss
Most intimidating:
Alukwu & Benton(tie)/
E.Edwards &Tarver (tie)
Most likely to schedule a zoom just to chat:
Tarver/
Baron & Bomar (tie)
Worst With Technology:
Alukwu/
Holter
Most Parent-like Teacher:
Colonel York/
Tarver
Most likely to be Mistaken for a student:
Blankenfeld/
McCormick
Most Chill:
Bomar/
Leilani Jones
Most likely to win a rap battle:
Ted Smith/
C. Tarver
Most Athletic Teacher:
Leilani Jones/
McCormick & Antoine (tie)
Most likely to be on the Voice/American Idol or the Mask Singer:
Bagdasarian &
Benton/Ted Smith Tie
Most likely to be on a reality Tv show:
Phillips &
Blankenfeld
Most likely to be a rebel in school:
Alukwu &
Weiss
Most likely to be the last teacher to leave at the end of the school day:
Alukwu &
Antoine
Most likely to brighten up your day.
Tarver &
Phillips
Back to School Night brings smiles to Patterson faces
By Hailey Shifflett
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.
Softball team photos
We were not able to write an article about the softball team in time for the print edition of the Patterson Press that came out today, but here are some photos of the team:
(Photos: Patterson Press)
Varsity boys basketball team wins state championship
The Patterson Clippers varsity boys basketball team won the Class 2A State Championship on March 16, beating Wicomico by a score of 79-56 to secure the title. The game took place at the Xfinity Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. This is the third state championship Patterson has won, the most recent time having been just two years ago in 2017.
“We started out our game vs. Wicomico very aggressively, pressing and trapping them all over the court. In the second half, we were able to tire them out and extend the lead to over 20 points.”, Coach Harry Martin explained. “Wicomico was definitely a scrappy team that battled and played hard. Their coach has over 800 wins so we have a lot of respect for their program.”, he added.
During the game, Marvin Price led Patterson in scoring with 31 points.
Tyrone Thomas has the most assists (seven) and Marvin Price led the team with ten rebounds.
“When the final horn sounded and I knew we just had won another state title, I felt a great sense of joy and accomplishment.”, Coach Martin recounted. “A lot of work goes in to being one of the best teams in the state.”
Patterson basketball player, Lizandry Nunez, also shared his reflections on winning the championship. “It felt great!”, said Nunez. “We got what what we worked hard for all year, at practice and at summer workouts. It was a relief to hear the final horn go off, knowing that we won.”
According to Coach Martin, basketball has become a year-round sport at Patterson. In order for our school to compete for a state championship, the team has to put in maximum effort all year to get better. The conditioning, weight training, and basketball workouts cover almost the entire year.
Wrestling team makes history
By Coach Walker
This season was an inspiration to a lot of our young men and women. We actually for the first time in school history had 2 females compete in wrestling. This wrestling season was a well-accomplished season for the Patterson Clippers. We started the season with 22 wrestlers, a number of which had never wrestled before. Under the direction of Coach Walker and Coach Smith, our first time wrestlers quickly became acclimated to the sport.
We had 3 wrestlers place in the city tournament. Markel Ross placed 3rd, Anthony Lopez placed 3rd, and Dominic Rabey placed 4th overall. All three of those wrestlers also qualified for the regional tournament in which Anthony Lopez placed 7th overall in the entire North Region.
As a team, we were able to compile a 5-3 record, which was good enough to place 4th overall in the entire North Region.
As the head coach, I couldn’t be more proud of the effort and fortitude displayed by my team. The hope is that through my coaching they were able to become better young men and women. For me, it wasn’t about becoming better wrestlers; it was about becoming better people, and I believe we accomplished that. While I will not be returning next year, I just want to say that I love you all and wish you the best moving forward.
I wish people knew…
| Editor’s note: Students at Patterson High School wrote anonymous messages about what they wish people knew about the community they most identify with. I am a member of the LGBTQ community. We are still people. We are still humans. I am a member of the Hispanic community. Not everybody is “Mexican.” We are just like you, and everybody else. I am a member of the introverted community. It’s really hard to talk and socialize with other people, especially strangers. Some of us may come off as shy or even rude, but most of us just think a lot about how to react to new people. I am a member of the female community. Girls are not just pretty. We are also smart. We should be respected and treated like humans, not objects. I am a member of the Black community. Some of us kill each other for nothing. We need to change everything about that. I am a member of the caregiving community. People who have never been a caregiver cannot understand the experience. I am a member of the Muslim community. I wish people would understand that what’s shown on social media and shared on the internet isn’t a reliable source to have your questions answered. People need to understand that getting a personal answer from a Muslim you know gives you a deeper view on the reality of Islam. My favorite part of being Muslim is that, no matter where I go with my hijab, I will always get an “As-Salaam-Alaikum” or “Salaam, sister.” I love that a lot. I am a member of the artistic community. Drawing is easy sometimes and sometimes it’s not. When I finish what I’m drawing, I feel proud because it ends up looking amazing. I am a member of the Christian community. My favorite part of this community is meeting every week after church to discuss what it’s like to be a teenager. I am a member of the East Baltimore community. It’s dangerous over here. I am a member of the young Black men community. We are brothers who all want to be successful at what we do and will always be there for one another. I am a member of the biracial community. Everyone assumes I am something I’m not. Just because someone has curly hair and light skin doesn’t mean they are Hispanic. I am a member of the Muslim community. I wish people understood that Muslims don’t condone violence and that we’re all about peace. I wish people understood that ISIS aren’t real Muslims. If they were, they wouldn’t commit such acts. I am a member of the soccer community. We are about communication and hard work. We are also about love, peace, and equality. I am a member of the Black community. WE ARE BEAUTIFUL. I am a member of the creative community. I wish people understood I make my own ideas for me and for me alone. I won’t stand for people who think art and creativity is trash. I will fight for my community if I must. If you’re curious about an unfamiliar community . . . let’s share ideas. We have good intentions; we want to learn about communities outside of our own. We’re interested in building relationships, and even inter-community. But how to make that happen can be confusing, or even intimidating. Thankfully, there is no shortage of resources to help us get started. In fact, Baltimore Racial Justice Action, a nonprofit “provid[ing] a variety of racial justice educational events, workshops, and services for individuals, groups, and organizations” recommends dozens of books, articles, websites and films on their site alone. In the process of creating community, knowledge is a necessity. Deanna Lavery also recommends a comprehensive list of resources. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration has a page devoted to numerous programs that could be the starting place for learning about unfamiliar communities. Beyond that, Deanna says, “I always go where the people are. I meet them where they are.” To form community, she says we must “listen, listen, listen.” Are you hesitant to learn about other communities? Do you have suggestions about where to start? Let’s continue this conversation. |
pattersonpress.org 