Category Archives: Uncategorized

City Schools to receive funding for new buildings and renovations

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Patterson students participate in a rally for school funding in Annapolis (Photo: Corey Grisson, Jr., Patterson Press)

By Corey Grisson Jr.

Patterson High School and several other schools throughout Baltimore City are likely to receive major renovations or even brand new buildings within the next few years, thanks to a loan approved by the Maryland General Assembly in response to pressure from students, teachers, parents, administrators and other supporters.

In February 2013, Patterson High School was part of something wonderful, right along with every Baltimore City school. About 3,000 students, staff, and parents showed up, including a bus-load from Patterson. We went to Annapolis to fight to get a bill passed so City Schools could rebuild and replace our old schools with new, better buildings.

Students spoke out and told us how their schools looked and how they feel too hot sometimes and too cold at other times inside.  Students from all grade levels from Kindergarten to 12th grade were there. One 4th grade girl talked about bugs being in her school and we all know that is true. Older alumni, who know what our schools look like because they graduated 30 years ago or more, also spoke. Teachers talked about our school conditions and said some windows were broken and some walls had holes in them. Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake spoke out in favor of passing the bill. Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, talked about the fact that he has gone to Annapolis for the past two years and that both times a bill did not get passed. He said he thought this bill would pass this year.

This year, lawmakers in the Maryland General Assembly passed 766 bills, many of which have already been signed by our Governor, Martin O’Malley. And YES, our bill passed and has been signed! So the General Assembly has agreed on a financing plan to allow Baltimore to spend $1 billion dollars on school construction to repair or replace dilapidated buildings over the next seven years.  Patterson High School is among the schools slated to benefit from this money. The plan would require Baltimore, the city school system, and the state to put up $20 million a year each to help pay back $1 billion in bonds over the next 30 years. The Stadium Authority will sell the bonds and oversee the construction program. With its current building in continous use since 1960, the School District had already recommended Patterson High School for renovation or replacement before the state bill was approved. Now that the money is available, we should see improvements and possibly a brand new building within the next few years.

All of the students, parents, and teachers who went to Annapolis to support the bill made a difference. Supporters said that investing in Baltimore’s children would benefit the whole state. That day was one of the greatest days of my life. I have never before been somewhere where everybody around me wanted the same thing.  It feels good to be part of history.

(Photos: Corey Grisson Jr., Patterson Press)

Patterson receives grant to build hoop house in school garden

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The future site of the hoop house (Photo: Corey Grisson Jr., Patterson Press)

By Corey Grisson Jr.

Coming soon to Patterson High School is the Patterson Hoop House, which will be an addition to the Patterson School Garden. It will be built in back of our school, in the fenced- in area near the Garden. This is a nice little cool area which the students can see from Mr. Yates’ and Ms. Roberts’ classroom windows.

The hoop house will be paid for through a grant called the Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant, which a group of staff members applied for:  Ms. Hope, Ms. Snyder, Ms. Diehl, Ms. Solomon, Ms. Githua, Ms. Wongus, Ms. Bridgeforth, Ms Heneson, and Ms. Holter. Our grant was awarded in January and a couple of estimates have been given to Ms. Diehl regarding hoop house construction.  It has been hard to find a pipe bender for rent locally. Ms. Diehl is currently reaching out to people like Arthur Morgan with Gather Baltimore, Greg Strella with Great Kids Farm, and Andreas Spiliadis with Baltimore Hoop Love for guidance about constructing the hoop house.

A hoop house  is designed to be used in colder months but ours needs to be built in the spring to comply with grant guidelines. Plastic will be put over the hoop house in late fall when we want to raise the ambient temperature in which plants can grow. In the meantime, we can still grow in the space it covers and use it as an outdoor education space. The hoop house will allow us to grow fruits and/or vegetables all year long.

Students participate in health study

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Students keep careful records of everything they ate (Photo: Robin Morrison, Patterson Press)

By Brennan Meeks

Patterson students are participating in a program called “Spice My Plate”. The University of Maryland wanted to study what and how teenagers eat. At the beginning of the study, each student received a food log to write what they eat for three days. Patterson students who completed the food log for the study received a $25 shopping gift card and kitchen instruments such as pots, pans, spices, etc.

The study began in the first week of March and will continue until May 15th. At the end of the study, students will  receive a $150 gift card for finishing the study. For more information about the health study, see Ms. Diehl in the Health Corps office.

Patterson students compete in Special Olympics swimming event

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Students practice swimming at the Meadowbrook Swim Club (Photo: Ms. Carol Menetrez)

By Qu’Chae Madison

For the third consecutive year, Patterson students have been learning swimming skills and training in preparation for the Special Olympics Summer Games.

Approximately ten students and even some staff members attend practices every Friday, including social worker Ms. Carole Menetrez, classroom teacher, Mr.Peralta and some classroom aides. The team travels by bus to Meadowbrook Swim Club where practices are held. The club is owned by Olympic gold-medalist and Maryland native, Michael Phelps. The Patterson students will join forces with other students in Baltimore for this exciting event. Students will have practiced throughout March, April and May and must participate in two qualifiers this spring. The event will be held on Saturday, April 27th at the Naval Academy.

Ms. Menetrez volunteered to organize a group of eager Patterson students, interested in swimming and willing to take a leap of faith and join Baltimore City’s Sharks Swim Team. Ms. Menetrez enjoys working with them and watching them master their skills as swimmers. Three students who are returning to this year’s swim team are Dominic Allen, Charles Collins and Jasmain Gilliam. They enjoy swimming because they say,”it’s fun”. Dominic reports,”It makes me relaxed and all the anger goes away when I get in the water”. Rodney Lee, who is a new swimmer this year, is enjoying getting in the water and reports he’s learning to swim. When returning swimmer, Quandra Horne, masters a new skill in the water, she likes to refer to the Baltimore Sharks Team Slogan: “I Know I Can”.

Congratulations to all the Patterson Students for showing their support for Patterson’s Swim Team.

With files from Ms. Carol Menetrez.

Patterson’s Special Olympics Swim Team (Photo: Ms. Carol Menetrez)

(Photo: Ms. Carol Menetrez)

Ms. Menetrez (right) poses with a Patterson student on the Sharks swim team (Photo: Ms. Carol Menetrez)

Patterson participates in “Teens for Jeans” campaign

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Students help collect jeans that will be donated to shelters across the country (Photo: Robin Morrison, Patterson Press)

By Robin Morrison

Patterson High School recently participated in a campaign called “Teens for Jeans” whereby students donated jeans to people in need. In return, students received two service learning hours and a discount coupon for Aeropostale. The campaign was co-sponsored by the Student Government Association, the senior class, and the Jonathan Ogden Club. Ms. Brett, Coach Kelly Bagdasarian and Ms. Rue were the teachers in charge of the campaign within the school. This campaign lasted from February 12th to February 22nd.

“I found out about the campaign from Ms Rue and it seemed interesting, so I searched more about it online”, Ms. Brett told the Patterson Press.

Aeropostale was a sponsor of the campaign. The jeans collected at the school will be sent to Aeropostale and then they will send it to shelters throughout the country.

“It feels good to be making a difference in our community while allowing our Patterson students to give back to the community”, said Coach Kelly.

The campaign was a big success as the school collected many jeans from the students and sent them off to go to the shelters.

Ms. Rue (left) and Ms. Brett, co-organizers of the Teens for Jeans campaign (Photo: Robin Morrison, Patterson Press)

Black History Month exhibit showcases African art and much more

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By Brennan Meeks

(Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

In honor of Black History Month, Patterson hosted an African/African American history exhibit in Room 162. Staff member Mr. Ricardo Jordan organized the exhibit.

The exhibit explored black history and culture over the years and featured portraits of black inventors, spiritual objects, sculptures and other artwork. The exhibit also included books written by famous African Americans.

The exhibit was open during homeroom and class times and some teachers took their classes down to visit it. Students who saw the exhibit were very interested in learning about African American history and different African cultures.

Remembering Women’s History

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By Qu’Chae Madison

Editor’s Note: This article was written in recognition of Women’s History Month, which takes place every March.

Women have made many important strides in history. Madam C.J. Walker invented the first perm. Rosa Parks wouldn’t give up her seat. These are just a couple women who helped to pave the way for women today. Women have made their mark in history–women like these ones, strong and brave. These women looked in the eye of adversity and said, “I’m going to make a change”. Every day, these women faced hostility and violence, sometimes even murder. Women were always treated as inferior, because they were seen as weak in the eyes of a man. Men back then thought women were “property’ and that they “owned” them.

But now women are strong, beautiful, independent and confident. Women like Oprah Winfrey are changing the game. Oprah is one of the richest women in the world. Women like these follow their dreams, regardless of what people say. For example, if Oprah never had people saying, “You’ll never make it”, she might not have been inspired to reach her dreams. I guess that saying, “let your haters be your motivators”  is true. Now Oprah has her OWN television network named after her, and plenty of money. She could spend it on whatever she wants but she chooses to donate a large part of it to charity, even helping to build schools for underprivileged girls. Women everywhere are following their dreams, reaching new heights and achieving goals everyday. They are able to do this because of the courage and sacrifice of women from generations past.

Patterson celebrates Black History Month with special performance

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Drama Club members perform original poems modeled after the poetry of James Weldon Johnson (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

By  Tamika Addison

Members of  the Patterson Drama Club and Patterson Dance Team performed for our Black History Month assembly on  March 4th  in the auditorium. The Patterson Drama Club did a staged reading of  poems by Patterson students. These poems were written in Ms. Bell’s African American Literature class and were modeled after James Weldon Johnson’s ” Lift Every Voice and Sing “. The Patterson Dance Team performed a  series of  pieces which created a timeline from African Dance through modern hip hop. The performance demonstrated how modern hip hop moves evolved from African dance. The invited audience showed enthusiastic appreciation. Stay tuned for more activity performances!

With files from Ms. Bell

The Dance Team shows how African dance developed into hip-hop moves (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

Patterson Press visits the Newseum

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Students use a teleprompter to broadcast the news (Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

By Jevaughn Taylor

The Patterson Press, the official student news publication of Patterson High School, organized a field trip to the Newseum in Washington D.C. on January 31, 2013. We went on this trip to learn more about news reporting and to witness some of the great stories and events that have happened in history and made the world what it is today. We saw exhibits of significant events, like the 9-11 terrorist attack that happened in New York City. This exhibit included the wreckage of the antenna from the top of the world trade center, along with news headlines, photos and videos taken during the attack. We also saw the cell door that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived behind after one of his many arrests during the Civil Rights Movement.

Another section of the Newseum featured an FBI exhibit that showed some of the murder weapons used to commit famous crimes.  We also got to see a “4-D” movie that uses new technology to make the viewer feel like they are actually in the movie. We even took a tour of a live broadcast studio that was used during the 2012 Presidential debates.

Many of the exhibits at the Newseum were interactive. This included an exhibit that allowed students to make their own news broadcast. By selecting a background screen and reading from a device called a teleprompter, students could make a video of themselves reporting the news. Most of the students on the trip participated in this activity and had a lot of fun doing it.

The trip to the Newseum was fun and educational. We learned all about journalism, history and life in general. Students who weren’t a part of the Patterson Press news team are now considering joining us because they realize how much fun they can have and how becoming a student reporter can help them to become  that special person they want to be in life. We would like to thank Mr. Pesa, Mr. Cox and Ms. Deihl for organizing this trip for us.

(Photos by Brennan Meeks and Brenden Williams, Patterson Press. Click on a photo for a larger image.)

Girls Basketball Team beats Edmonson, 44-40

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Both teams scramble to gain control of the ball. (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

By Tamika Addison

The Patterson girls basketball team defeated Edmonson’s Red Storm  44-40 on Friday, February 15 , 2013 at home.  They ended their season on a high note as they prepare to enter playoffs.

Shamia Clay led the team in scoring and rebounding, while Tenisha Smith also proved to be a good shooter. They work well together as a team, sometimes shooting from the outside and other times driving into the lane.

According to Coach Kelly Badgasarian, the girls like being part of the team and they enjoy working hard to reach a common goal. “Its fun, challenging , and you learn about yourself and how to work with others”, Coach Kelly told the Patterson Press. “They didn’t become champions overnight”, she added.

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