By Kayla Holeman, Dante Wilds and Z-iara Jones

There is a drug problem at Patterson High School and dozens of other schools all over Baltimore. But why do people do drugs in school? What is the purpose of young people engaging in this harmful behavior? Why do they like to smoke in schools? Is there a reason why they do what they do?

Students take drugs for a variety of reasons: because they are experimenting, because of family history or genetic predisposition, because they got addicted to prescription drugs, because of loneliness, peer pressure and more. You can tell if someone is using drugs because of the way they act or look; for example, change in friends (to hang out with kids who use drugs), having red or puffy eyes, etc.

Drugs can have serious ramifications on a person’s physical health, mental health and well being. And that’s not good at all. We want students to stop taking drugs and to be more healthy because if they don’t stop, it can create changes in the way their brains work. Drug abuse changes your brain chemistry, which is not good. The longer you use drugs, the more damage is done and the harder it is to go back to normal. It is very hard to go back because you get so addicted to it that you don’t know when to stop.

There are 175 different public schools in Baltimore City, and most of them have a problem with kids smoking marijuana or using other drugs in school. Kids are smoking in bathrooms and in the hallways and on stairwells. And that’s not good. We want kids or anyone else taking drugs to stop and be healthy.

To stop drug abuse, always talk to whoever is taking it because they can be going through a lot at school or at home or anywhere. Or they can just do it because they see someone else doing it because they think it’s cool. Just by talking to them and helping them see that drug abuse is bad and that it’s not good for you at all, hopefully they will change their minds and get on the right track.

We really do need drug abuse to stop because it’s really, really bad. This is why people are taking drugs and we need to stop and help people who are taking it and change people’s lives. If you or someone you know is struggling with a drug problem, there is a free substance abuse counseling program at Patterson that can help. For more information, speak to Ms. Smith in the Guidance office or call New Beginnings substance abuse counseling at 443-310-2409.

By Paris Smith

Patterson High School has been around for many years. Patterson was built in 1959 (after relocating from an even older building) and it is now 2019. For over 5 years, Patterson has made plans to build a new school. In 2017, when I was in 9th grade, they told us the new building was already planned and was going to be built at that time, but unfortunately for us that did not happen.

However, from the information I collected to write this article, I found out why the new building was not constructed at that time. It was hard for the school to get the money and be approved by Baltimore City Public Schools to get a new building. In 2013, the Maryland state government approved a plan called the 21st Century Buildings fund. Under this plan, Baltimore City Public Schools would rebuild or renovate dozens of schools by borrowing money from the state, the city, and the Stadium Authority. A nonprofit organization called BUILD was enlisted to help execute this plan. With this new funding, the city and the state agreed to create a new building for Patterson. This information comes from Ms. Masati and Mr. Pesa.

The school was expected to cost 120 million dollars, which was approved by all of the decision-makers involved. However, last school year it was discovered that an additional 7 million dollars was required to build a protective barrier that will help ensure the area is safe for everyone. This is because the location for the new building (behind the athletic fields) is Superfund site, meaning that in the past, toxic waste buried underground there. To protect students and staff from this potential environmental health hazard, the new building had to be redesigned and the additional 7 million dollars had to be approved by all four boards involved in the 21st Century Buildings program. This caused construction for the new building to be delayed, but the new funding was eventually approved and BCPS CEO Dr. Santelises publicly confirmed that the district is moving forward with construction on a new building for Patterson.

Groundbreaking for the new building should start this June and and the new school should be finished in the summer of 2021. This year’s freshmen will be the first class to graduate from the new building. The new school will be built on the current site of our baseball/softball/soccer field.

Do you think it is weird or a bad idea to have the school change its location, even if it’s just a little bit, or to build on the field? I think it’s alright as long as Patterson gets a new school. I will be gone in 2020 and I would not know what the sports teams will do about the field, but Patterson will figure something out for their teams.

Knowing the expenses for the school, do you think they are spending too much, too little or the just right amount of money on the school? I have seen other schools that have been rebuilt and they look nice, but visiting the website baltimore21st centuryschools.org , I found the prices for the schools and Patterson is spending a lot more then some other schools. Of course, every school is different, and the new building will also be shared with another school called Claremont, which adds to the expense.

But the school will have all the new things that you would expect in a new school building. As Mr. Martin explained, “The new school will have open learning spaces, heat, air conditioning and the latest technology. Our current 2022 class should be excited about the possibility of spending their senior year in the new school.”

By John Dingzon

Patterson students participated in a citywide JROTC drill competition on March 29th. The event was took place at the 5th regiment Armory.

There were a lot of JROTC schools that participated in this event. Everyone was competing for the CEO Cup that is the trophy to win overall.
Whatever the outcome, at the end each school would still receive a trophy.

Patterson won 2nd place for the overall competition, while Poly won 1st place and took home to CEO’s cup. Patterson also won trophies in the following categories: drill – unarmed platoon, drill – armed platoon, squadron – armed drill, squadron – unarmed drill, and color guard.

There was also a competition called the knockout challenge, which the cadets participated in. The knockout challenge is when you have 4 element line leaders and the cadets stay in formation and the drill Sergeant gives them a command and they will move and execute the command. If the drill Sergeant says the command wrong and a cadet executed the command wrong, then that person is out, but if the person keeps up, then they stay until the drill Sergeant declares a winner.

During the event, there were also breaks where cadets had time to relax and socialize. During this time, some students saw familiar faces that they knew from previous events.

Patterson High School’s AFJROTC cadets did an outstanding job performing at the different levels of the event. A lot of eyes were focused on Patterson because last year Patterson won the CEO Cup and were in 1st place overall.

Technical Sergeant Smith and group commander C/Col. Batista were both proud of what the group had accomplished, and they thought that the cadets really did a great job.

by Asende Baele

At Patterson High School there are students who skip class and they keep walking in the hall. We don’t know why they do that because we know everyone should follow school rules but there are some students that can’t respect that we are coming to school to learn, not to walk in the hall.

Patterson High School has rules. If they call a hall sweep announcement for all teachers to close the door, they do that because they want to see all students in class.

We asked some students questions about why students walk the halls. One of the students, John Dingzon, explained, “I think they are lazy, stressed, and overwhelmed.”

We needed to find out more information about hall walkers at Patterson, so we talked to Mr. Alukwu, the assistant principal who leads the hall sweeps. Mr Alukwu explained, ”We cannot stop every single hall walker, but what we do is we call a hall sweep. If we see any students in the hall and if we already called a hall sweep, we should be taking the students to the cafeteria. If I catch one of them, what I do is I will call a parent and I will show them the attendance to see how he skips class and he keep walking the halls.”

In my opinion, Mr. Alukwu is one of the best principals at Patterson High School. He works really hard to help students. He wants them to respect school rules and to get their education. That’s why he tries to tell them we need all students at Patterson High School to follow school rules and to focus in class, not to walk the halls, because if we keep walking the halls, we can’t focus what we need to learn in class.

By Shayvonne Hennix

For Black History Month, I interviewed two students from Patterson High School to hear their thoughts about celebrating black history and about how black people are perceived by other Americans. Here are their responses:

Sharissa Hennix (Cohort 2020)

Q: What is your ethnic background?

A: African Trinidadian.

Q: How do you think America views your ethnicity and your country?

A: I think they like view us as aggressive Trinidadians because for some reason people think West Indian people are rude, but for my black side of the family, I think people regardless think black people are bad and thieves, that they always kill black people for no reason.

Q: Do you think that black history should be celebrated all year long?

A: I mean, I feel like it is celebrated all year but it’s just highlighted more during February.

Q: Why do you think that is?

A: I don’t know. Probably something that happened a long time ago caused it.

Anonymous boy (Class of 2022)

Q: What is your ethnic background?

A: Black.

Q: How do you think America views your ethnicity?

A: Oh nah, them white people be geekin’, like, “F*** wrong with them killing people and s***?”.

Q: Do you think that black history should be celebrated all year long?

A: Hell yeah!

Q: Why?

A: What you mean? White people do it. Why can’t we?

The Patterson Press would like to thank these two students for their time.                             

By Makhia Burley

The dance team at Patterson had their first major dance event on Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 6 pm in the auditorium. The show was called “Pretty Hurts”. In addition to the Patterson dance team, teams from other schools also participated in this event, such as Majestic Dance Team, Fatally Fem, Code Blue, Torch Dance Company, Douglass Dance Company, and Prestige Dance Team.

According to Ms. Green, the dance coach at Patterson, dance helps kids show self-awareness and social awareness. It helps kids know and understand their worth.

The first dance at the event was a flash mob and the song they danced to was “Pretty Hurts” by Beyonce. This was the opening of the show and the song was basically saying, “Hey, pretty really does hurt no matter what you wear or have, if you’re messed up on the inside, it really does hurt.”

The next song “I Was Here”, also by Beyonce. It is basically saying that the seniors wanted to leave their footprint at Patterson High because it is important to them and then they were turning the torch over to the freshmen and sophomore dancers.

The last song, “Scars to Your Beautiful”, by Alessia Cara, was basically reiterating the first part of the show but saying that it doesn’t matter because all of your scars are beautiful, so even if it does hurt, your scars are your story. They tell you who you came to be and who you are.

Tamia Johnson, one of the Patterson dancers, expressed how it felt dancing on stage. She said she was nervous but once she got up there, she was happy.

Ms. Green said seeing her dancers up there, she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. “A lot of them always tell themselves what they can’t do. This shows them that they can do it.”, Ms. Green said.

Tamia Johnson said we need dance here at Patterson High “because it allows people to express themselves and feelings and allows people to come out of their shyness.”

Ms. Green also thinks it is important to have a dance program at Patterson High. “That’s the only way of self-expression. Instead of being angry or feeling down on yourself, sometimes people dance away their frustration and their anger and it actually helps you be creative.”     

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(Photos by Makhia Burley)

By Brionica Jackson

Patterson High School students took a 3 day trip to Annapolis from Saturday, April 27 through Monday, April 29 to participate in the Maryland Youth in Government program. They were able to stay at Hotel Annapolis for the weekend.

The students had choices to participate in one of the following activities: court, press, Senate , House, or delegate. They were able to act out the different roles of our government. Students were able to vote: electing the next Governor, Secretary of State, and Lt. Governor. They were able to exercise their opinions on the bills that they put out, sign petitions and more. Students wrote bills, fought for them, and helped bills get signed by their elected Governor.

The students even dressed professionally for their acting roles. Attendees were able to go to a banquet where the seniors in the program were awarded a graduation gift for being a senior and being in the program for two or more years. The seniors of Patterson who went on this year’s trip include John Dingzon and Brionica Jackson. The students received a red, white and blue ribbon. When I asked John Dingzon ” How did it feel to be graduating from Maryland Youth and Government after all this time?” he responded with “I was proud of myself!”

Kayla Holeman is a freshman and it was her first time going to Youth and Government. Although she didn’t have time to speak on her bill she enjoyed her time there. She said that next year she can’t wait to do it again. She enjoyed the atmosphere of the program and meeting new people. It looks like Kayla will be the next senior graduating from Youth and Government from the Patterson High School delegation!

By Eloisa Perez

Saving Adolescent Girls Everywhere (SAGE) is a club at Patterson High which helps young girls find themselves during high school, cope with some problems they might have, and help them do good in school.

SAGE is a group of girls “that talk about social awareness issues such as domestic violence, sex trafficking, body image”, said Coach Tatiana Cooper, the volleyball coach and SAGE faculty adviser. “We also do education involvement such as study hall every week and we do career and professional developments”, Coach Cooper added. “So pretty much I want to make sure they have jobs or educational opportunities over summer and throughout the year.”

“I started this program because I wanted to mentor girls that look like me… and I feel like there wasn’t even time to get into the school system.” Coach Cooper started this program so she can help girls throughout high school because high school can be a rough place for girls and she wants to help out as much as she can.

Coach Cooper is happy that she started the program because she has seen it help the students. “I’ve been able to see GPAs get better over time… and building a sisterhood and seeing the girls get along and have the community see them for who they really are.” Coach Cooper is saying that the girls she works with are really smart; it’s just that they need some encouragement from someone so they can do good in school.

Jade Recio is one of the 15 girls who are in the program. She likes SAGE because they help girls in need and it also helps her personality with issues she faces at home. “The program teaches me to not be so selfish and put myself in other people’s shoes because when we are helping other people that are in need I realize my life is not as bad as I thought it was.”, Recio said.

Recio believes that SAGE is a good program for girls who are facing some problems at home or anywhere. She says that the program teaches students to be humble and grateful for what they have, because some people out in the world have nothing.

Zewdi Mamno is another girl in the program. She encourages other girls to join the program because it helped her and she believes that SAGE can help other girls with their problems or to have more confidence in themselves.

“I would definitely tell other girls to join because it helps you find yourself, because high school is a really big place and I feel like there should be a place like SAGE where you can come to be yourself, because you’re judged everyday.”, Mamno explained.

SAGE is a really good program for girls in school, and its members believe it should be in every school because it helps them in every situation they might have.

By Ziara Jones

This basketball season, Coach Tarver felt proud of Patterson High School’s girls basketball team for trying their best to win. The girls basketball team won 8 games and lost 7 games.

Coach Tarver was proud when they played against Central High School even though Patterson lost that game. Patterson High School had a close game against Central. The score was 40 to 46.

“I was most impressed with the performance of the girls  at that game. All the way to the end they worked together very hard. It was a really tough game; it was a high emotion game for Patterson High.”, Coach Tarver said. “I was impressed by the score because they had lost last year but it was score of a blow out, but this year they were very close.”

Tyshenna Avery scored 12 points, the most points in that game. Patricia Escobar had 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 6 points.

The Patterson High girls basketball team is looking towards to what they hope will be an even better season next year.