Jury duty: a civic responsibility

Posted on by Leave a comment
east-slider1

Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse — Circuit Court for Baltimore City, where jurors must report for jury duty (Circuit Court for Baltimore City website)

By John Dingzon

Jury duty is part of citizenship. Every American citizen must participate in jury duty.

On March 9, 2018,  I received a jury summons from the Circuit Court of Baltimore. The court gave me all of the information that I needed to know in a letter I received in the mail. They gave me the exact date to report for jury duty and a list of requirements that are needed when attending jury duty.Included with the letter I received from the court was also my juror number and a pass to enter the court. There were also written instructions that I needed to follow.

The next day, the court called me again and said they had enough people to attend jury duty, so they didn’t need me. There is a limited amount of numbers that can attend jury duty each day (usually between 100 and 900). There’s a list of people who have to attend jury duty and they draw the line somewhere. The system randomly selects who has to serve.

When they think that they have enough people to report for jury duty they just immediately stop. The court also pays the people afterwards when they attend jury duty.  I was, of course, excused from the court so I could attend school for that day. However, the court says that they will send another letter to me again very soon and have me report for jury duty.

After my jury duty experience, I interviewed several adults here at Patterson High School who have attended jury duty, to get their point of view.

“When I was on jury duty, I watched a movie, sat, and read a book”, recounted Ms. Knowles, a secretary on the 2nd floor. “I went to Baltimore City Courthouse down at Light Street where I reported for jury duty.”

People who get called for jury duty spend a lot of time just waiting to be called to a courtroom. Many of them never get chosen to actually serve on a jury. Ms. Knowles wished she had been chosen. “I’d rather be there on trial, rather than sitting their watching movies”, she stated.

If you do not show up for jury duty after receiving a summons, there can be serious legal consequences. You may have to pay an expensive fine or even go to jail.

“I had jury duty a year ago, but I have jury duty [again] on November 7, 2018, and if they don’t come and get me then they’ll lock me up, because I have missed jury duty two times”.

 

 

 

 

 

Internet is keeping teens up (OPINION)

Posted on by Leave a comment
Using an iPhone to access the internet

Smartphones make it easy for teenagers to access the internet from anywhere. (Photo: J Haymesisvi Photography — CC)

By Moses Jeuronlon

Teenagers all over the country are using technology everyday for many different reasons, but is technology affecting how teens perform in school and at home?

In my opinion it is. Teens are mostly tired in class, falling asleep on the bus, and running late to class. It is mostly because they stayed up late at night surfing the web. Also when the teacher is teaching, they take their phones out and start to text each other and get distracted. Then, when a quiz comes based on the lesson, they fail it.

According to the computer science teacher at Patterson High School,  Mr. Nicholas Yates, “the internet provides information for students, but it also provides an easy source for distraction”.

Teenagers are a group of young adults who have taken a half a step into society. Yes, the internet gives us entertainment, but it also has its negative effects. Taking the internet or technology as the top priority of a student’s life and only giving 5% of their time to his or her education is abysmal and it will lead to that student destroying his or her future.

Teens and students need to be responsible for their lives and balance the amount of time they spend on the internet and the time they spend preparing for school.

“Sometimes the internet provides distraction because it makes us lazy and keeps us away from actual work”, said Josine Mamno, a Patterson student.

When students have homework or classwork, they can rely too much on the internet and it can make them too lazy. Then, when they really need to solve a problem and the rule says no phone is allowed, they may not understand the work and fail.

There’s no law in the country that says people should not be on their phones, but teenagers can make their own set of rules about when to be on their phones and when to put them away and get serious.

 

Building STEPS prepares students for college and careers

Posted on by Leave a comment

By Christian Pietrowski,

Building STEPS is a program that prepares students in Baltimore for college and careers with a focus on science and technology. I want to say thanks to everyone in Building STEPS and everyone that’s involved with the program. My journey through Building STEPS has been an experience of a lifetime, from climbing trees at Genesee Valley all the way to learning science, technology, and engineering and mathematics skills.

When I got the acceptance letter into Building STEPS at the end of my tenth grade year, I was so excited. I was excited because I knew I was going to get the help I needed to get into college. Believe it or not, before Building STEPS, I was shy and would not approach people for help and would not talk to people unless spoken to.  They made my confidence level go from zero to a hundred. Building STEPS has helped me overcome a lot of challenges. The main challenge I overcame was being put outside of my comfort zone. I learned how to talk to people I didn’t know, and learned how to appreciate working in groups instead of on my own.

Building STEPS has also helped me with the college process.  Without them, I probably would have pulled my hair out while I wrote my college applications.  They helped me write my college essays, which I didn’t think were good until my Building STEPS writing advisor helped me. I am extremely proud that I got accepted to more than one college. I would not have been able to do that without Building STEPS. Building STEPS has helped me get into colleges I would have never dreamed about being accepted to.

In the fall, I plan to attend Mount Saint Mary’s University. I am going to play college baseball and to study criminal justice so when I graduate college I can be in the FBI.

Building STEPS has taught me a valuable lesson in life, which is to never be afraid to leave your comfort zone and don’t be scared to ask for help if needed. Thanks to Building STEPS, I have made friendships with people that I know will last a lifetime.

African dancers celebrate Black History Month at Patterson

Posted on by Leave a comment
IMG_8376

Dancers and SGA members (Photo: Patterson Press)

By Sartre Ndebaneza

Patterson High School hosted a group of Imani dancers on February 24, 2017, to celebrate the history of African Americans as part of Black History Month. It was an exciting event that Patterson High School students enjoyed, as they have testified. “I liked the dance and music. It was fantastic.” a Patterson student, Jonas, said.

The group performed a variety of songs and dances in the auditorium. All of the songs performed had a different story to tell and dancers wore different clothes to illustrate the message of each song. Imani dancers began with African traditional songs and dances, which showed African culture before slavery. Dancers were wearing clothes made of grass. Other songs performed were to honor Black activists who fought for freedom, and other songs were to recognize the part religion played to help African Americans express their opinions and feelings through music. When they started dancing in African style, the audience screamed and turned around to look at their immigrant classmates.

It was surprising to see those young dancers perform varieties of songs that awaken the spirit of unity in young generations. In conclusion, the leader of Imani dancers left a message of hope and love to the audience. “We have come together like never before,”  said the leader of Imani dancers, Eme Funderburke. The performance wasn’t only for fun, but also recalled the history of African Americans. The Imani dancers announced their next trip will be to Ghana, in Africa.

 

Patterson joins rally at City Council for banning styrofoam

Posted on by Leave a comment
(Photo: Ms. Hope)

(Photo: Ms. Hope)

By John Dingzon

Ms. Hope took at least two Patterson students with her to a rally at a meeting of the Baltimore City Council on March 9, 2017.  City Councilor Zeke Cohen and the committee urged the citizens of  Baltimore City to work with a group called B-more Beyond Plastics (BBP) to ban Styrofoam because Styrofoam has affected the community of Baltimore City over the course of the years. Many of the City Council, committee, and the citizens of Baltimore City rallied in Annapolis to support the efforts to ban Styrofoam in Annapolis. 1st district Councilman Zeke Cohen said, “Talk to your city district representative and they will also take this fight to the Annapolis.” This led to the Baltimore City Council signing a resolution to support the bill in Annapolis.

 
B-more Beyond Plastics is a youth led organization fighting to advance public health, environmental advocacy, and legislation to change the world. They have two current missions. The missions are to ban or tax plastic bags in Baltimore and ban Styrofoam in Maryland. A bill to ban Styrofoam was introduced in both the House of Delegates and State Senate this past session. B-more Beyond Plastics testified for both committees. Unfortunately, the bill was not passed. It has been suggested that BBP should gather more information to improve the bill.  

 
City Councilman 1st district Councilman Zeke Cohen was there along with City Councils and  representatives from several other districts. They participated in the rally and they wanted to urge and pass a bill on to the  Annapolis so they can banned Styrofoam. In his speech, Councilman Cohen said, “We will get this bill passed. If successful in Annapolis, then we will also pass it to other states too.” Cohen represents the district that Patterson High School is in. Students and teachers from a lot of other City schools also came to the rally to protest the use of Styrofoam.

Many of students and teachers wanted to banned Styrofoam because of how it has impacted the environment. Styrofoam harms the environment, and is also piling up in the streets and outside the school districts. Many people would want to use different materials instead of Styrofoam, such as plate metal, and glass plates.

 
There are 3 million tons of plastic produced every year. 2.3 million tons of that plastic end up in landfills. It takes 500 years for plastic to break down. Plastic that does not reach the landfill can be found littering our neighborhoods and watersheds. Plastic is lethal to marine organisms. 50% of sea turtles have ingested plastic. Also plastic contains toxins such as benzene and polystyrene that are harmful to humans. 

So what can we do? We can use biodegradable foam or plant based products when eating, shopping, shipping, and at home. That means instead of using styrofoam, use paper plates, paper bags at the market, paper board egg cartoons, etc., or better yet, use reusable bags and dishware that don’t need to be disposed of at all.

With files from Ms. Hope.
(Photos: Ms. Hope)

International chess champion visits Patterson

Posted on by Leave a comment
Phiona Mutesi with her coach Robert Katende holding the Chess along with the patterson students and teachers. creadit Faran Nadeem.

Phiona Mutesi with her coach Robert Katende holding a chess board, along with the Patterson students and teachers (Photo: Faran Nadeem)

By Faran Nadeem,

Phiona Mutesi, the international chess master, came to Patterson on Thursday, April 20, 2017. She is also known as “The Queen of Katwe.” She came to have a little talk with the students and tell about her life and how she reached where she is now. It was a great afternoon. We all had fun. It was a pleasure to have Phiona and her coach, Robert Katende, in our school.

She was born in 1996, Kampala, Uganda. She is Uganda’s first female international chess player. Before she learned about chess, she was not interested in it. In fact she didn’t even know what chess was until she stopped by the chess room in Robert’s program. She went in the chess room just for milk, according to her.

She played and won many games in Uganda, as well as internationally. She was the best player in her class and on her team. She used to beat her coach, Robert Katende, sometimes. She belonged to a very poor family. She used to sell maize with her younger brother for living. In 2016 Disney made a movie called “The Queen of Katwe,” which tells about her amazing life, and her triumph over difficulty. It shows the challenges she faced in her life. I, myself, watched the movie. It’s actually a really great and emotional movie.

I have to say that she is one of the nicest and most polite ladies I have ever met. We all had questions that we asked. She and her coach were more then happy to answer each question. “It was nice meeting her,” said Sartre. She also played chess with 4 students at the same time, while Coach Robert gave a chess lesson to one of Patterson’s top players, Jeremiah Lemmon. Another top player, Nan Wang, played against Phiona, and said, “That was really good. I had a lot of fun and I learn a lot of moves.” Both Phiona and her coach had some really good tips and lessons that they shared with Patterson students and staff. The biggest lesson they told was  “Never give up, never surrender” both in the game and in the real life. That is what she did and we all can see where she is now.

 

REFERENCE/SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiona_Mutesi

Patterson band performs at City Festival

Posted on by Leave a comment
(Photo: Ms. Williams)

(Photo: Ms. Williams)

By Lionell Green,

The Patterson band had been working hard all semester to perfect their songs, and they took their talents to City College High School on March 29, where they were in the yearly City Festival with several schools, including Carver and a couple of middle schools. It was not really a competition; it was more like a showcase of skills.

It was very entertaining to see the band do great in another setting. Multiple other schools praised Patterson’s band and the three judges were impressed. They played a total of three songs called “The Thunderer,” “Aftershock,” and “Chillaxin.”

Ms Williams was asked, “How did you feel about your band traveling to another school to play? She responded, “Traveling to City High School was  an amazing opportunity for our students to showcase their musician skills that they acquired during the year. They got to experience listening to other bands and perform their best at the City Festival! As their teacher, I am proud, but as a musician I’m even prouder.”

Here are some of the comments from the judges:

“Very strong playing today!”

“Good job with a small ensemble!”

“Let me congratulate the bands from Carver, Reginald, and Patterson;  I personally thought your students had great performances.  Many times even the students get wrapped up in the sizes of the group or the ability of the players, but I thought your groups were confident, well-rehearsed, and committed to making you proud.”

 

 

Patterson chess team ties with Mervo

Posted on by Leave a comment
A Patterson student (left) plays chess against a Mervo student (Photo: Mr. Baron)

“Patterson High Team Co-Captain Jeremaiah Lemmon (pictured on the left) plays Mervo’s top ranked player (Photo: Mr. Baron)

 

 

 

 

 

 

By John Dingzon

During their home game on March 21, 2017, the Patterson Chess team tied with Mervo.

Coaches Mr. Tola and Mr. Baron had trained the chess players and prepared them for what was coming.  All of their practices made the Patterson chess players look forward to this competition. Even though some chess players lost, they were still happy that they had the chance to participate in this competition.

Mr. Baron said, “I’m proud of how the team played. It’s a good reminder that every move in chess, just like in life, counts.”

Syncere Harris: Scholar-Athlete

Posted on by Leave a comment
Syncere Harris excels both on and off the track. Photo: Amadou Bah, Patterson Press)

Syncere Harris excels both on and off the track. (Photo: Amadou Bah, Patterson Press)

By Amadou Bah,

Syncere Harris is an 11th grader, an honor roll student, and a track team member who has been doing indoor and outdoor track for 1-2 years at Patterson High School.

He started doing track in middle school but stopped because his heart wasn’t in it. When he got to Patterson, he was more involved in his 10th grade year and became interested in track again. What motivated him to start doing track again is his love for running. When he was little, he ran a lot for fun. Eventually, he started running every day.

The track events Harris participates in include the 100 meter, 200 meter, 4 x 200 meter relay, and the 4 x 100 meter relay. Track is one of his favorite sports and he is thinking about doing this in his future and for college. He always come in 1st or 2nd place. Recently he won 1st place at Mervo in the 100 and 200 meter races.

Harris excels off the track field too. He is currently taking a digital electronics class with Ms. Ball. “He’s always busy because Coach Smith comes and gets him for a track meeting for two minutes but he comes back in 30 minutes,” said Ms. Ball. He does get his work done though, and he is passing her class with an “A”. He is an active learner. He answers all the questions and goes up to the board to impress everyone with his skills.

Overall, Syncere Harris puts education first, then sports. He makes sure he is passing all of his classes. If he is failing or doesn’t understand what he’s doing, he stays after school for coach class. He is very intelligent and self-motivated, a great role model for other Patterson students to follow.

AFJROTC participates in Color Guard competition

Posted on by Leave a comment

By John Dingzon,

On March 10, 2017, Lt. Colonel Jones and Technical Sergeant Smith took the Color Guard units to compete against other high schools in the Baltimore City district. It was a city wide Junior ROTC drill meet. There were sessions for unarmed and armed drill units, as well as unarmed drill sequence regulation, and unarmed drill inspection.

It has been nearly 10 years since the Patterson High School Air Force Junior ROTC competed against other high schools in a drill meet competition. The Color Guard team started practicing from the beginning of the school year. They practiced marching, and learning all of the techniques. The new students started learning the maneuvers, but the Color Guard did not practice hard enough until January 2017.

Lt. Colonel Jones started the selection of students who will be on the events and began the training for the actual competition. The real competition did not start until the month after the event. They all work hard to get prepared for the competition and even, the Color Guard took on new maneuvers and drill sequences.  They worked hard and did a great job, all the way through the finish line.

The ROTC faced the challenged of finding the time, and created the Color Guard team as the extra-curricular or co-curricular activity and did not have consistent attendance, and that’s because many of the students are part of extra-curricular or co-curricular activities, including the varsity athletics.  So they are pulled in different directions. So the biggest challenged this year for the ROTC is for them to come to practice. They had to also use some class time to be able to practice, but this was limited so it did not take away from the academics.

Lt. Col Jones goal was to able to find a time for practice after or before school, so they were not interrupted from their studies. The next event for Junior ROTC is next year again. So anyone who want to can able to participate and also be part of an annual event. It’s also part of Junior ROTC, and what they’re calling the CEO’S Cup, and the Chief Executive Officer for the district. It’s also basically like the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy with the military academy. So the team who wins more events throughout the year will earn this trophy of ROTC in the units.

There were also individual awards. There’s what they call individual drill or Knockout. It’s basically like Simon says. They give commands and people are ask to dropped out if they do the commands incorrectly or if Simon doesn’t say the commands correctly. Patterson High School ROTC made a great showing, but Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly) won the overall event.

It was a great, fun-filled event. In the city this event will happen again next year. Lt. Col Jones hopes the ROTC will participate more in other categories next year. “This year Baltimore Poly won 1st place in the Color Guard, but I think the other schools know we are the school to be watched for next year,” said Lt. Jones.

 

 

 

 

[PHOTO]

« Older Entries Recent Entries »