by Jamira Ellison
The Patterson High School Lady Clippers varsity basketball team ended their season strong with a score of 12 wins and 7 loses. The Lady Clippers did their best throughout the season and came out pretty well overall. They fought their best and tried there hardest to make it to victory. Coach Shaq gave a shout out to Lyikiea Anderson.
by Kylayah Davis
Patterson High school hosted a Black History Night show on Wednesday February 28th. The event was organized by Mr. Fowler with performances from Patterson’s newly established Performing Arts Academy.
In total, the Performing Arts Academy put on three shows in honor of Black History Month: two during the day on Tuesday, February 27th during 2nd and 4th period for students who made Honor Roll and Principal’s List, and then another event on Wednesday evening for families at 6:00 PM. The hosts would like to extend a thank you to all those who came out to support our young creatives and their hard work during the stormy weather on Wednesday night.
The show opened with the Black national anthem (“Lift Every Voice and Sing”), followed by introductions and a welcome message by the man who produced this great show, choir director Mr. Fowler.
After this opening, a song called Siyahamba was performed by the choir called while student performers danced to the music. This dance was the debut of Patterson’s newly established dance program under the direction of Mr. Kwame and our modeling troupe under Coach Z. After this, the band went on to play “Wade in The Water”, a negro spiritual code song with solos by Korey Spruill and Christian Yates. The Show was split into four sections representing four key elements of Black culture: style, movement, gestures of dismissal, and music.
The style portion hosted by 10th grade student Araya Brinkley featured Patterson’s newly formed modeling troupe. The troupe performed a dance to the song “They Don’t Really Care About Us” by Michael Jackson and showcased African American fashions from multiple decades.
The show also featured the poems, “I too am America” By Langston Hughes, performed by Micah Mcdonald and Caleb Johnson, and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou performed by Dinea Griffin, Octavia Caldwell, Tynazia Burgess, Tammie Gordon, Syniah Rawlings, and Demi Hines.
Christina Johnson showed her art which featured representations of Black girls. Cristina created four works of art for this collection:
The musical portion of the show was a fan favorite and was hosted by Mr. Fowler. This section showcased quick lip sync performances by students representing different genres of music, including R & B, HipHop, and Rap, with songs by The Temptations, Mary J. Blige, New Edition, Tupac, and Biggie.
“I’m Goin’ Down” was performed by Tynazia Burgess, “Hit ’Em Up” was performed by Sincere Bartfield, “Juicy” was performed by Charles Goodman, “Billie Jean” was performed by Caleb Williams, and “My Girl” was performed by Zion Woods, Devon Brown, Tyshawn, Aaron Washington and La’ron Howard.
To conclude the night, the choir sang the song “Glory”, featuring the band, with instrumental solos by Kylayah Davis and Winner Mbenga and vocal solos by Jeanette Giles, Octavia Caldwell and Sincere Bartfield. “Glory” was made for the movie Selma which depicted the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, where African Americans and their allies marched for voting rights and an end to discrimination.
The show was so well received that students wished for another one. Many students hope that we can make this an annual tradition with even better performances in the years to come. Once again, the organizers of this event would like to extend a thank you to all who helped with the production of the show. Finally, a special “thank you” to everyone who came out to support the show, and please come out to support more events from our Performing Arts Academy.
By Deontay Blackwell
February 12th to 15th was Patterson High School’s winter Spirit Week hosted by Patterson’s Student Government Association (SGA) to raise money for the organization.
SGA raised money by asking students to pay for the opportunity to nominate a staff member to get pied in the face at a pep rally that was held on Thursday in the gym. The fortunate victim to receive this pie to the face was Mr. Ober, an English teacher.
For this spirit week, each day had a specific theme: Monday was a cozy day where people wore their pajamas like onesies and pledge pants. Tuesday was twin day where students tried to match with their friends to look like twins. Wednesday was flip-flop day where teachers dressed like students and students dressed like teachers. Finally, on Thursday, students and staff showed their Patterson pride during the day by wearing our school colors which are blue, white, and black, and then ending the celebration with a pep rally. The different cohorts participated in fun games against each other or against the staff members. These games included musical chairs with basketballs and real-life Hungry Hungry Hippos.
All of these events were planned by the SGA, a small group currently in need of more members as they have an important role helping to run fun events within the school for everyone to participate.
“The money raised is for future events for the school”, explained Jayzanay “Jazzy” Blessett, one of the members of SGA.
SGA can help to benefit students with more fun activities if more students join. Also, if you have problems with the way that the school is run and and you want to address those issues, SGA can be a great way to make your voice heard.
By Coach Smith
The Patterson track and field team made history at the Baltimore City Indoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday, January 25 at the Prince George’s County Sportsplex. Najah White AKA “Little Nae” won 2 gold medals. She won a gold medal in the mile and rebroke the school record. Then, an hour later, she won a gold medal in the 2 mile.
Additionally, many of our other runners also broke school records. The girls 4 x 400 meter relay team of Ahmawanyah Lewis, Najah White, Dayvia Weaver, and Quintine Nterere broke the school record. Additionally, Rancel Corporan Lagombra broke the school record in the 500 meters. The boys 4 x 800 meter relay team of Joel Lukoo, Vema Maneno, Aaden Hopkins, and Rancel Corporan Lagombra broke the school record. And the boys 4 x 400 meter relay team of Aaden Hopkins, Joel Lukoo, Marshall Mallory, and Rancel Corporan Lagombra broke the school record.
Our track and field team is comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores. In the next year or two, Patterson track and field will take over the city of Baltimore.
By Deontay Blackwell
The Patterson High School unified tennis team competed in the City Championship at Coppermine Fitness Club on October 24, 2023. Patterson faced off against six other schools: ACCE, Edmondson, Forest Park, Western, Carver, and Frederick Douglass. Each school had three to four matches to determine the winner in its respective section, with Patterson taking home silver medals for placing second in the B section.
“It was really fun… I was kinda nervous.” Said Nalia Jenkins, one of the tennis players who competed at the City Championship.
Ms. Mahoney is the unified tennis coach for Patterson and has been coaching it for two years but has been coaching other sports, such as swimming and softball, for the past eleven years. Patterson’s tennis team is new, having started only two years ago. In the previous year, the Clippers won third place in the City Championship.
The Patterson unified tennis team still has a bright future ahead as the team is still very new with many more games to come.
By Kylayah Davis
The Patterson varsity boys soccer team won against City College on October 11 at Clipper Stadium–a win which put them at first in the division for championships and cemented their 6-0 inter-city record this year.
Despite City getting the first point of the game, Patterson quickly put a point of their own on the board. After securing their second point, the Clippers kept the defense tight, ending the game with a final score of 2-1.
“You can’t scare me; I’m a goalie. The goal is my home and you are not welcome here.”, said Tyler Harrison, stating that he had to lock things down after City scored their goal.
Coach Ober said that he’s proud of his team and their win and that they will continue to work on marking corners and playing with energy. He also said that if they continue to improve, the team is on track to win the City Championships for the first time in six years.
Coach Ober named Angel Guevara as the game’s MVP for “scoring both goals and playing amazingly in the mid field, helping to control the game, and leading with positivity and energy.”
Turnout at the game was great. There was strong support for the Clippers by friends, family, community supporters and Patterson’s volleyball and football teams.
Update:
After this game, the Clippers went on to defeat Dunbar 6-1, Digital Harbor 2-0, Catonsville 2-1, and Edmondson 13-0 in their last game of the regular season. They then went on to defeat City again in their first playoff game, advancing them to the regional finals where they faced Poly for a chance to represent Baltimore City in the State Quarterfinals.
Patterson lost that game by one point, with a final score of 2-3, bringing Patterson’s season to an end. Despite this loss, the team had a spectacular season and remained undefeated in the regular season.
(Photos by Patterson Press)
Patterson High School held a Halloween costume contest on October 31st, 2022. Here are some of the costumes our staff and students came up with. The contest winners will be announced later this week. (Photos by Patterson Press student photographers Angelies Montero and Denaijah Neal, along with Ms. Williams and other sources)
pattersonpress.org 