Every once in awhile, a student like Harriett Patterson comes along.

During her school years, she accomplished more than most people do in their entire lives. Her activities include Woodrow’s swim, track and volleyball teams, National Honor Society, drill team captain, French club president, Key Club parliamentarian, Variations show choir, one-act play, UIL academic decathlon and Camp Fire Girls. In addition to all this she graduated on top of her class with a 96.53 average.

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This is why Patterson was named valedictorian for Woodrow Wilson High School Class of ’94. She will attend Princeton this fall and plans to study medicine or law.

“It’s just that, from trapeze artist to doctor, I have so many career goals,” she says. “I just know I want to do as much as I can, packing it all in. I don’t want to miss any opportunities.”

She was the only student in Dallas to receive the Fina/Dallas Morning News Scholar-Athlete Team scholarship for $4,000. And she was the regional recipient of the Coca-Cola Scholarship.

At the graduation assembly, she told a story of insight and inspiration.

“I’ll never forget working as an art teacher at one of the shelters,” she says. “A young boy gave me a picture he had drawn. In it, he was a doctor. I was so moved.”

“Here was this little boy whose father was missing, whose mother was unemployed while his sister was in a gang, but he still believed he could become a doctor.”

Patterson’s valedictorian speech was based on “believing is also a philosophy” – a good philosophy for a Princeton prospect.

A Trip Through a Rain Forest

For two weeks in May, Stonewall Jackson students left their homes and went out into the jungle.

As part of a yearly program, Stonewall students, teachers and administrators transformed their school into a rain forest. Trees, leaves and plants hung in the hallways, as well as pictures of animals. Tape recorders were set up to play jungle noises as neighborhood residents, and school parents received tours of the school.

The program is something Stonewall had done for 20 years, says principal Olivia Henderson.

At the beginning of each school year, teachers select a country to study. They design lesson plans around that country and for two weeks at the end of school, they transform Stonewall into the country to give the students an opportunity to see what the other cultures are like.

News & Notes

NATIONAL RECOGNITION: Neighborhood resident Isaac Paul Lynch, a student at Bishop Lynch High School, received a United States National Award in Science from the United States Achievement Academy. Lynch was nominated by his science teacher, Sister Cecelia Sehr. The academy selects winners based on academic performance, interest and aptitude, leadership qualities, responsibility, enthusiasm and citizenship. Less than 10 percent of all American high school students receive the honor. He is the son of William Lynch and Meg Kaufmann.

CHESS CHAMPS: Our neighborhood schools dominated a recent DISD chess tournament. Mt. Auburn’s third/fourth grade team, comprised of Juan Baza, Miguel Torres, Rocky Jaramillo and Diana Chang, brought home first-place medals. In second place was another Mt. Auburn team comprised of Fabian Robles, Juan Soliz, Nathan Ortiz and Jamar Lynch. Lakewood Elementary took third place with team members Stephen Nagler, Luke Duncan, Jimmy Miller and Daniel Gaspari.

In the fifth/sixth grade division, the Mt. Auburn team of George Davila, Rolando Hernandez, Joe Garcia and Arturo Martinez took first place. William Lipscomb Elementary took second with team members Nick Hall, Edgar Simmons, Grant Benevides and Jon-Marc Brannon.

The tournament was hosted by Alex Sanger Elementary and was sponsored by the American Chess Foundation.

SOUNDLY THE BEST: Dorian Snider, a neighborhood resident who attends Booker T. Washington Arts Magnet School, was the winner for Engineered Studio Recording in Down Beat Magazine’s Annual Student Music Awards. The magazine recognizes outstanding student musicians and engineers at the high school and college levels every year.

DISTRICT WIN: Woodrow’s baseball team won district for the first time since 1959. Coach Mike Wallace received the “Coach of the Year” award in DISD and pitcher Robert Padilla received “Player of the Year.”

The baseball team was the 10th Woodrow varsity team to win district this year.

More than $70,000 has been raised for Woodrow’s sports department in the last three years from the Woodrow Wilson/Tim Brown Golf Tournament. At the same time, students participation in sports has increased 25 percent.