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Patterson High School held commencement exercises for its Class of 2021 Friday in the school's gymnasium. The graduation ceremony was the 119th in school history.

From the St. Mary Sheriff's Office:

Sheriff Blaise Smith advises that the National Weather Service is predicting rain and rise in tide levels for St. Mary Parish.
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The Sheriff's Office was advised by the Office of Homeland Security Director David Naquin on Thursday that the NWS is watching a developing tropical system that will affect the tides and our weather overnight and into the weekend.
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Sheriff Smith has placed all SMPSO deputies on standby just in case weather conditions cause local flooding and issues.
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This morning, St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff released a statement that the NWS has indicated that coastal areas will experience up to a two-foot rise in tides due to this system that is moving across the Gulf of Mexico. There is also a forecast of up to three inches of rain.
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The areas of St. Mary Parish that may be the most affected by this system are:
La. 317 outside of the levee system near Burns Point
La. 83 in the Louisa area
La. Cypremort Point area
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The St. Mary Parish Levee District is currently monitoring the water levels in both the Franklin Canal and Bayou Teche and plan to close both floodgates later today.

NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
800 PM EDT Fri May 21 2021

A well-defined low pressure area is located over the western Gulf of
Mexico about 150 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Earlier satellite wind data and buoy observations indicated that the
system is producing winds of 30-35 mph near and to the east of its
center but recent satellite and radar imagery shows that shower and
thunderstorm activity remains limited. Although environmental
conditions are not particularly favorable for significant
development, only a slight increase in thunderstorm activity could
result in the formation of a tropical depression or storm before the
system moves inland along the Texas coast overnight. Regardless of
development, the system could produce heavy rainfall over portions
of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana through Saturday.
Given the complete saturation of soils with ongoing river flooding
along the Texas and Louisiana coastal areas, heavy rain could lead
to flash, urban, and additional riverine flooding across this
region. Additional information on the rainfall and flooding
potential can be found in products issued by your local National
Weather Service Forecast Office.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...medium...50 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days...medium...50 percent.

High Seas Forecasts issued by the National Weather Service can be
found under AWIPS header NFDHSFAT1, WMO header FZNT01 KWBC, and
online at ocean.weather.gov/shtml/NFDHSFAT1.php

Forecaster Latto/Brown

Six honors graduates will lead the way at Patterson High School’s graduation ceremony.
The commencement exercises will be at 7 p.m. Friday at the Patterson High gym. The event was moved indoors because of the weather.
The honors graduates are:
Michael Brown Jr.
Michael Onterrio Brown Jr. is the son of Angelle Brown and Michael Brown Sr. He will graduate from Patterson High School with a 4.0 gpa. At PHS, he has participated in BETA Club, basketball, and track and field. He is also an 8th degree Crackerjack. Brown plans to attend Dillard University where he will study Actuarial Science.
Logan Gore
Logan Gore is the daughter of Brandi Favors and Phillip Gore. While in high school, she has been a part of the cheerleading squad, track team, Key Club, Student Council, ARK Club, and BETA Club. She served as the Student Council executive president her senior year and was previously secretary for the ARK Club. She is also an eighth-degree Crackerjack and was named Student of the Year. Gore plans to attend Louisiana State University and major in Kinesiology. After college, she aspires to become a physician assistant.
Brailee Cooper
Brailee Gabrielle Cooper is the daughter of Valencia and Dalton Cooper Sr. She has been an active participant in the Timberland Regiment: marching and concert band during her high school tenure, where she served as field sergeant during her junior year and drum major her senior year. She is also considered musically talented, playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. She has received numerous band awards, including the outstanding freshman musician award, and has been a consistent competitor in both the parish and district honor bands. She was a three-year member of the Beta Club and served as the club’s historian. Cooper also worked as an executive historian of the student council during her three-year membership. Additionally, she participated in the Acts of Random Kindness club and PHS Timberlettes. She is also an eighth-degree Cracker Jack, and devotes much of her time tutoring younger students. She has been lauded with numerous accolades, including the outstanding award in psychology, the LSU outstanding award in US History, outstanding emergency medical responder, and environmental science award. A multiple awardee of the student of the month and a student of the year finalist, she has been awarded an academic and marching band scholarship from Southeastern Loui-siana University in Hammond. She plans on pursuing a degree in psychology with a minor in African American Studies.
Devin Lawrence
Devin Lawrence is the son of Debra Richard and Cody Lawrence. He has been a part of the Timberland Regiment for the last 1½ years, a member of Patterson High’s Quiz Bowl team through all four years of high school, and a member of the BETA club since his sophomore year. After graduation, Lawrence plans to attend Louisiana Tech University so that he can pursue a degree in chemical engineering.
Brendan Christopher Kidder
Brendan Christopher Kidder is the son of Christopher and Crystal Kidder. He was a three-year member of the ARK Club but mainly focused on his grade-point average throughout high school. He is an active member of Crossing Place Church and always finds a way to help others. He is always willing to go the extra mile for himself and others. Kidder is a true jokester and a hard worker. He has been a PHS Crackerjack all four years and will finish his senior year as an 8th degree Crackerjack. He has completed several college dual enrollment classes through Louisiana State University. He is also one of the 11 students at PHS who took the calculus dual enrollment, a first for PHS and only calculus DE in St. Mary Parish. He has received a large scholarship from Nicholls State University for his academics. To further his education, Kidder plans to attend Nicholls State University and obtain a bachelor’s degree in Business Management with a minor in Human Resources.
Kaylee Craddock
Kaylee Craddock is the daughter of Lee and Tammy Craddock. She was a part of the Timb-erland Regiment for 3½ years and earned the title of Brass Captain her 10th-12th years. She was also a part of the softball team all four years, swim team her last two years, and Beta Club her 10th-12th years. She earned the Second-Team District Outfielder award her senior year and Second-Team District Utility player her sophomore year. She is an 8th-degree Crackerjack and has earned multiple academic scholarships. She will be attending Louisiana Tech University in the fall and plans on majoring in pre-veterinarian studies. She hopes to one day attend vet school to go on to become a Wildlife Veterinarian to focus on wildlife conservation.

The Kiwanis Club of East St. Mary in Morgan City will celebrate its 35th anniversary Saturday.
The organization was chartered on May 22, 1986 and with it was the membership of the lone remaining original member, Tim Matte.
Matte said he was asked to join by Tommy Lyons, who now is in Houma, and Robert McLaughlin, who now is in Baton Rouge.
“Frankly, everybody was kind of similar aged and similar set at that particular time,” Matte said. “Now, we’ve got a little better spread of age groups and so forth, but we’re already, in a lot of cases, already friends.”
When the club began, it had 26 members. Lyons was the club’s first president, and the late Preston McIntyre was its first secretary.
At the time, the meetings were breakfast events at the Holiday Inn in Morgan City.
In addition to Matte, the club has several other 30-plus year members. Steven Minvielle is just behind Matte with 34 years of service. Other 30-plus year members are Bill Johnson, Cal Carrier, Harold Smith Jr., Thane Aucoin and Bernardine Morgan.
Today, the club has 68 members.
“It’s kind of grown in spurts,” Matte said. “There’s been some times where it’s grown really rapidly. There’s been some times where it’s stayed fairly stagnant, but it’s as large as it’s ever been today and as active as it’s ever been.”
The club does a lot of work in the community, too. Its main project is the annual Kiwanis Kids Fishing Rodeo. The most recent rodeo was held Saturday at Lake End Park with a record 325 participants.
Big fundraisers for the group are its Hurricane Booth at the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival and its Trivia Night.
With funds raised through these events, the organization gives annual scholarships to high school students.
A smaller scale project that the club continually participates in is its food drives during elections.
“That was probably the first thing we really actually started doing,” Minvielle said.
Another long-time project the organization has participated in since 1988 is bingo at the Patterson Healthcare Center. However, the club has been unable to hold the event the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organization also holds the annual Porchfest in Morgan City through which money is raised for improvements at Lawrence Park.
It also contributes to numerous other organizations and helps with multiple other projects.
Secretary and 24-year member Debbie Stevens said she gets gratification as a member from seeing the benefits of the group’s work.
“The reward I receive of belonging to Kiwanis is the joy I receive in my heart when I see the excitement and happiness we bring to children, as well as the elderly, by doing things for them as often as we can,” she said. “All the hard work of organizing fundraisers or projects and then working those events become worth it.”
Stevens said it takes teamwork and everyone involved to put on successful projects and fundraisers.
“We have great members that can be counted on to get the jobs done,” she said.
The club is led by a president, president-elect, treasurer, secretary and five board members. It meets every Friday at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City at noon.
Minvielle said last year’s president, Reina Fernandez, has taken over the leadership again as president Casie Callais stepped down because she and her family are moving out of state soon. Minvielle will become president later this year.
Minvielle said while it does take work to keep the organization going, there is enjoyment in doing so.
“We have a good time together,” he said. “We make a lot of friendships. There’s business stuff that’s created because of it as well. It’s just a good organization.”
Anyone interested in joining the chapter should contact Stevens at 985-397-2963 or 985-384-6344.