Following her instincts, Patterson scores question
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Only one journalist scored an interview with Sarah Palin last week in Brentwood and it wasn’t one from The Tennessean, Williamson Herald, Channels 2, 4, 5 or 6, or even Brentwood Home Page.

Bailie Patterson, a Ravenwood High School sophomore and one of the school’s The Black and Red broadcast reporters, followed her instincts and returned to Costco on Dec. 1 after spending the entire morning there. Patterson and fellow RHS sophomore Aaron Mirtes were among the other reporters, photographers and camera crews on hand to cover Palin’s book-signing event that promoted the launch America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag.

RHS media student Aaron Mirtes films fellow student Bailie Patterson as they cover Sarah Palin's Brentwood appearance on Dec. 1. BHP Photo

Bailie and Aaron are students in Ravenwood's media program and students in teacher Sara Sweitzer’s second-year electronic media class.

“Aaron couldn't even stick around, he needed to get back to school, so I was just about to give up and go back to school empty handed,” Bailie said. “But my mom texted me and told me not to give up and not to take no for an answer and then my gut told me to get the interview no matter what."

So Bailie said a prayer, dropped Aaron back at school, and returned to the Seaboard Lane warehouse store to wait in the cold for her one chance to ask a question.

When Palin emerged around 3 p.m., Bailie – with mom Angie Patterson armed with a video camera -- got not only a question answered but a hug from the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate and now best-selling author and TV personality.

“I asked her, ‘If you could give any advice to us high school students, or say anything to our generation about what we can do to help our country, what would it be?’” Patterson said.

“Her answer was really long. She said a lot about how we need to study a lot of history and how we need to stick to our Christian basics,” Patterson said, adding, “She was really nice and personal.

"It was such a rush!”

Ravenwood has had a media program since the school opened in 2002. Sweitzer has headed it up for the last six.

“Students can participate in the program for all four years of their high school career, and Bailie and Aaron are both second year production students. I chose them to cover this event because of their maturity and desire to pursue some type o f media production in their future,” Sweitzer said.

“Both of them are sophomores, but they handle themselves with such grace, integrity, and professionalism that I knew they would do an excellent job. I really enjoy both of them as students and as individuals; they make teaching a real joy.”

Unlike their professional counterparts whose stories from the day have all been printed, aired or posted, Bailie and Aaron’s story probably won’t even be edited until after winter break, Sweitzer said. “They are in the middle of other projects, but we will end up putting on The Black and Red page of the school's website.”

Bailie said she loves sports and hopes to be a sideline reporter some day. She can currently be heard calling the Raptors' basketball games during broadcasts aired on WCTV.

Aaron is starting to look at film schools across the country and mentioned Savannah College of Art and Design, NYU and others as possibilities. The Palin assignment was their first one working together.

Brentwood Home Page will post a link to their story as soon as it is posted.