ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
NANCY RUTH PATTERSON'S recognition also acknowledged her work as director of Roanoke's CITY School for gifted students, and her authorship of several books for children.
For nearly three decades, Nancy Ruth Patterson has challenged Roanoke students to do better.
As a teacher, yearbook adviser and school administrator, "She seeks out and expects the best in everyone," said Dana Baker, a former yearbook editor at William Fleming High School. "As a teacher, she captivates you because you feel like she is talking to you in that soft and humble voice."
Melissa Pierce, another Fleming yearbook editor, said Patterson has faith in her students' abilities.
"She made me sports editor of the year when I was in the 10th grade. I was timid and shy, but she had confidence in me and was my mentor," Pierce said. "She is so intense, so inspiring."
Patterson's reputation has spread beyond Roanoke. She has taught at more than 300 national and state scholastic journalism and creative writing workshops and educational conventions.
And now, she has entered the National Scholastic Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of Oklahoma.
She was cited for her work as a yearbook adviser at William Fleming, director of Roanoke's CITY School for gifted students and author of several children's books.
"She is a gifted teacher who inspires her students to greatness," said Laura Schaub, executive director of the Oklahoma Interscholastic Press Association, which oversees the journalism hall of fame. "She has earned the highest respect in her profession."
Patterson was chosen by a committee that includes former inductees and others. Schaub said Patterson was nominated because she is well known in scholastic journalism.
The hall of fame was established in 1972 at the Norman, Okla., university's H.H. Herbert School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Inductees include newspaper editors, journalism professors, high school teachers and others.
Patterson said her election to the hall of fame is really an honor for her students. "They allowed me to share it."
As adviser during the 1970s and 1980s to "The Colonel," Fleming's award-winning yearbook, "she was not satisfied with just putting out a yearbook," said student Melissa Pierce. "The yearbook was renowned and won all kinds of awards."
Patterson is a former recipient of the Gold Key award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for her contribution to scholastic journalism.
She has been director of the CITY School since it was established in the mid-1980s, and she still teaches creative writing.
One of her books, "The Christmas Cup," was made into a play that was performed last month by children at Mill Mountain Theatre.
Another children's novel, "The Shiniest Rock of All," was selected the Sequoyah Children's Book Award Master List for 1993-94. The award is sponsored by the Oklahoma Library Association to encourage Oklahoma third- through sixth-graders to read works of literary merit. More than 50,000 children vote each year for their favorite book on the master list.
Baker said Patterson can remember the names and faces of students she taught more than 20 years ago. "She is so proud of her students. They are her life."
"She is the kind of person you could spend two days describing," Pierce said. "She can see things in students that they haven't seen themselves."
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