Sat Feb 11 2012
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Frankfort Face: Robert Patterson
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Robert Patterson, 18, has two big dreams in life: to make it big as a choreographer and to go to college to become an accountant.
"I don't want to sound conceited or anything, but I love to dance," said the Franklin County High School senior, sitting in the back foyer after school one afternoon.
"I want to be a choreographer, but I'm going to go to school to be an accountant because I love that too."
His interests might sound dissimilar, but math and dance aren't really at odds.
Dancers follow rhythms and patterns of movement; they form their bodies into lines, arcs and geometric shapes. Mathematicians employ creativity to solve complex problems.
But for Robert, both are examples of how his life has changed in the last two years.
Robert moved from Suffolk, Va., to Frankfort last year to live with his aunt and uncle, James and Juanita Burrell, who work at Kentucky State University.
"When I was in Virginia, I wasn't that bright of a student, but when I came out here, I changed my life around," he said.
"I figured if I didn't, I wasn't going to go to college. That might have spiraled into something else. So I was like, "Man, I will not go down this road.'"
Together, the three of them worked to bring his grades up. He joined the cheerleading and step teams at FCHS and the KSU Marching Thorobred Band as a cymbal player.
"I really do love to dance. I've always danced. I'll be in class, and they're like, "Sit down and stop moving,' but I can't help it."
In the fall, Robert plans to attend KSU to study accounting. In his free time, he wants to enroll in dance classes at a Frankfort studio to learn different styles and work toward becoming a choreographer.
"That's my biggest goal that I want to achieve so much.
"I am not afraid to step outside of one little comfort zone like hip hop. I'll do ballet and all sorts of genre of dance, I want it so bad."
Robert was interested in cheerleading for years before he ever joined a team.
"I think it goes back to me wanting to be a dancer," he said. "You have to adapt to any kind of crowd. You have to get them excited."
If he'd stayed in Virginia, he probably never would have done it, he said. But at FCHS there were already guys on the team, paving the way for Robert to cheer.
"It's kind of impressive to see other guys stepping outside the box like that, besides doing basketball, besides doing football, to do something different than everybody else.
"People always look at the guys, and they're like, "Woah, he's a cheerleader.' But it's way past that, it's beyond that."
For starters, cheerleading is way more athletic than people give it credit, he said. Robert raises his partner, Audrey, high above the gym floor " with one hand " at every FCHS game, and during the hours of practice the team has each week.
"The stunts get pretty tough, and if you don't hit the stunt at the right time, your partner might fall or you may not have the strength to put it up," he said.
"But the people around you help you and inspire you to do better, so I work through it."
Robert says he likes everything about cheerleading, but especially the competitions " facing off against other top teams, the anxiety of waiting for the results.
"When the other team brings their cheerleaders, it's like, "Let's show them up,'" said Robert, who faced a cheerleader from another school in a dance-off at a basketball game last year.
"It's so exciting. I love to do toe touches and stuff like that."
In January, the team went to the state cheerleading tournament for the first time in 20 years, placing sixth out of 16 teams.
The team's coach, Jamie Bewley Byrd, coaches three other cheerleading teams, but she said the improvement she's seen in this one have been the most rewarding.
"He (Robert) has been great to work with, he's really exciting," she said. "They're all exciting. Everything we do is the biggest deal."
In Virginia, Robert was on his middle school dance team for two years. When he started, he was the only guy on the team, but others joined the next year.
"I kind of look at myself like, I guess I kind of inspire others to do well, or not be afraid," he said. "Because others inspire me, so I do my best to inspire others."
Robert's biggest inspirations are his mother, who is he says is "always at his side," and his cheerleading teammates.
Robert's uncle says it feels good that he and his wife have been able to help their nephew turn things around. The extracurricular activities were a big incentive to do better too " most require that students maintain good grades to participate.
"All we did was provide a positive reinforcement," said Burrell, admissions director at the university. Juanita Burrell works as the coordinator for transfer student and Project Graduate.
"We stress education " by both of us working here at K-State " and we just use the resources that we have here to counsel students, not only with him," said James Burrell.
Burrell serves as an instructor with KSU's summer bridge program for incoming freshmen. The program helps students complete required remedial courses before school even starts.
Robert got the chance to sit in on some of those classes and see what it takes to prepare for college. His involvement with the marching band also introduced him to college life, Burrell said.
Burrell said his nephew's determination is evident in his ACT scores, which increased by five points the second time he took the college entrance exam.
"Academically, I think it's just a matter of having someone around to ask if you've done your homework, going to the school to talk to the counselor if need be," he said. "It feels pretty good. He takes advantage of every opportunity that comes his way."
"Frankfort Faces" is a series that highlights people from within the Frankfort and Franklin County community. Each feature follows one of the city's most unique personalities and includes a story, photos and video, which can be found by clicking the TV icon attached to the story online at state-journal.com.
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