Oakmont Teen Stays Active with Number of Interests

Fourteen-year-old Bree Patsey has been active from an early age, starting from the time she was a young girl who played sports with her dad, Matt.

“We would play every sport,” she said. “Pretty much since I was able to walk and talk.”

Bree, who is wrapping up her eighth grade year at Riverview, has narrowed her sports down a bit since then, focusing on soccer and, her favorite, basketball.

She played on the junior high’s basketball team in seventh and eighth grade.  In both seasons, the team went undefeated.

Bree has played with the Twin Boroughs recreational soccer league since grade school. Now, she will play on the Riverview soccer team in ninth grade.

She said her parents, Marisa and Matt Patsey, both played basketball in school. Marisa also played softball and Matt played baseball. Younger sister Alexa also plays sports, including soccer, volleyball and cheerleading at Riverview.

"That's just the way we grew up," Marisa Patsey said. And it's clearly how Bree and her sister have grown up as well.

The sisters like to practice together when they have time. Eventually, in high school, they’ll likely play on the soccer team together, Bree said.

“I like the competition and getting better,” she said. “I love to be able to see myself improve and get better at what I like to do.”

And there are a lot of things that she likes to do.

She plays tuba in the marching band and will be a Raiderette in ninth grade.

Among other activities are Builder’s Club—a precursor to the Key Club service organization—various academic competitions and groups and Riverview’s spring musical. Bree was a member of the show’s ensemble, which was nominated for a Gene Kelly Award.

Other activities she’s participated in have garnered recognition as well.

In the sixth grade, Bree's team took first place with their fuel cell model car in a local science bowl. Another Riverview team, she said, came in second place.

Her Stock Market Game team also came in first in the state one year, she said. The online program gives teams of students a chance to invest $100,000 in a virtual stock market.

“I really liked seeing how the stock market worked,” Bree said. “I never really knew about it before.”

Another win for Bree came with a mock trial case. She said she got more out the experience than just that.

 While participating in mock trial, Bree not only found out about the courtroom, she discovered something about herself as well—the fact that she likes law so much that she now wants to be a lawyer.

 “I think it definitely sort of steered me in that direction,” she said. “That was definitely my favorite event of the year.”

All the activities have certainly caught the attention of those in the community. For two years in a row, Bree was named student of the month by the Oakmont Elks Lodge. She was also nominated for an award from the Oakmont American Legion.

For the Oakmont teen, being busy is the only way to be.

“I feel like there’s a better way to spend your time and I want to spend my time as best I can,” she said.