good morning Morning March marks women's history month and we have a woman who made history this month As a matter of fact it was on March 8th which is International Women's Day So what better
way to celebrate an an auspicious occasion than by doing something that's never been done before If you have an opportunity I invite you to watch the interview immediately after the historic
moment This young lady mentioned Patterson not once not twice but three times She said she put her city on her back She said she loves her city She said this is important for her school and her
family and most importantly for her city Do you see a theme here As the mayor of Patterson how can I not be proud of this young lady As Pattersonians how can you not be proud of this young
lady As a matter of fact entering that match she was the fourth seed Am I correct the fourth seed and pulled off something that no one man or woman has ever done 165 lbs
Correct You still weigh 165 lbs right now Okay Give or take Okay Very good I know how it is with wrestlers But nevertheless we want to let you know that what you did did not go unnoticed And we want everyone else to know too
that your city appreciates you beyond measure And so I'm glad that you all joined us here so that we can celebrate a young lady who made history But first I want to acknowledge and also present
awards to our coaches We know how important guidance is in life And so I'd like to recognize first coach Jason Graham Please Jason And in honor of this auspicious
moment proud to present on behalf of the city of Patterson this certificate for your guidance Thank you Go get them Please Does she have to go back to school No No Okay And you can take as long as you want Okay Thank you Uh I want to thank
uh Mayor Andre SEG for putting this whole thing together Uh it's truly an honor Um I also want to thank everyone in the city of Patterson and JFK for all your support Uh also thank everyone that helped Solaris through her journey um
becoming uh the first state wrestling champion of Patterson [Applause] Uh it has been four long years of hard work dedication and sacrifice for Solaris Paul to accomplish accomplish
such a high achievement Uh over the years Solaris like every athlete has been challenged with fierce opponents losing matches injuries grueling practice sessions However Solaris was able to overcome all
of those things all those challenges and become a champion She was committed to winning from day one and never wavered from her devotion to the sport Solaris is an inspiration to not just wrestlers but to all athletes that
aspire to be something great She will continue her wrestling career in college and I know that she will be successful both on and off the mat And I want to just say congratulations to Lars Paul Truly you are an inspiration and
uh congratulations for your accomplishment and thank you again Thank you Coach Mayor and uh all of Patterson and everybody that was involved in her support and helping her through her journey Thank you And one more thing uh and we spell
your name right My assistant Yes sir I made sure Yes and my assistant uh who has also been a big part of this uh Anthony Vazquez will uh say a few words Yes I want to also thank you Thank you so much Thank you so much Thank you All
right Yes Anthony was one of the first phone calls I made cuz he and I go way back Yes sir He tried to train me to be a wrestler Unfortunately that did not work out But I'm here I wrestle every day for the city of Patterson I promise I step into the squared circle That's right
Different kind of wrestling That's right So ladies and gentlemen I'm also proud to present another coach Anthony Vasquez We like to honor him as [Applause] well Get I think we spelled your name
right too Correct Okay Don't worry nobody's going to get fired Thank you Scott Well thank you Coach Brandt Thank you Thank you to the city of Patterson uh for having uh given us the opportunity
to to let the world know that Patterson does wrestle Yes we we wrestle right And we do also jiu-jitsu We do it here in Patterson is a city of multi a lot of talent in Patterson Um I I come from
Rockland County into Patterson and I'm bringing in wrestling uh since like you said we met a long time ago actually before we became mayor on this this vision of implementing uh wrestling here in the city of Popson and we worked so hard in developing scoping it I got a
lot of support from the city a lot of support from Eastside High School Kennedy High School Uh I want to thank Scott Durham I want to thank my coach Jason Brandt for allowing me the opportunity to come into the coaching staff I I I have to thank all the athletes that we worked with in the
program of wrestling at Kennedy at East Side and especially Solaris Paul I met Loris Paul 2023 when I became a assistant coach at Kennedy Uh I invited them to the program that we had in city hall uh in the uh in the mall and she
came and she never stopped coming and she picked up jiu-jitsu She picked it up her first year uh wrestling with us It was like a fatherdaughter relationship She got off the mat and I had she had to wrestle boys and I was like "One day is going to be your chance your opportunity
to go against girls and you're going to be great." And I have to hold her hand I have to give a little hug All right So the crying you seeing that stage that is deeper than just winning the states it's her story coming up and her and I talking about one day you're going to get a chance and you're going to win and
it's going to be you against a girl right this what we we we've been going through And she was able to stay and believe and and continue to to wrestle beyond any defeat she faced right And and and worked hard throughout the night
at other practices that she attended a program named Cordova They have more girls for to wrestle against And she developed her dream her vision right And it's beyond like she says she loves saying it beyond the city It's beyond her beyond the academy This is for my city everything that I've done This is
her words right And uh I'm super proud of her and she had she had the moment to go against girls and girls and girls and two years in a row became regional champion She been to the state three years in a row Uh whether you know that or not and then third in the state and
then now she won the championship right Cuz she stayed through the rubble She stayed through the fight She she stayed focused in what her goals were and what she wanted to get Congratulations We love you Thank you Thank you Don't forget that Please
This is going all over Thank you Thank you This is so good I'm glad that Coach Masqu mentioned jiu-jitsu All three of my children Yes Are studying jiu-jitsu at the moment As a matter of fact this morning I told one of my children I said
"Today at city hall we are going to honor a wrestler." And they said "Daddy I hope it's not John Cena cuz he turned heel and attacked Cody Rose." I didn't even know what they were talking about at that moment I only know Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin Maybe he was a rock
But I said "No she's better than John Cena In fact if you watch that video I referred to she talked about sustaining a neck injury and that she couldn't wrestle for months as a result that
makes this achievement even more remarkable And I don't want to let it go unnoticed that she represents Kennedy High School Is anyone from Kennedy High School here You're not even loud
enough I got to do it cuz you're trying to find yourself Anyone from East Side High School here Actually I want to take this time out to acknowledge an MVP a most valuable Pattersonian but also a most val
valuable principle Dr Zatini Moody from Cash Thank you for joining us sir Thank you sir Thank you So from Kennedy what time is it Night time There you go What time is it Night time No actually it's 11:18 She got back to
school She's going back to school Dr Dr Woody's here to make sure she goes back to school Right Very good But Patterson is a city of champions right Dr Moody Yes Football We have an Super Bowl champion in Victor Cruz He's salsa his
way to it The Giants Baseball Larry Doy broke the color Barry American League Basketball Essence Carson from Patterson WNBA championship with the LA Sparks Watch this Soccer Derek Aten Jr
Major League Soccer Championship Boxing Kendall Hole and now Shadesia Green And guess who you can add to the pantheon of champions Solaris Paul
[Applause] So for those who just arrived Dr Moody in her interview immediately after her historic achievement Right Director Hector Neves She mentioned Patterson not once not twice but three times she said she put her city on her back She loves
her city and this is big for her family her her school and most importantly her city So today the highest honor that a mayor can bestow upon a resident is presenting a key to the city So on
behalf of the city that you love and the city that loves you I'm proud to present the king of the city Here's your money Look at your mom I think your sister's helping You're going to speak
Ladies and gentlemen another round of applause for our champion [Applause] this Okay Um wow This is um a huge honor I mean I worked I remember my first year high school first year back in school
from co our program was struggling a lot I mean coach you're going to tell you probably had like five kids in the bathroom some days and we season was a month long and it was tough but something about wrestling just stuck with me I knew I had to stick with it
and I just immediately fell in love with the sport and this sport has completely changed my life for the better It's made me a a different person I've met some of my best friends I've met coaches who guided me not just through the sport but in life I've learned so many life
lessons through the sport and most importantly I've been able to make a name for myself and for Patterson I've I've been to tournaments all over North Jersey I've been in South Jersey and I see a lot of people and they go you know where school are you from And I've had
people I go Ken Patterson And I actually go cool How's it over there And I'm like it's fine We're doing great and we're going to continue to do great You know the the guys they they've been doing a lot better Picked up a lot of wins Our program is really seem to be coming up
in the next few years I'm very excited to see what this program will do No matter where I am in the world and Jersey I'm always going to have Patterson Yes No matter what And um yeah this just this means um so
much to me I couldn't have done this without the support of you know my teammates yesterday But I'm not the only person to rush for Kennedy I have a whole team behind me They all believed in me They all supported me my teammates before I even stepped off the mat Some of them texted me and congratulated me So I kind of the people around me um and
thank Ty City Patterson and May on your side for the for the support and yeah can you also can you are you going to be wrestling in college please Um yeah I will be wrestling college I haven't committed
anywhere yet but hopefully I will have that uh good job in the next few months but I will be continuing to wrestle in college So is it fair to say more colleges are interested in you now Uh yeah Yes [Applause]
Dr Lad another round of applause Now I'm also let's have a [Applause] mom here I'm going to invite the family and the coaches to see my office and I want
you to see my wall Dr Moody's going to show you We have champ He's on the wall too I want your picture so I can place you up there with the other champions and so everybody knows who you are and what you did and how much you mean to us So on behalf of the city of Patterson we
salute you for your historic accomplishment and putting our city on your back Thank you [Applause] very much Thank you