From MPS to the Ivy League: Two seniors from Rufus King High School hope to inspire other students

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April 10, 2025

By Megan Lee, TMJ4

Brandon Patterson will be heading to the University of Pennsylvania, while Feli Brown is bound for Yale University.

Peterson and Brown are both students at Rufus King International High School in Milwaukee (TMJ4)

MILWAUKEE — Two seniors at Rufus King International High School in Milwaukee are set to take significant steps in their educational journeys as they prepare to attend Ivy League universities in the fall.

Brandon Patterson will be heading to the University of Pennsylvania, while Feli Brown is bound for Yale University.

Patterson and Brown started their friendship early in their high school careers. They both take International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and are involved in co-curricular groups.

As they embark on this exciting journey together, Patterson expressed how happy he is to experience this special moment with Brown.

“Experiencing this joy with my friend, I feel like it’s a really great thing. And I feel like it’s really an inspiration to Milwaukee and an inspiration to our school,” Patterson said.

Patterson reached out TMJ4 to share their inspiring story.

“I feel like I want to share my story to let people know that at King you can really find yourself and you can achieve anything,” he stated.

He found out he was accepted to UPenn just a few weeks ago. “I was opening up my UPenn letter and I didn’t think it was a possibility that I could get in. But I opened it up and it just said congratulations, and I feel like it was one of the happiest moments of my life,” Patterson recalled.

Brown also experienced a similar moment of joy upon receiving her acceptance letter.

Learn what the students attribute their success to.

Check out ABHM and other Milwaukee events.

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