{"id":1567,"date":"2011-04-15T10:46:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T15:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=1567"},"modified":"2014-04-07T07:16:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T12:16:27","slug":"teacher-feature-mr-patrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=1567","title":{"rendered":"Teacher Feature: Mr. Patrick"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Of the three science classes Mr. Patrick teaches, Physics is his favorite. Photo by: Maggie Morrow<\/p><\/div>\n

By Maggie Morrow<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Paul Patrick has been teaching for twenty years, spending eighteen of these at PHS. \u00a0Not only does he teach various classes in the science department, he is also very involved in athletics.<\/p>\n

Mr. Patrick is a graduate from the University of Michigan and IUSB, and then went into teaching twenty years ago. \u00a0His first thoughts were that he might be an athletic doctor for college or professional teams, preferably college; however, after four years of undergrad, he was ready for a break and realized that med-school was not the best place for him. \u00a0\u201cI knew from an early age I would enjoy teaching and I have. \u00a0I never considered changing and never considered teaching at another grade level other than high school,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As for why he chose science specifically, it just suits him well. \u00a0\u201cWith a pre-med background I had all bio, chemistry, and physics pretty much covered. \u00a0I could teach any of those subjects and there was a demand for those areas at the time I was getting out of school. \u00a0In physics we crash cars in lab every other day for academic purposes, pretty much a simple decision.\u201d \u00a0His early love for physics may explain why he most enjoys teaching his Physics classes. \u00a0\u201cThe labs are fun and I get to use some math which were always fun classes for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the labs may be his favorite parts of Physics, they are not his favorite aspects of teaching as a whole. \u00a0He admits that he enjoys the department he works in, and that the teachers are all very kind and easy to work with. \u00a0He also greatly enjoys \u201cbeing around kids in the classroom and in the extracurricular activities.\u201d \u00a0Since coming into teaching, Mr. Patrick has been very involved in high school athletics, which have given him some excellent memories over the years. \u00a0He coached boys track for eleven years, has been coaching football for 19 years, and is currently working on his seventh year as the girl\u2019s head track coach. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know that I have one single [favorite] memory. \u00a0I have good memories of students. \u00a0If you mention a certain kid\u2019s name I\u2019m sure I’ll have a positive reaction. \u00a0I have great memories of our \u201898 football team, or final four basketball teams and being able to watch our boys and girls win state championships in basketball a few years ago was fun. \u00a0I\u2019ve enjoyed all of my track teams, especially the 2008 NLC meet with four conference champions but those events were all special because of the kids and people I coached with. \u00a0I don\u2019t judge things on win or loses and I don\u2019t remember only the \u201cA\u201d students. \u00a0Being apart of kids\u2019 successes as they grow is rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somehow, through his busy schedule, he is able to find time for the things that he loves outside of school. \u00a0\u201cI run too much,\u201d he says with a smile. \u00a0Mr. Patrick has completed eight marathons, and has two more scheduled for 2011. \u00a0\u201cI do some woodworking, more in the last few months. \u00a0I like making furniture. \u00a0I\u2019d like to get good enough that I can sell it someday, maybe retire early,\u201d he adds jokingly.<\/p>\n

He also spends as much time with his family as possible. \u00a0He admits that his three daughters and one son are a handful, but loves them nonetheless. \u00a0\u201cHaving a boy at the end is a spark after having 3 daughters in a row. \u00a0Nick is the only other guy in the house so we spend time trying to avoid the girls,\u201d he says with a smile. \u00a0\u201cI look forward to having Abby, [my oldest], here in the high school next year and a lot of her friends. \u00a0I\u2019ll have a child in the high school from next fall through the spring of 2023. \u00a0It should be interesting having them here after being able to teach for 20 years and be able to be \u2018away from my family.’\u00a0 Now work and family will be in the same building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Patrick does not let anything bring him down. \u00a0He faces obstacles daily, but never loses sight of what is important to him. \u00a0\u201cYou need to work towards your potential. \u00a0That same advice works for adults as well. \u00a0\u2018Did I do the best job i could do today?\u2019 \u00a0If the answer is \u2018yes\u2019 then you should have no regrets but if you answer \u2018no\u2019 then you shouldn\u2019t feel bad about the outcome if it isn\u2019t what you wanted. \u00a0We can do our absolute best at everything but we need to for the things that are our highest priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maggie Morrow Mr. Paul Patrick has been teaching for twenty years, spending eighteen of these at PHS. \u00a0Not only does he teach various classes in the science department, he is also very involved in athletics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1567"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1590,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions\/1590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}