As the runners set behind their white lines, a Dowling hurdler gets ready to run through the obstacles ahead. A coach stands calmly and knows his hurdles team will get the job done. BANG! The girls race off and start jumping over the hurdles, and next thing you know, Dowling Catholic wins the state championship! All the girls’ hurdle team run over to celebrate their victory. They soon run over to their coach and feel so accomplished with themselves. Their coach is happy they won the title, but who is this coach? Well, this coach happens to be Dowling’s finest, Mr. Patten! Run with me to see how Mr. Patten hurdles throughout his career and life!
Mr. Patten was born on June 20th, 1991, to Steve and Sharon Patten in La Porte, Indiana. He has an older sister named Alyssa who works in education in Des Moines.
He started his schooling at Kingsford Heights Elementary, but moved in the summer of 2000 to Iowa, where he attended Johnston High School. He graduated in 2010, and the reason his parents moved was to give him a better future moving forward. In high school, he played football and track, in which he was speedy. In football, he played corner and safety, and in track, he did sprints and hurdles (Remember this for later in the article). Someone very impactful for him was his 3rd-grade teacher, Mr. Green, who taught and instilled kindness into Mr. Patten. Along with the fact, kindness goes a long way.
After graduating from high school, he went to Iowa State for his first semester of freshman year. He eventually transferred to Grandview, where he studied secondary education and got all his social sciences endorsements, allowing him to teach anything from U.S History to Economics. In college, he continued to run track, where he did sprints and hurdles as well. He lived off-campus and states that academics and track were his life during college. After all that hard work and dedication, he graduated in the fall of 2014.
Mr. Patten got his first job here at Dowling and Waukee by subbing in the Spring of 2015. Eventually, he got hired by Dowling in the Spring of 2015 and taught summer school. He first started in room 802, where he taught Western Civ, Regular and Advanced U.S History, and Economics. In 2017, he moved to room 702, where he continued teaching Advanced U.S. History and started teaching sociology. A takeaway he has gotten from being here at Dowling is the relationships he has made during his time here. Whether it’s student teachers, athletes, or colleagues, they have helped him grow as a person positively. Also, he loves how the students develop him into a better teacher, but overall, a better person.
What’s Patten without track? He has been coaching Dowling Girls Track since 2017, leading the hurdles and assisting with sprints. He has won three state championships, three Drake Relays to his name (though he claims it’s the runners who won it). An impact he has had is that he is lucky to coach some of the greatest athletes and people he has come across to success. He loves their work ethic and how they treat people on and off the track. The runners he comes across have helped grow more than anyone at Dowling, with the fact that he feels comfortable being himself around them. His goals with the track team are to be the best coach every day, to put the athletes first to meet their interests, and to be a better, well-rounded person at the end of the day.
Mr. Patten is happily married to his wife, Gaberialla, who is the VP of finance at Power Life Yoga. They have been together for 10 years, and first met when they were 16, working together. They were happily wedded on the golf course. His sister Alyssa teaches elementary education and is the mother to Mr. Patten’s nephew Lucas, who has high energy and reminds Mr. Patten of his younger self.
If you have ever been in his room, you will find multiple soccer posters of players hung up on the walls. One of the few loves he has in his life is the love for soccer. He fell in love with the sport when watching the Summer World Cup 2014, where he had free time and had never seen a World Cup before. Once he started watching, he couldn’t stop, and from there it was just a rabbit hole into the world of soccer. He remembers Kevin De Bruyne’s goal to knock out the U.S, and Messi’s goal against Iran as well.
Within the world of soccer, there are different leagues with different teams, but Mr. Patten fell in love with one team in particular, Manchester City. He had friends who were into the Premier League, and so being influenced, he started watching it with them. He wanted to watch different teams at first to see who was good enough to earn his loyalty. After the 2014 World Cup, he watched Kun Aguero, a Manchester City legend, destroy Newcastle with a hat-trick. So, he began to love Manchester City and watched them win games and titles to their name. On top of that, Kevin De Bruyne, who was popping off in the Bundesliga, made the transfer to Manchester City. When asked why Kevin De Bruyne is his favorite player, he replied by saying that De Bruyne has the vision and ability to make good, inhumane passes. He loves how he is a calm-headed person but also a fighter, and Mr. Patten found that to be an inspiration. He has been a fan for 10 years now, and on top of that, he has 10 jerseys from Manchester City players.
Alright, here are some fun facts about Mr. Patten!
- Obsessed with chocolate
- Loves watching all sports
- Enjoys being outdoors with his wife
- Favorite movie is Blood Diamond
- Favorite food is Indian and Poncheros
- Favorite musical artist is Phoebe Bridgers
- Favorite holiday is Halloween
Mr. Patten gave me two pieces of advice, starting with “Comparison is the thief of joy.” His reasoning behind this quote is that you should always focus on yourself and never compare yourself to others. We all might start the same, but we will eventually end up becoming different people. The second piece of advice was “All you have to do is decide what to do with the time given to you.” All you can control is yourself, and the time you have that is laid before you. There’s only so much you can control, and you just gotta let life take its course.
My personal experience with Mr. Patten has been so positively influential and awesome. Every morning, I go into his room and talk about soccer or the day ahead. He’s the teacher whom I can trust, and has given me a lot of good advice about life. I love how he brings joy to education, even if he had a track meet the night before in some faraway city. When I think of Mr. Patten, I think of dedication and hard work for his students, athletes, and colleagues. It just goes to show how much of an impact a teacher can have on a student.
His concluding remarks were “When you face hardships, put your shoulder down, and push through.” Life is not easy; it has its ups and downs, but through hard work and perseverance, you can push through the downs. If you ever see Mr. Patten, don’t be afraid to say hi at all. Also, ask him what color Manchester is or who the G.O.A.T. is for soccer!
