Shital Patel is the new traditional Geometry and IB Semester Pre-Calculus/Semester Geometry teacher. She has been teaching for 18 years, this being her 19th.
Patel loves her two cats, reading, traveling and trying new things in general.
“I love new restaurants, new activities, new foods, cultures, just learning, so I like just trying everything,” Patel said.
Patel mentions that she loved reading in her free time. Her favorite genres are mystery and romance – more specifically realistic fiction.
When she says she likes traveling, she truly means it, Patel has been all over the world.
“I have gone to Iceland, the Canary Islands, Africa, India, all over Europe and Hawaii; and mostly on the east coast, along with California, New York, Maryland, North Carolina,” Patel said.
Patel did not intend on becoming a teacher at first. She originally wanted to go into the medical field and become a pediatrician, until she helped out one of her coworkers.
“One of my coworkers was going back to school to become a teacher and I was helping her with the math part of a test she needed to pass and she told me, ‘You’re really good at this because I’ve had tutors my whole life and never have been able to learn math, but I have with you,” Patel said. “And so that kinda made me think, you know, I did always want to become a teacher. I don’t know why I didn’t pursue that. And so I just decided I would go back and get my certificate.”
Patel came to Robinson because her friend’s daughter attends Robinson, and she heard from other teachers that she worked with from other schools that Mr. Brown was a great principal.
Patel’s goal this year in the classroom is to make her students feel confident that they can do math well.
“I never want math to be the reason that students are not able to achieve their dreams,” Patel said.
She does not want a student who wants to be an engineer feel as if it is impossible to become one someday, because math is not their strong suit. Patel does not want math to hold her students back from what they would like to do someday.
“Ms. Patel is really nice,” Sophomore Gemma Rolle said. “I really like her teaching strategies because she’s creative and makes sure we actually understand what’s going on and what we’re learning. She cares about us a lot.”
Patel remarked that high school goes by fast, so she has two pieces of advice for her students as they make their way through high school.
“[First] really enjoy all the experiences high school has to offer. And also, try to start with a really high GPA because it’s easier if you struggle a little bit later, but if you start out with a low GPA, it’s really hard to bring it up,” Patel said.
