Patrick Chapman '13, '15

History Teacher and Assistant Basketball Coach, Valley Catholic High School

Major: Secondary Education; Master's in Education

The fact that I was able to be in a first grade classroom during my third week of college gave me ample opportunity to understand how to be a teacher and how to run a classroom.

I knew I wanted to be a teacher since the 7th grade, but it wasn’t until high school that I found my love of history. I was lucky that my passions for education and history were expertly crafted at the University of Portland.

In my work as a teacher, I often use what I learned in courses such as classroom management. By the time I finished my undergraduate degree, I had more than 1,500 hours of classroom time, giving me a comfort level that few other first-year teachers have going into their first day.

My education professors were incredible role models—in fact, I still will ask myself how they might resolve a particular situation.

The Shepard Academic Resource Center also played an important role in my development as a teacher. As a workshop leader, I was tasked with teaching other students who were only a year or two younger so I had to learn how to be as engaging as possible and to be myself.

I completed the Pacific Alliance for Catholic Education program through the University of Portland, in which I was able to earn my master’s degree in education and spend two years teaching at a regional underserved school. I taught history and physical education classes as well as serving as an assistant basketball coach at Monroe Catholic High School in Fairbanks, Alaska, and now I am at Valley Catholic High School in Beaverton, Oregon.

I still use what I learned at UP every day in front of my students.