There is a strong community within Patriot High School that is formed from hardworking lunch workers, teachers, and diverse students. The community of Patriot helps tie in with the high rating it has, which is a 91.15%. With this rating, Patriot is ranked #1,562 out of nearly 25,000 schools. 

Starting from the very entrance of the school, Patriot has two security officers who help keep the school safe. One of the officers, Michael Murphy, talked about his background and how he ended up here at Patriot.  

Murphy stated, “I went to two schools. I started off at Northern Virginia Community College, and I received my associate degree in fine art and photography. Then I transferred to James Madison University (JMU) where I got a bachelor’s in science and sociology.” 

Murphy’s background in photography was surprising as it’s so different from doing security work.

Murphy spoke more about it, stating how “I [he] wanted to be an illustrator particularly for comic books and such. Then, when I transferred to JMU I wound up taking a sociology class, and I fell in love with sociology. I changed my major in art and then I went into sociology.”  

Finally, Murphy finished his backstory off by saying how he arrived to Patriot as a new security officer. “I got here by meeting the former Mr. Murphy, at a back-to-school night when my daughter first came to patriot. He worked with the Fairfax County, and I was with the city of Fairfax police.” 

After leaving Mr. Murphy’s office and turning left, walking down the hallway will lead you to the option of going down the English or history hallway. By the history hallway, further aspects of the school community are revealed. A bulletin board presents the voices Patriot is built upon, the student voice committee.  

Looking straight ahead from the student voice committee bulletin board is one of the history hallways. Down this hallway lies Mr. Mantoan’s beloved classroom. Mr. Mantoan has been teaching at Patriot for quite some time, and he has a passion for investing in stocks.  

What makes Mantoan’s background so interesting, was he wasn’t headed for the teaching profession at first. Mantoan attended law school with his wife, and they were both lawyers.  

However, after that when they had kids Mantoan decided that he would be a stay-at-home dad. “Kids got older, so I didn’t want to just stay at home all the time. I started taking classes at George Mason to get my history master’s degree, took a few extra classes in education to get my teaching license and subbed around the county for a while and an opening happened to be at Patriot,” says Mantoan. 

After leaving the history hallway, you can take the stairs up to find yourself in the science hallway. These science hallways have many different classes, ranging from AP Physics to environmental science. 

In one science hallway, Ms. Williams, arrived new to Patriot this school year as a chemistry teacher. Ms. Williams realized her love for science-based classes when she was in high school, which has contributed to the reason why she works at Patriot today. 

“At the end of high school I was tutoring a lot and my friends helped me realize that I think I wanted to teach and then I went to college and took my first education class and college chemistry class, and realized that those were two of my strongest passions and I wanted to keep studying them,” Williams stated. 

Leaving the science hallway and continuing to walk upstairs brings you to the math hallway, where there are many teachers to visit. The classes range from advanced level math such as AP calculus to classes for freshmen like Algebra 1. 

One math teacher admired by many is Mr. Keskel, who teaches AP Calculus as well as Algebra 2. Keskel majored in Operations Research at the Airforce Academy, because he “knew the academy was a very good school, and [he] I liked the idea of being able to serve my country.”

Other than teaching math, Keskel also is the sponsor of Sea Perch, an innovative international robotics club that allows students to express themselves and learn how to create remotely operated vehicles (ROV). At Patriot, Sea Perch is a strong program who won first place in the international competition in 2023. Keskel stated that he started sponsoring Sea Perch due to one of his students, Hayden Moss. “Sea Perch does take a lot of time, but really it was because of him in my class, and there was just something very special about this guy and I wanted to be able to support him,” Keskel stated. 

After touring most of the hallways in the school, most people would head back to the entrance of the school. While walking to the front of the school, passing by the main cafeteria, also known as “commons 1,” is inevitable. Along with commons 1, is also a second lunchroom called “commons 2.”

Patriot’s dedication and commitment can be seen as it goes farther than simply providing meals to students. Commons 1 develops a welcoming environment where students can feel supported and included. 

Many extracurricular activities and clubs also take place in Commons 1 or 2 from time to time, such as FCCLA, FBLA, athletic media days, and even cornhole club. 

While leaving the school of Patriot, one should be able to tell that building a community and keeping it strong is one of the school’s top priorities, as is shown in so many diverse students and teachers coming together and forming one amazing school.