After shutting down a terrorist-led hostage situation in a Kenyan mall, dealing with ninth-graders should be no problem for our new P.E. teacher, Raymond Pate.
Prior to teaching, Pate was a political military affairs analyst at the Department of State. As an analyst, he worked with different countries, their militaries and their federal agencies in counterterrorism efforts, weapons and vehicle training, as well as teaching them how to overcome the insurgent or terrorist threat they are facing.
In his hometown of Lynchburg, Pate did track, wrestling and played football during high school, as well as playing football during his time at North Carolina Central University. “My favorite sport probably is wrestling, it’s the one that taught me the most applicable lessons to life [like] being resilient, getting knocked down and getting back up, why I’ve got to keep working hard even if someone is bigger, stronger, faster, there’s always a way technique that I can [use to] beat them,” Pate said.
After dropping out of college a year in, Pate joined the Army, serving for nine years as a Special Forces Green Beret. “Those are my formative years..that’s where I grew up and learned a lot of life skills, learned what [good and bad] leadership was, and incorporated that into my teaching and communication style,” Pate said.
In addition, Pate served for over four years during his three tours in Afghanistan. “For me, seeing all the casualties back then of Americans dying, [I thought] if I go there, that’s one less American son or daughter that has to go, and then to the more Afghans and Iraqis are trained to fight, and that’s another American that doesn’t have to fight,” Pate said. “I wanted to fight. I loved it. That’s also what encouraged my love for teaching too.”
Pate did 18 years of service, spending time in the Army Special Forces, CIA and State Department, but had to take a step away after an injury which hospitalized him. Suffering a heat stroke, kidney failure and injuring his back meant that the “rigorous and physically demanding job” he held before was no longer an option, Pate said, “[I thought] I love coaching, wrestling, love dealing with teenagers, so I became a teacher and focused on [that].”
Since then he’s been teaching, coaching, hanging out with his family and wrestling in his free time. “If you’re not passionate about something, in my opinion, it’s a waste of energy and time. You’ve got to prioritize what you do. Even if I don’t make much money, which I don’t at this, it’s something I love to do, it’s so much more rewarding and fulfilling than the six figure salary I was making before. As long as you follow your passions, you can’t go wrong,” Pate said.
