Patel reigns as outstanding Jets teacher
Sandy and Amy Patel and sons Kieran and Connery enjoy the view from the Empire State Building. She is James Clemens’ Teacher of the Year. CONTRIBUTED
MADISON – During a field trip, a student startled Amy Patel, Teacher of the Year at James Clemens High School.
While rehearsing a play about a homeless mother, Jets students visited a homeless shelter. One student asked, “I wonder if the food is still bad.” No one knew he had lived there for years and kept that secret. “It changed me as a teacher,” Patel said.
Patel teaches theatre and directs JCTheatre productions, including competition one-act, spring full-length play or musical, 10-Minute Play and Film Festival and showcases by beginning, intermediate and advanced drama. Clint Merritt serves as technical director.
To Patel, “Silenced on Barbour Street” was important because the play documented a true event, introduced victims and survivors to the audience and was written by a close friend. The play progressed to SETC with many awards … in only the fourth year of James Clemens’ existence.
“I can’t put into words how proud I am of my students,” Patel said. “My cup runneth over.”
Patel’s fulfillment is sharing the creative process with students. “I witness ‘a-ha’ moments, sudden bursts of creativity and moments of failure.” Students, onstage and backstage, “become more independent, self-assured, resilient, empathetic.”
In 2013, Patel was named Alabama Theatre Teacher of the Year. The Patels were finalists for 2016 “Madison Family of the Year.” She has won and been nominated for Wings awards.
Students who most impressed Patel include “R,” dreamer with crazy ideas that worked; “T,” engineer who helped figure out how to build everything; “K,” an incredibly beautiful voice; “B,” excellent impersonator; “A,” jack-of-all-trades; “B,” super intelligent; “M,” empathetic; and “S,” in first/last Butler show.
Her mentors include Mike Chappell, Ron Harris and fine arts colleagues at James Clemens.
Patel earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a master’s degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago. A charter Jets teacher, Patel also taught at her alma mater, Butler High School, for 14 years and several part-time assignments.
Her husband Sandy is CEO/founder of Patel Technologies. Their sons Kieran, 11, and Connery, 9, attend Columbia Elementary School and appeared in “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Beauty & the Beast.” Both play piano and are Boy Scouts.
