In junior high, she wanted to be a librarian. In college, she studied biology. Now, Patricia Richards is a science teacher and head of the science department at WJ.

When she was in college, she didn’t know what her career should be.

“I didn’t want to be a researcher, I would get too lonely. I like people. I like to talk,” Richards said.

Her husband. Mike Richards, was the one who suggested she teach. He was an engineer, but had always wanted to be a teacher.

However, teaching was not originally included in her life plan.

“I had no interest in teaching. Zero, Nada. I never wanted to teach. Never. Ever. Ever,” Richards said.

Despite this, she ended up taking a class with her husband anyway. They were students observing a teacher work, and just like that, she was hooked.

She began her career as a long-term substitute for Honors Matter and Energy at WJ. The class’ regular teacher had quit in October, and they had had five different long-term substitute teachers. They had no consistency and were negatively trained, Richards said. The students were poorly behaved, and knew what they could get away with.

Richards wanted to teach at WJ, but couldn’t get hired because she was a long-term substitute, so she taught at a middle school instead. Later, she found out that there was an opening for a part-time job at WJ from one of her colleagues. There were many factors that played into the decision, she eventually decided on taking the job.

Richards said that she has always loved science, specifically how it is applicable to everything, and how all different types of science connect and create the world. As a teacher, her goal is to pass that passion on to her students.

“I want to be [a teacher] that’s relevant, [one] that teaches material that will be used. I want to be approachable, [a teacher] who students can tell their deepest secrets to, and things they are embarrassed about,” she said.

She also has some teachers from her past to look up to.

“I loved my AP [Biology] teacher. She had a story for everything, which helped me remember.  She knew a lot of sick people-a lot of people with different conditions that helped me remember what we were learning,” Richards said.

Richards cares deeply for her students, and it comes across through her teaching.

“[My favorite characteristic of my students is] their energy. Their enthusiasm, their questions. I love it when they start to put pieces together,” she said.

A couple years ago, Richards convinced the University of Maryland (UMD) to have a “merger” with WJ. For two years, ENS 100, which is the first engineering course that a student takes at UMD if they hope to pursue an engineering career, was offered at WJ.

UMD has a hovercraft competition for students taking ENS 100. The students have to design and build a hovercraft that could detect and maneuver a payload, pick it up and exit a course. Many people may have thought that high school students would be unable keep up.

“Not only did they keep up, they kicked butt,” Richards said about the competition.

18 years ago, she was chosen to work at NIH. She trained county teachers in biotechnology and how to bring it to the classroom.

“That really opened my eyes to research,” Richards said.

It also enabled her to bring the process of researching back to the classroom. She began having her kids keep lab notebooks.

“[If] we behave like scientists, we think like scientists,” said Richards. “[The most rewarding thing] is when I see my students go off into the world and do whatever it is that they were meant to do, what they want to do, and I had a part in it.”