Computers line the desks, artwork is everywhere and in the middle of it all the Animation and Graphic design teacher Paula Patterson, is running between students making sure they have mastered the program.
Patterson always seems at home in the classroom, but art was not Patterson’s first choice of career. Patterson originally went to college for sports medicine, but became a master in systems engineering and is now the GlenOak Animation and Graphics Design teacher.
When she was growing up with her family, Patterson has always been interested in art.
“My mom was a stay at home artist,” Patterson said. “My dad was also a teacher, so I’ve always been surrounded by art in my life.”
When she looked at advertisements, Patterson always saw the creative side of things, looking deeply into the advertisements to see the artistic side of it. When she grew up and went to Kent State University, she decided she wanted to pursue a degree in sports medicine.
“I was an athlete in high school and my father was the athletic director so sports were a
natural choice,” Patterson said. “I thought being a sports medicine person would be a lot like being a doctor but without the yucky stuff, I was incorrect.”
In the middle of pursuing sports medicine, though, she realized that she wanted a degree in programming and computers, as well as art, when she got her degree, she got a job as a systems administrator for a multimillion-dollar company.
After a few years of being a systems administrator, she got married and then decided to switch into being an art teacher.
“Everyone I knew was in education (aunts, uncles, father) and told me to find a better way to make a living,” Patterson said.
She had applied to four different schools, and saw that GlenOak was the one with the top rated for art programs. She applied, and was an art teacher for three years.
Later on, she wanted a challenge and became the Animation & Graphics Design teacher students know today since she was already experienced in computers and technology and art. Due to this, she thought it’d be smart to combine both of them together to pursue being an Animation & Graphic Design teacher. Due to her very active teacher who teaches the programs Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Animate well, it led to some of her students passing and thinking of her fondly, some eventually landing jobs at places like Caesars Palace for Graphic Design, Disney for short animations, and more.
Most of them still frequently reach out to her to this day, and she loves communicating with them all.
“I love hearing about what happened after they all graduated, it’s really exciting to hear it all,” Patterson said.
She really wants her students to notice her attention to detail. Her class is full of what she does as a person and teacher, trinkets and all of that stuff.
Alongside being passionate about art, she likes to make jewelry, she does glass blowing, she does model railroading as well. She’s worked in studios in Cleveland, Kent, Columbus and Florida. The glass blowing was something she got from a Kent State professor, and jewelry making was bonding with her grandpa when she was younger.
Overall, she’s an imaginative teacher who relates to her students well. Patterson works on providing a supportive environment that is not judgmental.
