Welcome back to The Vision’s Teacher Spotlight, where we will shine a light on another terrific MSMS instructor, Mr. Kishan Patel.

Patel is a part of the mathematics department here at MSMS and is teaching in his third year. Some of the classes he is currently teaching are Calculus I, AP Statistics I and the most important (because I’m in there) Foundations for Higher Math.

Patel is originally from Leicester, England. His family moved to San Francisco when he was eight and lived there for about two months. They then relocated to Vicksburg, Miss. and moved around to different cities in the state, including Clinton and Tupelo, before finally settling in Amory.

Patel graduated from MSU with bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering and mathematics. He later obtained a master’s degree in mathematics. Also during his time at MSU, he minored in religion and curriculum & instruction.

While pursuing his master’s, he worked as a graduate teaching assistant, teaching Calculus II, Business Calculus and Trigonometry before earning his degree in 2015. He found out about an open teaching position at MSMS through two of his academic advisors, who encouraged him to apply at the end of his teaching program.                                            

Patel commented on what inspired him to become a teacher despite it not having been his original plan.

“I tutored my friends from middle school to high school to college, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed seeing people learn and get something they thought was difficult to understand. People seemed to enjoy the way I taught them, so I decided to pursue teaching for a couple of years after I finished my engineering program. I didn’t initially have inspirations for being a teacher. It was only after I finished my undergrad that I considered the option.”

Although he has a serious teaching style, he still likes to have fun with his students. One of the best examples is when junior Morgan Emokpae playfully commented about Patel and his infinity signs during Math Lab that he teaches on Thursdays.

“Let’s talk about his infinity signs. You come to Mr. Patel’s class, as x approaches zero zero, y approaches zero zero,” Emokpae said, referring to the unique way Patel writes his infinity signs by joining two zeros together instead of making a true infinity sign.

Mr. Patel responded with an equally comical rebuttal.

“I would like to say that Morgan is being extra.”

Fellow math teacher, Mrs. Koenigsberger, commented on Patel and how great of an asset he is to the math department.

“I enjoy working with Mr. Patel. He’s an awesome co-worker. He’s definitely a team player and is willing to carry out any kind of crazy, wild ideas I may come up with. He’s also very great tech support.”

A few facts about Patel start with  his favorite math being Calculus II, but his favorite course to teach is History of Mathematics. He loves anything with coconut in it, and his favorite colors are black and red. When he’s not grading assessments, on the weekends he enjoys taking online courses in web development and data analysis and reading books on Christian theology.

He is also very involved in the student life of MSMS. Along with being the sponsor of Mu Alpha Theta and the junior class, you can catch him on Vita Field after class on Fridays, partaking in a game of Ultimate Frisbee.

Before wrapping up this week’s Teacher Spotlight edition, here are some wise words of advice from the great Mr. Patel.

“First, don’t get so invested in planning your future that you forget to live in the present. Tomorrow has enough trouble of its own. Live to make the best of today. Second, Snapchat is bad, kids. Go read a book or something.”