Patricia Mathew, Co-Founder, St. Michael’s School

By Patricia Mathew, Co-Founder
Patricia Mathew, Co-Founder, St. Michael’s School
Patricia Mathew,Co-Founder

Patricia Mathew

Co-Founder

If one describes Patricia Mathew, Co-Founder of St. Michael's School, one would definitely frame a description with terminologies like 'confident', 'passionate', 'motivated' and 'hardworking' in a single sentence. Throughout her career, Patricia Mathew has been implementing school development policies covering academic aspects, student welfare and school administration work for rapid improvement of the Indian education structure. She has provided guidance, advice and support to staff and students of St. Michael's School and helped the school grow sturdily towards its vision of constant evolution by surpassing its existing standards. "We give prime importance to discovering creative geniuses of our students and keep their creative spirit alive through artistic, scientific, literary and social manifestations," says Patricia Mathew, Co-Founder, St. Michael's School.

St. Michael's School is a school for life management where students are empowered with the expertise to conquer present and future challenges of our society. In order to achieve this, the school has multifarious co-scholastic activities like circle time, literary activities, value assemblies, special assemblies, sports activities, DEAR Time (Drop Everything and Read) and so on to cater to the individual potential of the students. Dividing the students according to their individual choices, the school also has a cultural club for visual arts performers.
It has an 'INTACH' club that teaches the students the value of preserving cultural heritage, an 'INTEGRITY CLUB' that teaches how to avoid egoism related to materialism in today's society, and an 'INTERACT CLUB' that instills leadership qualities and communal responsibilities among the students. "Presently, the students are working in different NGOs for providing essential items to underprivileged people in our community. They are working with the NGOs under the project 'The Power of One'," states Patricia.

Wherein environment degradation is increasing rapidly due to carbon footprints, saving natural resources is an issue that needs immediate attention. Giving utter importance to this, St. Michael's School is promoting activities to safeguard the environment by its PEAS CLUB (Programme for Environment Awareness in Schools). Patricia says, "Students need to realize the importance of protecting the environment from early days as we believe that 'Children are nature's gift to mankind, and how we raise them is our gift to the world'. So, our dedicated and qualified teachers nurture young minds with a unique teaching philosophy that emphasizes on creativity and interdisciplinary interaction. Along with this, we give importance on the character development of the students to make them enable to thrive anywhere in the world."

In the scholastic field, the teachers use innovative methods for teaching that stress on developing analytical and critical thinking skills of the students. In an encouraging learning environment, the school conducts events like 'LITCUL', which is a unique combination of literary and cultural items. "Every year, we provide counseling to 10th standard students by experts. For our teachers, we have teacher training seminars/workshops
to help them in developing important life skills while tackling students. For the overall development of the students, we regularly conduct parent orientation programs," Patricia explains.

St. Michael's credo has always been to keep the student's mind in learning with understanding so that learning for life happens. This helps in impacting the mental, physical, social, aesthetic, spiritual, and emotional quotients of the students and makes them excel not only in academics but in all walks of life. "We believe that amidst the Michaelites we have raw gems that we can shape maybe with The Wisdom of Vivekananda, The Uprightness of Abdul Kalam, The Genius of Aryabhatta, The Knowledge of Chanakya, The Brilliance of CV Raman, and The Compassion of Mother Teresa," elucidates Patricia.

Located in Secunderabad, Telangana, St. Michael's School was established long back in 1996 to create lifelong learners. Upon learning here and participating in different clubs and events, students achieve creative writing skills, debating skills, and scientific pursuits. "Over the years, St. Michael's School has believed that 'Instruction ends in the classroom but education ends only with life. We have a long way to go and miles to go before we sleep'. So, our school has progressed in these years because of its commitment, and dedication of its inspiring leadership of the entire team who work professionally to mold children and the success of these have motivated St. Michael's to work even harder in the years ahead. We trust that every great dream begins with a dreamer and for all the students out there, always remember you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world," concludes Patricia.
Top 20 Women Leaders in Education Industry ­ 2019