Patricia Brown is the new chemistry, AP Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher.

She was born in south New Jersey, just outside of Camden, in what Brown describes as a rough place. Despite that, Brown seems to be easy-going.

“Just because it’s a rough place doesn’t mean people aren’t nice, but Oklahoma has made me a little more patient and nicer too,”  Brown said.

Brown lives out by Lake Thunder Bird in Norman in a wooded, hilly area. Her home in the woods is a passive solar design.

“We use the sun to heat us up in the winter and use the shade to keep us cool in the summer,” Brown said. She and her husband are very concerned about energy and water usage.

Life in Oklahoma City is different than South New Jersey, Brown said. One of the major differences she said is the pace of life, due to the open space. Oklahoma is also not as densely populated as south New Jersey. The pace of life in Oklahoma results in friendlier people because they actually have time to be friendlier, Brown said.

“One of the biggest things I noticed coming to Oklahoma is when I went to a store, the store clerk made eye contact with me and said ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ and waited for my answer,” Brown said. “Where I grew up there was no eye contact, there was no conversation, everything was just so rushed, rushed, rushed, rushed and I never thought anything of it until I moved out here. Strangers wave and say hello, that’s a good thing.” Another difference for Brown is the climate. She commented on the brutal summer and equally brutal winters.

Brown moved to Oklahoma to attend Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Brown enjoys her job.

“I love teaching, I kind of feel like I think I was meant to do this,” she said. If she wasn’t a teacher, Browns said she would be out in a tropical forest and her job would consist of identifying a rare or yet to be discovered insect, or plant or some kind of unknown organism.