When physics teacher Patricia Ego, originally from Muskegon, Michigan, was looking to move across the country, she told her husband her only criterion was to be somewhere warm. But when she told her husband that she wanted to move to Houston, his first reaction was, “That’s so hot!”

“We were miserable for a while,” Ego said, “and then it hit November, and we said, ‘Okay, this is what we moved here for.’”

Ego earned a chemistry degree at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. She then worked at Trace Analytical Laboratories, an environmental lab in Muskegon, MI, from 1999 to 2008. In the lab, she tested water and soil samples for government cleanup sites. 

In 2008, she changed jobs to work at Honeywell, a chemical manufacturer, for one year. After she moved to Houston in August 2009, Ego worked at schools in Aldine ISD for 10 years and Conroe ISD for three years as a physics teacher. 

“Physics is my favorite science,” Ego said. “I would have gotten a degree in physics if I knew all the things I could do with it.” 

At the same time, Ego also scored AP physics tests, which she still does today. She says that it has not only helped her improve as an AP teacher, but also given her the chance to work with and learn from other teachers. 

Besides scoring AP physics tests, Ego also leads workshops on modeling mechanics through the American Modeling Teachers Association, which allows teachers to learn in new, more collaborative ways. In these workshops, teachers get to learn and experience labs as students and then discuss the labs as teachers. 

Last year, Ego received an honorable mention for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science (PAEMST). The PAEMST is the highest honor bestowed by the US government to teachers of K-12 science. Teachers apply to receive this award, and Ego scored extremely high in all categories.

“Since I was a kid, I’ve known I want to be a teacher,” Ego said.

Outside of the classroom, Ego loves making jewelry, and she sells some on Etsy and local craft fairs. This passion started during the pandemic when she was at home and wanted to be able to make jewelry that wasn’t available in stores. She makes a variety of different kinds of jewelry, but she especially likes designing earrings. 

She also loves playing online logic games such as Pic-a-Pix, a game in which the user fills in squares according to a sequence in order to make a picture. Ego is also a master Candy Crush player—she’s on level 6070!

Ego has owned a variety of pets in her lifetime, including horses, ferrets, prairie dogs, rabbits, hamsters, iguanas, guinea pigs and mice. Currently, Ego owns two dogs, two cats, two rats and some fish. She loves dancing and listening to 80s and 90s music. 

Ego started skateboarding in her early childhood and competed in several roller skating meets. Her parents and grandparents owned roller skating rinks. She was also a baton twirler, marched in parades and participated in competitions.

Ego’s main hobby is physics, and she says she is ecstatic to be teaching at St. John’s.

“I love physics, and I enjoy working with kids,” she said. “I’m loving it here.”