Ken Lopinot, a man whose friendliness may only be outweighed by his wit.
Lopinot has been a part of the Pattonville staff for 30 years. He taught in the Positive School for 4 years before he began his role as a teacher at Pattonville High School. He teaches English and has even won the Teacher of the Year award.
“It was awesome,” Lopinot said, smiling brightly, when describing how he felt to be named Teacher of the Year. He had been nominated twice before winning and was not expecting to win on his third nomination. “I was even late submitting my application,” he added.
Lopinot said, “I got into literature in elementary school from reading the Scholastic books from the order pamphlets they sent out.” Later in his early years, Lopinot became interested in Greek mythology, which opened up many possibilities on what to read next.
He claims to love working at Pattonville.
“I really like the people that I work with,” Lopinot said. “I consider myself lucky that I like everybody.”
Pattonville students seem to be very accepting of their peers, according to Lopinot.
“The kids don’t have cliques like I first thought they would,” he said.
Lopinot is known to be a fun-loving teacher that likes to know his students on a personal level. He claims that he has two personas. He has an attitude for teaching, and another for when he’s in out on the streets.
Lopinot is like a local celebrity around Pattonville. He is often stopping into his colleagues’ rooms. While some may see this as disturbing class, others feel like it is a nice surprise. He has an endless arsenal of stories to help entertain the class, and make the day go by more quickly.
Whether he is seen as an annoyance, or friend, Pattonville is proud to call Lopinot a teacher, or a colleague, or even an employee.
With his friendly and accepting personality, Lopinot is also known to be called “friend” by many of the people part of the Pattonville community.