WORTHINGTON - “Home is where the heart is.”
It’s a phrase with which most people are familiar, and for Worthington Area Learning Center teacher Patrick Mahoney, it is true. While not a Worthington native, Mahoney has made the town his home after following his passions for education and travel to the kingdom of Bahrain, where he taught for one year.
Mahoney, originally from Morris, followed in his parents’ footsteps, attending the University of Minnesota, Morris, where he played football. Following graduation, he began a corporate job and discovered it was not his cup of tea. Once again he followed his parents to Worthington, taking night courses at the University of Sioux Falls while working as an ESL paraprofessional at Worthington Middle School until he graduated.
“When I went back, I decided I wanted to teach, and I wanted to teach abroad. So, I found a job abroad, but of course right before I found the job, I found a girl,” Mahoney shared.
In spite of the budding romance, Mahoney went on to Bahrain for his teaching position for the 2012-’13 school year, maintaining a long-distance relationship with his now-fiancée Jenna Lee Jeffers.
All aboard to Bahrain
“I’ll never forget the first time I walked out of the airport. … I remember walking out of the airport. I just had a sport coat on and jeans. I walked out, and it was late August. I think it was around midnight, and it was probably 98,” Mahoney recalled, “I had a gentleman pick me up, and he drops me off. There wasn’t really anything in my apartment, so I just pulled the towel over myself and laid in my bed and said ‘I’m going to be doing this for a year. What did I get myself into?’”
The first day at the Modern Knowledge School in Bahrain was equally interesting for Mahoney.
“We kind of sat down the first day with all of my classes, and we just did a question back and forth. One question that I got in all four of my classes is ‘Does everyone there (in the USA) think we are terrorists?’ I thought that was really interesting. I said, ‘Well, I’ll be honest with you. If I thought you were all terrorists, I probably wouldn’t have come here.’
“I think they understand how they’re portrayed in some outlets here, and they’re very aware of western culture and what people think of them. It was so interesting, because I never met anyone that was even leaning toward the extreme side. I feel like I spent a year there, I met quite a few people, and to never really come into contact with that was interesting,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney noted that there was regular protesting in the streets between the Sunni and Shiite populations, but it was never aimed at the United States. In Bahrain, Sunnis are in control while Shiites make up a majority of the population. He added that car explosions did occur around his apartment.
He and his fellow teachers did have one close call.
“There was one day where we were walking on the Day of Rage,” Mahoney refelcted. “We normally just walked to school, and there were these back alleys and everything was fenced up. … We looked over to our right, and there were all of these guys with masks on and Molotov cocktails. We look over to the left, and there was the police. … So we took off, and all of our normal ways home were all blocked off. We eventually took three turns; we couldn’t get out. Finally one of the masked kids came and was behind us. He moves a whole bunch of stuff, lets us go through and says ‘sorry,’ and then closes it behind us. So that was interesting, too. It had nothing to do with us, and he just wanted to get us out of the way.”
In spite of the experience, Mahoney said he never really felt afraid while in Bahrain. Traffic was slowed at times due to traffic stops or pat downs occurred before entering the mall.
“People were really good to us, almost to the point of where you felt it was reverse racism,” Mahoney said. “Because we were Caucasian it was like, ‘Well, they won’t do anything bad.’ So they just kind of moved you along. I felt like they had the same stereotypes as some people would here. … I thought that was kind of eye-opening for me.”
Differences and similarities in education
Mahoney compared his experience in a government-funded public school in the United States versus the private school experience there.
“The students that had more money, more power for the tuition, it kind of felt like - not in all cases - but there were times where they thought they were above the system,” he said. “In reality, they were. There were times you’d put in a grade because a student didn’t show up or they didn’t earn something, and when report cards came out, it was not necessarily the grade you put in. I feel like I haven’t run into that here … yet. But that was something that was very interesting. The money played a lot bigger role in everything there than it does here.”
Mahoney noted that classes in Bahrain were all ESL courses. While students in Bahrain are taught English from kindergarten, they encounter some of the same struggles as ESL students in Worthington.
Mahoney has noticed hands-on opportunities have been successful for both classrooms.
“For me, doing is the best way to learn. I enjoyed that over there,” Mahoney said. “I think the students enjoyed it over there, and they enjoy it over here. … Maybe it is because we have students speaking in their second language all day. It’s exhausting. Maybe just being able to do and apply is a breath of fresh air.”
Worthington called him back
“I was here for three years, and you come to love it,” Mahoney said about Worthington.
“At first I really wanted to travel with Jenna Lee and our family. That was kind of what I wanted. But you spend enough time here, and it’s about the right size. For me, I have the travel bug, and I like to get out, but part of the reason I like to travel is I like to go out and experience different cultures (and) eat different foods. I can do that here.
“Two weeks ago, I ate chicken feet soup, and that was in town here, and I hated it. But I can do that here,” Mahoney explained. “They told me … in China it’s a delicacy, and I said, ‘Yes, OK, let’s do it.’ You have those opportunities here, and that’s pretty neat. It’s not everywhere in rural communities that you have this opportunity. I think it is a really special place. I love the diversity.”
Now that he is back home in Worthington, Mahoney is working with others around his age. The Young Professionals Group looks to build connections between people who are new to the area and looking to build both professional relationships and friendships.
Mahoney said the group just wants to provide opportunities for people to meet and hopefully stick around.
“I think it is not only good for the individual, but I think it’s for the community. So we can retain some of the young talent that we get here, and they are more likely to stick around. Worthington’s not going anywhere. It’s not getting any smaller. It’s going to continue to get larger, so I think it is important that we continue to cultivate our own young talent and keep it here. I’d like to be a part of that.”
