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Colonial Beach High School senior Patrick Ey overcame his phobia of school to become captain of the football team, senior class president |
BY FRANK DELANO
It's hard to imagine Patrick Ey being afraid of anything.
At 6-1 and 320 pounds, he was a tackle, captain and the biggest player on the championship Drifter football team.
At Colonial Beach High School, Patrick (his last name is pronounced "eye") liked "drama and standing up and looking silly in front of people." He is also president of his senior class and of his school's chapter of the National Honor Society.
His grade point average is 3.8. Because of it, he'll get a scholarship from Christopher Newport University when he shows up for football practice in August. He wants to become a math teacher.
By every measure, Patrick will be a winner when he walks out of school Sunday with his diploma in his hand.
But his biggest triumph may have occurred at the beginning of his high-school career, when he overcame a persistent, dark and debilitating fear of school itself.
"I'd like be in class when the panic attacks started. I'd get intolerable stomach pains and have to run to the bathroom. I couldn't catch my breath and I'd cry uncontrollably. I'd have to take a pill to help," he said.
"The doctor never could figure out the cause of my anxiety," he said. "It was just something in my head that was messing with me. It's miserable when you're in that."
He called it his "long ordeal." It started when he was a sixth-grader in suburban Maryland.
His mother quit her job to teach him at home and take him to doctors. In 2002, they moved near relatives in Colonial Beach in hopes that Patrick, then 11, would do better at a smaller school.
He didn't.
"I tried seventh grade at Colonial Beach Elementary School, but for some reason I just couldn't do it. It was a fairly rough year. I got so I couldn't leave the house," he said.
"I got tired of sitting at home and watching everyone else have fun and thinking about it. I knew I had to do something about it."
His mother, therapist, friends and school officials all helped him make it through eighth grade.
He went to only his first-period class the first week, two classes the second week and three the third. "At the end of seven weeks, I was taking all my classes," he said.
A therapist's suggestion also helped him. "She told me the best thing was just to close your eyes and think you're somewhere else and block everything out. I'd be fine after that."
"My friends understood, and we're still friends today. We've become a pretty close group," he said.
His grades tell the story. He flunked three classes in the first semester of eighth grade when he was closing his eyes and trying to slay his demon. He passed all his second semester classes.
In ninth grade, when he started playing JV football, he made mostly A's and B's. From 10th grade on, it was straight A's.
After college, Patrick wants to come back to Colonial Beach and teach high-school math like his friend, math teacher and mentor Daniel McNamara.
"He's easy to get along with and makes class fun. He's a good friend as well as a good teacher. If I need somebody to talk to, I can go talk to him," Patrick said.
He has already started on his path to teaching by tutoring elementary students after school and helping coach them in Little League baseball. He has applied to be a teacher's assistant at summer school this year.
He's ready for the challenges ahead. "At college, I'll be basically on my own dealing with everything all by myself," he said.
He is not afraid. His eyes are wide open.
Well, mostly.
He said he still closes them sometimes in scary movies.
Frank Delano: 804/333-3834
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
| DAY: Sunday TIME: 4 p.m. PLACE: Colonial Beach High School |
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Throughout high school graduation season, The Free Lance-Star will be profiling one outstanding senior from each locality. |
