Patrick Slevin came to LHS in December of 2014 as a short-term leave replacement in the English department. In January of 2015, Slevin became a permanent substitute teacher, and he has been here in this position ever since.

Before working at LHS, Slevin worked at various high schools across Long Island and New York State. From 1988 to 1994, Slevin worked at Hempstead High School. He served as the English department chair at Cardinal Hayes High School from 1995-1999. He then worked at St. Anthony’s High School, located in South Huntington, from 1999 to 2004. From 2004 to 2012, Slevin was a teacher at Chaminade High School. To this day, Slevin is the only teacher to ever teach at both St. Anthony’s High School and Chaminade High School. These two schools are “fierce rivals,” says Slevin. Freshman Jason Huffine says, “Slevin enjoys teaching, and his students enjoy learning.”

While Slevin’s primary job was to teach English, he was also the cross country and track and field coach at each of these former schools. Slevin achieved both state and national prominence for the athletes he coached. “I was a very successful high school coach,” says Slevin.

In 2012, Slevin “took a chance” and left high school teaching and coaching to take a Division 1 college coaching job at Manhattan College. Sadly, in July of 2013, Slevin’s wife, Regina, was diagnosed with cancer, and she died suddenly on November 27 of the same year. Eventually, Slevin left Manhattan College because he did not want to keep up with the heavy traveling schedule that went along with being a Division 1 coach. “I needed to be home with my daughter and only child, Caitlin,” Slevin says.

To Slevin, his job at LHS was a “godsend.” He says he immediately connected with the students here, and he considers the Class of 2018 “his class.” “I am very close to many of the seniors who are ready to leave the ‘Owl’s Nest’ to head to college. The students at LHS took me into their hearts when I most needed to be a part of a community,” he says.

His class shares his affection for them. “He gives the best advice and is always willing to listen when you have a bad day or a problem,” says senior Nicole Domanico. Senior Samantha Rizzo adds, “Mr. Slevin has a unique sense of humor. I just loved going to English every day. He made me excited about literature and made the classroom so entertaining.”

Slevin equates his experiences at LHS to his own high school experiences. “Many of the great teachers that I had in high school inspired me to go into education when I was a young man,” Slevin shares. For Slevin, LHS became “home.”

Since his arrival at LHS, Slevin has continued coaching on the college level. He was hired as the head cross country and track and field coach at LIU Post in 2015. Recently, Slevin filled in as the coach at Molloy College after the school’s coach passed away unexpectedly in 2017. Slevin also coaches three professional athletes in the New York metropolitan area.

He recalls an experience that can only be considered “amazing.” One day last year, Slevin was on hall duty during final exams. To pass the time, he was on a laptop chatting online with one of his friends. “I keep in touch with many of my friends from my Floral Park Memorial High School days on Facebook,” says Slevin. Slevin and his friend were chatting about their 40th high school reunion, which will take place this upcoming September. Suddenly, his conversation was interrupted by someone he had not heard from in a long time: Slevin’s senior prom date, Jeanann. “She was not my girlfriend in high school. We were just friends!” Slevin insists. Jeanann worked as a nurse in Pennsylvania, and, aside from Facebook, she had not seen or spoken to Slevin in almost 35 years. As fate would have it, she was going to be traveling to Long Island that very wequeeekend to see her nephew graduate from high school. Slevin and Jeanann both agreed that it would be “fun” to get together and catch up over lunch while she was visiting Long Island. “The rest,” says Slevin, “is history.”

Slevin and Jeanann were engaged in January of this year, and they plan on getting married sometime in August. Unfortunately, he will be leaving LHS after this year. Slevin currently lives in Wantagh, and he will be moving to just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to be with Jeanann.

“I told the senior class that I hate goodbyes. I don’t like airports or cemeteries or graduations,” he says. Slevin admits he will miss the Class of 2018 more than any other group of students he has ever taught in his over 30 years as an educator. “The Class of 2018 and the faculty and administration of Lynbrook High School helped me overcome one of the truly saddest experiences of my life. Although I am very sad to leaving LHS, I am very excited about starting the next chapter of my life, and I will be forever grateful to everyone at LHS for all that they’ve done for me,” says Slevin.

Slevin offers two pieces of advice: “Be careful of who you take to senior prom, and you never know who you are going to connect with on Facebook!”