About Our Teacher

WHO IS OUR TEACHER?

S. Patrice rides a 50cc Scooter

Sister Patrice Colletti is the teacher for Learning 4Life Success. She has taught high school, college, job training, and adult education courses and is a K-12 special education teacher as well.

This is her eleventh year with Tiospa Zina Tribal School. She taught for the past three years, and also taught for several years back when Tiospa Zina Tribal School first opened, in the mid to late 1980s.

Sister Patrice is originally from New York. She came to TIospa Zina Tribal School in 1984, right after she graduated from college in New Jersey. She has always wanted to return here to teach again, so when the opportunity came up, she jumped at it.

Sister Patrice loves to teach and loves to learn. She is passionate about helping students prepare for life success. When she lived in Milwaukee, WI, she was the CEO of a program that taught adults from different countries how to speak English, read, and write. She also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and at Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She has earned three college degrees, two in education and one in business. She really loves to learn!

With students in Milwaukee, WI

Sister Patrice comes from a big family. Her father and his wife live down in Florida. Her older brother and his wife live in Kansas. Her youngest brother lives in Arizona. Her sister and her sister's husband live in New York, near where Sister Patrice grew up. The late Sister Irene Demarrias, a tribal member, was her sister in religious life. Both Sister Irene and Sister Patrice are members of the Sisters of the Divine Savior.

Did you see the sign near our library? Sister Patrice's mother passed away in 1988. You might notice that at Tiospa Zina, the school library has a sign on the wall with Sister's mother, Marjorie Colletti's name on it. This is because when Sister Patrice was here back in the 80's, her mother helped the school get accredited by helping to gather several thousand library books from people around the country who wanted to see Tiospa Zina Tribal School succeed. Some of those books are still in our library, so if you open a book and see a note inside from someone in another state, that's someone who sent that book for us nearly 30 years ago.

What's your favorite food?

What does Sister Patrice like to do in her spare time? She builds and fixes computers, has an avatar in the virtual world of Second LIfe, runs an OpenSim server, is active in an international virtual community of people with disabilities, and is a hobby photographer. She enjoys taking online courses, and loves to read. She has three websites (plus this one!) and loves to invent and build things.

She is also an adventurer. Her adventurous spirit has already brought her to 46 states and six countries! She's encountered bears, sharks, and pink rattlesnakes, and has some amazing stories to tell!

Sister Patrice is fluent in two languages and is learning Dakota.

Check out the slideshow the students saw in class during the opening days of this year.