Pat Strickland can still easily recite the SEI Standards, “My favorite is ‘At SEI we greet each other every day with a smile and a handshake to strengthen the relationship between us.’ It helps kids bring their level of communication up and teaches them manners. I helped develop those standards as a counselor in the late 80’s.”

As a shy athlete in a family of nine children, Pat credits SEI’s early leaders, Tony Hopson and Ray Leary, with inspiring him to become the person he is today. By working as a counselor each summer in SEI’s camps Pat not only learned to come out of his shell, but also realized his destiny was to work with kids.

Today, as a Social Service Specialist for the State Department of Human Services, he investigates child abuse and neglect cases and tries to preserve families, using the skills he learned at SEI to diffuse volatile situations and nurture children who need his positive reinforcement.

Pat, a husband and father of four, also works as a basketball coach for Jefferson High School and volunteers with the Inner City Players program for younger students. Pat takes what he learned from SEI and applies it daily, living and teaching the reality that, “no matter what, you have to make it past the finish line.”

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