News & Events

Patrick Fernando '93 rejoins the Norfolk Academy family as a Lower School Teaching Associate. He also coaches in the track and cross country programs. After graduating from Davidson College, where he ran both track and cross country, Fernando worked at Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center with children and adolescents and was an assistant cross country and track coach at NA under Head Coach Ken Lampert '72. He then attended medical school and did bench research in Neonatology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for almost a decade before returning to Norfolk Academy.

Why did you want to become a teacher?
I wanted to become a coach and teacher specifically at Norfolk Academy. As a proud graduate, I had many amazing coaches, teachers, and teacher-coaches who had a tremendous impact on my life and helped me to become the person I am today. Several of them still teach and coach at NA. I aspire to be like them, to have a positive impact on the lives of our students. 

What excites you about Norfolk Academy?
So many great things feel familiar from my time as a student: honor, citizenship, and developing leadership skills, to name a few. But there are just as many wonderful things that feel new and not at all like the Norfolk Academy I used to know in a positive way. I love that our institution is always progressing and evolving to be the best school we can be to match our intellectually curious students. And as Coach Duquette once told me, “there is no better place to ply your craft as a teacher."

What's one fun fact about you students might find interesting?
During medical school I delivered 43 babies, including a set of triplets.