Patrick Schroeder — who will graduate this weekend with a bachelor’s degree from the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and serve as the School’s flag bearer for winter commencement — was recently recognized as one of UW–Madison’s winter 2025 “notable grads” by the Office of Strategic Communication.
Following is a profile of Schroeder written by Gayle Worland:
Patrick Schroeder always dreamed of earning a teaching degree at UW–Madison. But, life got in the way.
After a short stint in college following high school, he got married and jumped into the workforce. He and his wife started a family, and Schroeder received promotion after promotion in his job at Madison’s Willy Street Co-op. Still, the dream of being a K-12 teacher never went away.
He began sharing that dream with other people, who encouraged him to go back to school. He also called a career coach at the UW, who asked Schroeder if he’d heard of the UW–Madison School of Education Wisconsin Teacher Pledge, a program that pays tuition and other costs for teacher education students who agree to teach in the state for three to four years after graduation.
Hearing about the pledge was the final nudge he needed. “I said, well, that’s it,” he recalls. “Sold.”
Before diving into his education studies at UW–Madison, however, Schroeder had to finish up some general degree requirements at Madison College. And just as he was ready to transfer to the university, he got bad news: One of his heart valves was not working properly. He had surgery to repair it and then enrolled in his UW classes.
“My first semester there, I was so excited to be on campus,” said Schroeder, now 42. “Then, that fall, we found out that the surgery had not worked. I had to pull out of my classes and do them remotely, and I missed the whole next semester of school for another surgery. Recovery was three or four months.”
“My professors and the director of the teacher’s ed program stayed in touch and made sure I had what I needed, had access to materials, and had a framework in which to get work done,” he says. “I was able to get back to campus that next fall and get back into the program.”
On Dec. 14, Schroeder will serve as the honorary flag-bearer for the UW–Madison School of Education in the procession for winter commencement. Now fully recovered, he hopes to begin his teaching career soon in the Madison area.
“I want to be able to look back at this time in my life and say I was able to do something meaningful for my community,” he says. “I’ve lived in Madison most of my life, and I love this place. I want to remain here, and I want to do something for it.”
After that first short stint in college, “I never really had a plan to come back to school,” he says. “So, looking towards Dec. 14 and getting that bachelor’s degree from a university that has been part of my life for my whole life feels pretty profound.”