High school, club coach and former collegiate player Patel most recently led the lacrosse program at Castilleja, and was a coach with Firehawks and Team NorCal. Patel earned her bachelors in psychology with a minor in sociology in three years from Cal State Northridge, where she started as a goalie, and was a letterwinner all three years for the lacrosse team. She most recently was awarded her masters in social science from UCLA. Patel said she aims to foster the vision and principles of the program in a manner that invigorates student-athletes and teams to consistently show up for and challenge not only themselves, but one another with tenacity, passion, integrity, joy, and grit. “Menlo’s commitment to providing students with the opportunity to develop a sound mind, body, and character through their participation in athletics is something that parallels my philosophy and “why” as a coach,” Patel said. “As a former student-athlete and social science scholar, I am ever conscious that the privilege of participating in sports throughout childhood and adolescence affords skills and characteristics that are valuable in several walks of life, ones that cannot be taught in a classroom.”