After nearly a month, Patrick Moe, 29, still has trouble calling his colleagues by their first names. He used to be their student.

“It’s weird to make that transition,” said Moe, who joined the performing arts department this semester as a newly hired, full-time Speech 120 instructor and debate coach.

After graduating from California High School in San Ramon, Moe became a student at DVC from 1997 to 2001, where he was a member of the debate team and also worked as an English tutor.

Paul Phalen, now his colleague, remembers him as “an extremely intelligent student.”After transferring to San Francisco State University in 2001, Moe earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s degree in speech communication.

“Everyone’s really welcoming,” Moe said of his return to DVC. “The other faculty make an effort to make me feel accepted and respected as a faculty member.”

Moe said he likes that DVC has a “small community of students who seem committed to make DVC a community, such as the speech kids, Inquirer staff, sports teams… basically anyone who is doing extra to make this college a community.”

He credits the late and much-loved DVC speech teacher Kevin Twohy for inspiring him to become a teacher. Twohy coached the award-winning speech and debate team when Moe was a member and a gold-medalist.

He remembers Twohy, who died unexpectedly after a brief illness in 1999, as a “big kid who enjoyed teaching and …was always laughing.”

“He definitely wanted his students to succeed,” Moe said.Phalen, a long-time associate of Twohy, agreed, adding, “He was affable, charismatic, and loved his job like none other.”

A plaque memorializing Twohy is placed near the entrance to the performing arts offices. As DVC’s new debate coach, Moe feels confident he can continue the energy he experienced while he was on the team under Twohy. “Coaching the debate team,” he said, “reminds me what enthusiasm Kevin had and how he always seemed to having fun while working.”