A Shared Passion for CTE

As a new professional fellow, I have 3 years teaching and CTE experience. I came straight from high school with a love for Family Consumer Sciences and Career Tech. I was excited when I found out that my mentor will bring a new perspective to CTE for myself as she comes from 20 years industry experience prior to teaching. 

I am blessed to have Shelley Rust as my fellowship mentor this year. Shelley has a vibrant personality that is contagious and energizing when talking about Career and Technical Education. She is currently a ProStart/Baking & Pastry/Culinary teacher as well as the Indiana ACTE Organization President. I am excited to learn from her leadership and grow my passion for CTE as she has through her numerous experiences with ACTE.

Looking towards the future, we both believe that CTE is going to get bigger, stronger, and become even more of an asset to our country’s job outlook. ACTE is our advocate and together we will be able to help grow young professionals to fill new and emerging careers in addition to those in high demand.

One piece of advice Shelley said she would give to her former new CTE professional self, is to be flexible and give students real life content/practice. As Career and Technical Education teachers it is our duty to provide students what they need for real life whether that is for college or career success. This experience has given strong leadership skills, advocacy tools, and professional development opportunities to so many before me. I am excited to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective to ACTE and the hard work the organization
does day in and day out for us and our students.