Celebrating Mentors Who Matter!

As a part of the ACTE Fellows Program, we are provided with a past fellow to be our mentor. I have had the pleasure of working with Patrick Biggerstaff from Region III. Patrick has been a phenomenal mentor who has included me at every turn throughout the past year. I had the pleasure of working with him at the Region Three Summer Conference as well as working with him on a monthly legislative committee for our Indiana Association of Career and Technical Education Districts (IACTED). Patrick is inclusive of all members of the organization and doing what is best for the organization.

Patrick did a great job with leading our Region III Conference this past summer and utilizing all of his networks and contacts to ensure that we had a successful conference. Our guests from throughout Region III had the opportunity to visit the world famous Indianapolis 500 and “kiss the bricks;” visit an Indy Car Series Race Car facility owned by Chip Ganassi and got the chance to learn about how the race car technology and assembly is created; as well as have dinner at the facility. Stakeholders involved including members of his advisory board, his district catering organization, the owners of the facility, and local industry partners.

Participants were also able to go out to a variety of job sites to learn more about CTE opportunities in Indiana including logistics, manufacturing, health sciences, aviation technology to name a few.

During the conference, our breakout sessions and conference were hosted by another business partner, Vincennes University (VU). VU opened their doors to allow us to not only have our conference but also hosted lunch in an airport hangar and we took our group photo in front of one of the school’s aircraft—talk about networking!!

All of these things were connected to Career and Technical Education—which are the real things that we want to make sure that we provide to our students. Providing opportunities for relevancy to what they are learning every day in the classroom is what Patrick and the team provided at the conference.

We also had the opportunity to go downtown and enjoy a wonderful dinner together and conclude the evening with a group activity that got everyone engaged and involved with learning about the city of Indianapolis. Patrick didn’t do all of this work by himself—he had a capable team of individuals who worked very hard to show true Hoosier Hospitality at its finest. This is a true example of leading effectively and bringing alongside those individuals that compliment your leadership—a great chairperson and a local planning committee of Indiana ACTE leaders. Patrick was able to incorporate the national team as well as the local team to provide what I believe has been one of the best Region III conferences we've ever had.

Throughout the year Patrick was available to me at a moment’s notice where I could call or text or email him any questions that I had regarding not only our positions as CTE Director's but also for other professional development and networking opportunities.

When there was an event or an activity that he thought would be beneficial to me, he would ensure that I had that information made available and encouraged me to participate.

I am very grateful that I was paired with Patrick as I was able throughout the year to see his leadership in full effect and I know that he will only continue to grow and be successful. Ultimately those who will benefit from his success will continue to be the students and staff of the organization that he leads. I know that the ACTE organization will only continue to see Patrick in leadership for many years to come.