Lessons from My Mentor

Serving as Career Development Coordinator (CDC) and Special Populations Coordinator (SPC) to three high schools and four middle schools in Franklin County, Cross Nancy North Carolina is certainly enough to keep Elaine Webb busy! However, she graciously volunteered to mentor me through my year as an ACTE Fellow. Elaine completed her fellowship in December and shared advice and reflections during our recent conversation.

Elaine spent 25 years in the classroom as a business educator prior to joining Franklin County Schools as CDC/SPC four years ago. Her goal with her current position is to make the role more meaningful to students through efforts to expand job shadowing and internship opportunities while enhancing Career and Technical Education with offerings such as the Robotics Club. She is passionate about the potential for experiences beyond the classroom to engage a student and make a life-changing impact on their course and direction.

Enthusiastic about Career and Technical Education, Elaine values ACTE and the many professional supports it provides. Techniques is one of her favorite professional publications and often opens the door for Elaine to engage in additional research in conjunction with the pursuit of her Educational Specialist (EdS) degree through East Carolina University. The greatest benefit of ACTE, for Elaine, has been the many, varied networking opportunities she has engaged in through the years.

I was eager to hear Elaine’s advice and reflections having just completed her fellowship in December. She described her commitment to the fellowship as “one of the most valuable things I’ve ever done!” which resonated with me as a powerful declaration based on her other professional experiences.

  1. Do as much as you can! Don’t work toward minimum requirements, but rather embrace each task as an opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.
  2. Value diversity! You will find a wide-range of personalities within your fellowship class. Focus on the positive attributes each contributes to the group and build upon the strengths of one another.
  3. Network! Excellence is hard to come by when working in isolation. Networking provides a mirror to allow self-reflection while simultaneously comparing programs and opportunities to those offered across our nation.

Thanks, Elaine! Your words of wisdom are applicable to not only the fellowship experience, but to life!