Quick Connection

I met Christi Hack, my ACTE Fellow Mentor, on a zoom meeting on February 2, 2022 and we immediately made a connection!  We are both Agriculture teachers by trade and that allowed us to instantly jump into conversation.  Christi is in Kentucky and is currently serving in an administration position as the Curriculum Resource Director for the Jessamine County School District.  She has had this position for the past eight years.  Before that time, Christi was in the classroom teaching Ag for 13 years.  I told her that I had just visited Kentucky in January for an NAAE facilitator training that was hosted by Alissa Smith!  Well wouldn’t you know, Alissa is one of Christi’s good friends!  So we immediately started talking about Alissa and NAAE.  This made me instantly feel at ease and like I could talk to Christi forever just as if she was one of my close friends!  It is just such a small world!

Christi went on to explain to me how she works on three different campuses for the school district.  She spends most of her time working with teacher leaders and running PLCs.  A lot of the work that she does is similar to what I am doing in my position so we were able to talk a lot about work.  She shared with me that she went through the Fellows program in 2018-2019 and that the connections she made have lasted since then.  She still calls and sends text messages to the other Fellows.

We spent a lot of time talking about NPS and what to expect.  She talked me through the schedule and gave me tips for setting up visits on the Hill and working with my state ACTE director.  I asked her questions about what to wear and what to see.  She had a great time at NPS when she went and that was the first time that she met the other Fellows face-to-face.  We also made some personal connections sharing about our families and backgrounds.  I enjoyed visiting with Christi and we already have our next meeting set up as a debrief for as soon as I get back from NPS.  She also told me to make sure that I meet Dexter Knight from Kentucky at NPS!

 

Rachel Knight

Region IV Experienced Fellow