Name: Audra Peterson

Title: Executive Director of Career and Technical Education

Organisation: Porter County Career and Technical Education

I have been in Education since 1988. I have served at both the post-secondary level as well as the secondary level. I have a BS in Health Science Education, an MSEd in School Administration, a CTE Director License, and an EdS in School Superintendency. For the past 23 years, I have served in an administrative capacity in Career and Technical Education. My passion is helping high school students find their passion and purpose.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Educational Leadership!

I hope Audra's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as an Educational Leader?

School funding has always been a challenge, as we are constantly in a state of flux with each legislative session. Whether it is at the state level or the federal level, the value of Public Education seems to swing. There has been an increase in awareness in Career and Technical Education in the past few years, however, the legislators do not seem to understand what we are doing and the successes we have.

Today, one of the biggest challenges in education has also been the value of student attendance. Students and their parents do not understand the importance of attendance. In CTE, we often relate it to attendance on the job, but even then, it does not seem important.

2. How did you become an Educational Leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I started teaching at the post-secondary level after I completed my dental assisting training and wanted to be able to do more. I was asked to teach a HS class as well, so I began my journey in Health Science Education. After about 10 years in the classroom, I began thinking about how I could better impact more students.

I had many wonderful administrators who "coached" me along the way and encouraged me to go into leadership. Because of my CTE background, it made sense to go into Career and Technical Education. As I worked through my leadership education, I found myself working closely with superintendents as well, and I finished my EdS. I truly enjoy working with all education personnel and helping them all to become the best version of themselves for student success.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I begin my morning reviewing emails and answering those that are most important. Depending on my day, I may or may not start the day in the building. So if I am out of the building, I will generally check in with my administrative assistant and our building principal to see if there is anything pressing. Then I will go to meetings I might have. I typically am checking in with our sending schools, teachers who are off-site, our post-secondary partners, meeting with folks from Economic Development, Business Partners, Community Entities, and sometimes legislators.

I try to plan all of my out-of-building things on one or two days so I can be in the office the other days. I always prioritize what I am working on by students and parents first, teachers/staff, school partners, and then others. In the evening, I am often catching up on what I did not get done during the day. I will spend time with my husband and try to read something not related to education or watch TV to decompress. My biggest weakness is undoubtedly taking time for myself!

4. What's a recent lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of as an Educational Leader?

That parents will be upset with you no matter how hard you try to help them or their student. They will call you names, make threats to call attorneys, etc. In the end they are blowing off steam and you can't take it personally.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your journey as an Educational Leader so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted you?

One of my favorites is definitely Good to Great. I have relied on those philosophies so many times. Putting the right people in the right seats on the bus..... If I have a teacher who continually says they are going to quit or wants to do things their way, I encourage them to go find something that makes them happy, as teaching is obviously not their thing. I spend a great deal of time, including teachers and staff members, in any process we do so that I know I have buy-in. If they do not find value in the initiatives we are trying to implement. They do not need to be on the bus.

This does not make them a bad person; they just don't share values in the culture we are trying to build, and that is ok. My goal is to focus on the student (our customer) while also ensuring that we are meeting the needs of business and industry, which is essentially our end user. The outcome is the success of our students upon graduation, whether that be moving on to college, the military, or direct employment.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young educator who aspires to be an Educational Leader, what would you say to them?

Take the time to understand ALL that is involved in becoming an adminstrator. IT is more than a paycheck and your job is to know about each and every aspect of how your school/district/facility runs. ALWAYS be sure that student interest is a the center of that!

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as an Educational Leader, so far?

Never underestimate the power of a student's will to survive. I have a student who was in an alternative program in my building. He was in a specialized special education program for behaviorally and emotionally disabled students. I was convinced that as an 8th grader, he was destined to become the next school shooter (that's what he told me he was going to do when he grew up). After a couple of years of the student getting thrown out if he misbehaved, I finally started "bargaining" with him. (Family was a mess, and he lived with his grandparents/Grandma pleaded with me to help.)

I would instead give him timeouts from the classroom, and he would come to my office. We started talking about what interested him. He gave me a couple of ideas, and I would let him know if he was good for a whole week. The next week, he could go into a CTE program he was interested in for an hour. We continued this for a couple of school years until he was a Sophomore. In his sophomore year, I told him that if we had a great year, I would save him a spot in the culinary program in his junior year.

I had his trust, I always followed through with what I said, good or bad, and he really did a great job. He also developed a positive relationship with my culinary teacher. His junior year, he enrolled in the culinary program, got his certifications and he even earned dual credit by his senior year. He found his passion and some emotional stability. The behavioral issues became fewer and fewer. He graduated and pursued additional education and last I heard, he was a chef in a large local restaurant. Helping kids like this is quite rewarding!