Leadership is a quality that I have displayed as an FBLA adviser, but it is also a quality that I instill in my FBLA students. I started our FBLA chapter at Coal City High School in 2014. It was a challenging endeavor to create a new student led organization at a high school, but one that I am most proud of. It was important to me to not only start an FBLA chapter, but to make it one of the most rewarding student organizations at our school. Our chapter has rapidly grown since its creation, and there has been over 200 CCHS students that have benefited from being a part of FBLA. Our chapter has brought many new experiences to students that include leadership conferences, community events, professional workshops, networking opportunities, social events, and many more. Our chapter has students that have participated in competitive events on an area, state, and national level. Students attend the State Leadership Conference each year to compete in many different competitive events that allow them to put their business knowledge and communication skills to the the test. Our chapter has been fortunate enough to send students to the National Leadership Conference to compete with students across the nation. Our chapter has also sent students to the National Fall Leadership Conference on two occasions. Our students have attended national conferences in Milwaukee, Chicago, Anaheim, and Baltimore.

In addition, each year we have our chapter officers retreat in July by attending the Illinois FBLA Summer Leadership Workshop in Springfield, IL. This is a great chance for our officers gain valuable leadership training and network with other officers from chapters around the state of Illinois. It also gives me the opportunity to lead students from other schools across the state as well. Our chapter officers get to use their leadership and collaboration skills to make a plan of work for the upcoming school year that includes organizing all the FBLA activities. Some of our local chapter activities have included: FBLA Recruitment Cookout, Haunted Hallways, Drive-In Movie Night, Middle School Trivia Event, Alumni Pizza Social, March of Dimes Walk, Bowling Social, Corn Maze Social, Cougars Business Seminar, Chicago Wolves Business Seminar, Chicago Bulls Marketing Day, and many more.

What makes our FBLA chapter stand out among other student organizations is the opportunities for our chapter officers to use their leadership skills to implement our plan of work. Our officers have also had the opportunity to attend and present to other educators at the Connections Conference about what FBLA has done for them and why getting involved in student organizations is so important. FBLA also gives members the chance to serve on a state level as an officer. In are short time as a chapter, we've had one state officer. I have also gained valuable leadership experience by serving on the Illinois FBLA Executive Council as a State Adviser.

I have been involved in high school sports in the role of a coach since 2004. I have coached students 9th-12th grade in multiple sports. I have coached football and basketball at each level in high school. I also coached tennis for two years, and I am currently the head golf coach at CCHS. I have experience getting to know students outside the classroom, which is one of the most important tasks we can take on as educators.

Throughout my coaching career I have placed a high value on personal integrity, positive attitude, and teamwork. I have represented each school district in an ethical manner and a high level of professionalism. Throughout my career, I have been successful with using these same character traits within the programs and communities. The following list of summarizes my coaching experiences:

• 16 years of coaching experience in high school athletics
• Experience working within diverse team environments and working with eight different head coaches in my career.
• Proven experience organizing off-season activities, camps, and meetings.
• Proven commitment to education and professional development.
• Demonstrated knowledge and application of IHSA rules and regulations.

One of my favorite books is "The Mentor Leader" by Tony Dungy. After reading this book, it changed the way I would lead students forever. The following is one of my favorite passages that encompasses being a mentor leader, “Engage, educate, equip, encourage, empower, energize, and elevate. Those are the methods for maximizing the potential of any individual, team, organization, or institution for ultimate success and significance. Those are the methods of a mentor leader.”

As a teacher, I have the following endorsements: Accounting, Basic Business, Bus/Mktg/Mgmt - Cooperative Teacher Coordinator, Business Education, Information Processing, Marketing, Safety & Driver Education, General Administrative, and Technology Specialist. Throughout my 16 year career as a high school instructor I have worked in three school districts, and I've had the opportunity to use these endorsements to teach many different courses. The courses I have taught include: Accounting 1, Computerized Accounting, Business Management, Information Processing, Keyboarding, Software Applications, Introduction to Business, Multimedia, Sports & Entertainment Marketing, Introduction to Computer Science, AP Computer Science Principles, Concepts of Web Design, Entrepreneur Publishing, and Consumer Education. Among these courses, several were new courses that I alone taught and developed the curriculum without a classroom textbook. Among these courses, I have taught a combination of 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students. These experiences has given me an in depth knowledge of high school students in many different capacities. It also shows my ability to adapter to today's ever changing environments of education, business, and technology. The slideshow link to the left will show the numerous innovative classroom projects I do with high school students to implement business soft skills, communication skills, collaboration skills, with students using their classroom knowledge as the foundation.

In my Entrepreneur Publishing (Coaler Creations) course, I got the opportunity to manage students within a curriculum of and school business model. The contents of this course has consisted of managing the school store, a district newsletter, high school newscast, year in review video, annual student spotlight, updating daily announcements, student of the month certificates, athletic award certificates, varsity sports trophy case pictures, and much more. I have gained many valuable experiences working with teachers throughout our district, coaches within the district, and members of the community. The students and I consistently worked together to improve the school culture and increase school pride through many different school wide projects.

I received a Master of Science degree in Instructional Design & Technology from Western Illinois University. I have since passed the Illinois state exam for Technology Specialist endorsement. Completing this degree early in my teaching career has made a major impact on my ability as an educator. It has given me the knowledge and confidence to continually utilize technology in the education process. These skills give me the foundation for developing, implementing, and assessing the curriculum of many courses I have taught over my career. Please explore my online classroom (link to the left) that I have developed throughout the years. It has become a relevant source of information for my students, colleagues, and educators across the country. I have always used technology as the foundation to implement curriculum, school programs, professional development, and communication with students, parents, and community. I believe that with my experience with utilizing today's current technology and ability to teach others how to utilize technology that I would be a valuable resource for your school district.

I am a firm believer in self improvement as a professional educator. This can come in many forms, including being and involved member of professional organizations, self reflection, and professional development. In today's educational world, teachers need to have the ability to collaborate and share ideas and resources. Teachers not only have the opportunity to share with colleagues on a local level, but also at a global level. Twitter is one of many technology resources that I utilize to share and collaborate on global level.