Letter from the President - November 2021
Our focus this month is on education & training. I just realized that over half of my life has been dedicated to this topic, so it’s obviously something I’m passionate about.
I’ll share a little something with all of you, when I was in high school and planning what I wanted to do with my life, I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Due to financial situations, that career was pushed outside of my reach. Instead, I found myself in a technical school studying drafting & design and learned AutoCAD (which is my first love). I quickly realized that my love for education could be applied in helping others learn AutoCAD. I assisted other students in my program and at the same time, I taught AutoCAD one evening a week for a night school program. After finishing school and working as a drafter, I started teaching AutoCAD part-time at a local community college in a corporate training program. At this point I realized that what I wanted to do was to provide AutoCAD training for adults who needed to know how to use it in their career. Three years later, I achieved that goal of working full-time as a corporate trainer. I’ve progressed in that career, learning new software and skills that have served me well.
I’ve looked back a few times and thought, what if I was an elementary school teacher? The answer for me is that I wasn’t meant to be and I’m exactly where I was supposed to be! Sometimes our goals shift and change due to our circumstances, but we can and should take advantage of opportunities that come to us. We should work to make things happen if we need a change. We should not stay in a situation (job/career) that isn’t right for us (even if it was at one point). We should overcome a fear of change and embrace opportunities that will help us grow.
If you think about it, our entire lives are about education & training. We should always be learning. To quote Sam Waterston, “If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling back.”
I hope you all enjoy the articles in this month’s issue of AUGIWORLD.
Take care,
KaDe
