Brandie Bach

I would tell them to pursue whatever their dreams are, and don't be surprised if the path that you thought that you wanted changes along the way. I changed degree plans along the way. My daughter thought she wanted to be a physical therapist, and it led her into adaptive PE, and then she got a graduate degree in adaptive education. So don't lock everything in and think everything's gonna be black and white. There's a lot of different paths on your journey that might take you to some really unexpected places that you love even more. Just don't ever close any opportunities off, and if somebody opens up a door to you, whether it's management, or a higher position, or a promotion, always take that, because that opportunity wouldn't have been offered to you if they didn't think you were qualified. I see so many women that have imposter syndrome, and they think, oh, I'm not as good as they are, and I don't know as much as they do. They wouldn't have given you that opportunity if you weren't ready. So just jump into it, and you will find your way. I came from a household where neither of my parents even graduated high school. I was the first person in my family to graduate college. I can't speak enough to the fact that there's no opportunity that anybody can't do. They just need to dive in and try it. There's so many scholarships, there's not a reason that anybody can't pursue what they want to do. I really just want to empower women - you definitely are capable, and you definitely can do anything you want to do. If an opportunity or a door opens for you, never pass up an opportunity. At least try it. If you don't like it, you can go back to what you were doing, but at least don't be afraid to take on a new opportunity or a new adventure.

In the world of education, there's all kinds of financial cutbacks right now across everything, whether you work at a high school, or a college, or a private college. Financial cutbacks are a huge concern with budgeting and trying to stay on top of new equipment and new technology. Especially in healthcare professions, we're always using a lot of extensive technology, so getting the budget approved for that is always a challenge. In teaching, one of the challenges is AI. A lot of students are using AI for a lot of things, and some of the things are cool that they're using it for, and some things they're cheating with it. That's a fine line, trying to walk behind - it's the Wild West right now. Nobody really knows how to rein it in. Really, pretty much just budget and AI, I would say, are maybe the biggest challenges this year.