Leading by Serving

LEADING BY

2021 MS ACTE Administrator of the Year Supports CTE From the Ground Up

Amanda Gronewold

“How can I help?” is a phrase that may often be heard from 2021 Mississippi Association for Career and Technical Education (MS ACTE) Administrator of the Year Suzanne Kelly.

Kelly, the director at Lamar County Center for Career and Technical Education (LCCTE), considers herself a “servant leader.” She just completed her sixth year as a director, with 22 years’ total experience in career and technical education (CTE). Her experience teaching business and Teacher Academy informs her approach to administration.

“I feel like God blessed me to be able to experience it at every level so that now that I am in the role that I am in, it helps me be very supportive of my teachers and my students and be understanding from the ground up,” Kelly said.

To Kelly, being a servant leader means being willing to step in and help in whatever ways are necessary, regardless of the typical administrator job description.

Aimee Reams, LCCTE’s Teacher Academy instructor, said Kelly’s ser-

Kelly

vant-leadership is especially evident when she helps with many LCCTE needs, including cleaning the center.

“She gets that vacuum, and she’s right there cleaning the toilets and doing all those things,” Reams said. “That’s just a great example of how she’s just going to get out there and do it.”

Before becoming director, Kelly played a pivotal role in implementing LCCTE’s Teacher Academy program, serving as its first instructor. As director, she has continued to evaluate the workforce needs of local industries and adjust programs accordingly, setting up LCCTE’s unmanned aerial systems program during her first year in the role. Recently, the center added law and public safety and C Spire software development programs.

Lamar County School District superintendent Dr. Steven Hampton, a former CTE director himself, called Kelly “a champion for career and technical education.”

“She’s a champion for those skills programs and for those students who are wanting to attain those skill-based certifications,” Hampton said. “She’s always looking to expand our programs to give our kids opportunities to be successful in their chosen field.”

LCCTE serves four high schools spread out across the county, which saw a total enrollment of nearly 3,000 high school students in the 2020-2021 school year. Hampton said he admires Kelly’s ability to plan program locations and coordinate transportation to ensure every student in the district has access to CTE.

“It takes a lot of coordination and a lot of organization to get everybody where they need to go when they need to go there,” said Hampton. “She does a fantastic job of maximizing the learning instructional time for teachers and getting those students where they need to go.”

Kelly encourages her teachers to be active members of their professional organizations, both directly and by her own example. Throughout her career, she has served in leadership roles as high as president in MS ACTE, MS ACTE District V, the Mississippi Association of Family and Consumer Science Education and the Mississippi Association of Secondary Career and Technical Administrators.

“She’s a real advocate for CTE and a real voice for us and for our programs,” Reams said.

Kelly’s hard work is worthwhile to her because she sees students grow and learn what careers they may want in the future through their CTE experiences.

“I love seeing kids make connections, ultimately watching the success story of a kid developing as it unfolds and providing them support,” Kelly said.

Kelly was not only chosen as Mississippi’s CTE administrator of the year but also represents seven states as Region IV Administrator of the Year for the Association for Career and Technical Educators at the national level. She was among four other finalists in the running for the 2022 Administrator of the Year national title.

Opposite page: Lamar County Center for Career and Technical Education director Suzanne Kelly (left) greets students as they enter the center. Top: Kelly (right) looks on as LCCTE Teacher Academy student Lillian Robbins explains her bulletin board project. Bottom: Kelly (left) is pictured with engineering student Hector Godfrey as he explains programming procedures for his robot.