I Love This Place is a session intended for music teachers that provides helpful guidance for creating a culture where students want to join, stick around, and our programs grow. Creating this culture is done by embracing two main ideas:
1. I add value to my students by being a great leader.
2. I can multiply that value by growing THEM as leaders.
Together, let’s discover how we can use leadership principles to create a culture where students say, "I LOVE THIS PLACE."
Patrick Erwin
- Biographical Information
Patrick Erwin is an educator and champion of student leadership. As a high school band director for 17 years at one of the largest band programs in the southeast, Patrick regularly taught his students far more than music -- he brought life lessons to his classes through engaging presentations, fruitful conversations, and relational connection using the Growing Leaders Habitudes curriculum. Patrick’s passion for leadership also led him to co-found the Cobb Student Leadership Academy, the largest district-wide student leadership initiative in the state of Georgia, which has impacted over 500 middle and high school students since its inception. Patrick holds Master's and Specialist Degrees in Music Education from the University of Georgia and Auburn University and his Tier-1 Leadership Certificate from Berry College. As an educator, Patrick was named a Symetra ‘Hero in the Classroom,’ received the George N Parks “Leadership in Music Education” award from NAfME and Music for All, was named the VFW local and regional teacher of the year, was named to the “Hall of Fame” at his alma mater Central Carroll High School, and recently was named a top 25 teacher in Cobb County, GA by Cobb Life Magazine and Marietta Daily Journal. Patrick now serves as the Director of Curriculum for Growing Leaders, where he utilizes his expertise to develop fresh new ways for teachers to reach their students with life skills, social and emotional learning concepts, and leadership through the power of transformational images, stories, and experiences.