February President's Update

By Drew Barnes, Vale School District

Greetings Fellow NACAT Members,

Happy New Year 2025! It’s hard to believe that we are already over half way through this school year. I am hoping each one of you had an enjoyable and restful holiday break. I know that I said it last year, but it truly is great to be able to take a step back and enjoy quality time with family and friends. It always helps to come back refreshed and ready to go, as we prepare to work with our students in the second half of the year. As this issue of NACAT News reaches you in February 2025, I know that you will all be very busy working with students in your classrooms/shops and doing your best to train successful future technicians.

It has been a very busy start to the year here at NACAT as well. We hit the ground running in early January, beginning with an outstanding discussion at our first mentor session of the year. That session was very well attended and very informative. Then, shortly thereafter, on January 14th we hosted another very successful online training session. This time, the topic was the more technical “Tesla Model 3 and Y in the Classroom”, led by Jack Rosebro. We can’t thank Jack enough for sharing his knowledge with the NACAT members on the call, as well as his continued support of our organization.

A year ago, in my President’s Update, I provided metrics on our membership. I feel like it is a good time to show where we are now, compared to just a year ago. If you remember, in 2020 our membership dropped down to 90 members and 1 Allied member. Last year at this time we had 180 members and 16 Allied members. I am proud to say we reached our initial goal of 200 members (and still growing each week) and 25 Allied members! As we look to the future, we will continue to look at strategies and make decisions to continue to grow and strengthen our organization.

It is that time of year again, NACAT board elections. Are you an active NACAT member, who is passionate about automotive education, and wondering how you can give back and help our organization? Please consider joining the NACAT board of directors. Elections will take place later this spring, as elections near, updated information will be posted to the website as well as our social media pages.

By the time you read this, we will have launched registration for the 2025 NACAT Conference in Detroit, MI. Please visit the website for up-to-date travel and hotel information.

As always, if you have any questions about the happenings of NACAT or questions about this summer’s conference, please feel free to reach out to myself or any of the NACAT officers or board members. Keep up the great work and I am looking forward to seeing you all in person at the conference in June!

Thank you and see you soon!