When Innovation Meets Purpose: Reflections on an Extraordinary Year

As 2024 comes to a close, I will be taking the next two weeks off to spend time with my husband, our family, and our friends. So, I decided to write my final Live Your Purpose Leadership blog of the year a few days early.

During the holiday season and especially as we inch ever closer to 2025, I have taken time this week to reflect on the past 12 months and consider what lies ahead in a new year filled with the hope of endless opportunities and possibilities. Our “One Word” for 2024 at Forsyth Tech was extraordinary, and without a doubt, the year for our college and me personally was, as the word suggests, “very unusual or remarkable.”

This year, I spent a lot of time promoting innovation and the imperative for higher education in general and our college, in particular, to embrace boldly the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence and other technological advancements available to us to challenge the status quo. Why? Rather than focusing solely on the problematic aspects that are always possible when taking strategic risks, particularly risks associated with adopting new and unproven advanced technologies, we consistently and intentionally choose the path that can potentially change the game for our students.

This morning, as I reflected on all that made 2024 extraordinary, I was reminded of Robert Frost’s words:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

These words have always held special meaning for me because they represent both a challenge and an inspiration. They challenge me never to let the fear of choosing a path less traveled stop me from recognizing the potential and power of innovation, bold thinking, and transformative leadership. They inspire me to always keep the vision for the result first and foremost, which gives me the courage to forge new trails that lead to extraordinary possibilities for our students, college, and community. I am proud of my team at Forsyth Tech because 2024 was a year where we consistently chose the less-traveled path. We embraced innovation, challenged the status quo, and made decisions that will echo far beyond this year, creating lasting impacts for future generations.

In the spirit of embracing the extraordinary power of technology at our fingertips today, I decided to create my list of the top five accomplishments for Forsyth Tech in 2024. Then, I asked ChatGPT to generate its AI-driven top-five list. Our lists were nearly identical, with one exception — ChatGPT did not include First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s visit to Forsyth Tech to announce the $50 million Engines grant. This underscores a crucial point I often emphasize: while technological advancements over the past five years have been groundbreaking, they complement rather than replace the irreplaceable value of human judgment, insight, and lived experience.

Here is the list of the Top 5 Extraordinary Moments for Forsyth Tech in 2024 that I created with refinements and enhancements provided by my assistant (or perhaps some would call it a “partner in crime”), ChatGPT.

Dr. Jill Biden’s Visit to Forsyth Tech

The First Lady’s visit underscored community colleges' critical role as economic mobility and workforce development drivers. Dr. Biden specifically acknowledged Forsyth Tech’s integral role in the Engines Grant, recognizing it as a powerful example of the transformative impact of our work. This recognition elevated Forsyth Tech’s reputation and strengthened its influence in national conversations about the future of higher education, specifically, the community college's role in advancing economic mobility as both an individual and a workforce imperative.

(More information: Dr. Jill Biden’s Announcement at Forsyth Tech

Historic Enrollment Growth and Student Success

Achieving the highest enrollment in a decade required reframing our college’s foundational tenets by embracing a Community College 3.0 framework focused collectively on the traditional access mission of community colleges, the importance of helping more students be successful, and the vital importance of making sure our students earn credentials of value that prepare them for careers with family-sustaining wages (owning our responsibility for the post-graduation outcomes of our graduates). Through innovative pathways like the Learn and Earn Apprentice Program (LEAP), we not only attracted a more extensive and more diverse student body—high school students, working adults, student parents, and career changers—but also focused on ensuring those students persisted, completed their goals, and earned credentials that prepared them for livable wage jobs in our region. By removing barriers, supporting retention, and creating equitable opportunities for all students to succeed, we demonstrated that growth is most meaningful when paired with measurable outcomes of success in school and within the labor market.

(More information: 1. A Community College’s Journey to Advance Completion and Build Trust in Education; 2. Forsyth Tech Sees Record Enrollment Again)

AI Integration and Innovation

Our leadership in using Artificial Intelligence exemplifies how we push beyond traditional educational models. The launch of the AI Task Force and the Microsoft CoPilot pilot program have empowered faculty, staff, and students to use technology for transformative teaching, learning, and operational excellence. This work positions Forsyth Tech as a leader in the digital age, helping us move faster than the industry’s curve. We are not just “early adopters”. We are fearlessly embracing new tools and technologies to customize and personalize our students’ experience with phenomenal results:

• Blazebot, our AI chatbot (powered by Element451), has completed almost 15,000 conversations, freeing up 168,000 human minutes for our staff to use for higher-level, greater-need human engagements our most at-risk students and prospective students need most
• 87% of our chatbot conversations are handled expertly, quickly, and accurately by Blazebot without human intervention, at any time of the day or night and in any language
• 31% conversion rate in prospects to applicants (above industry standard);
• 40% open rate on the more than 600,000 emails sent since becoming the first community college in North Carolina to implement Element451’s customer relationship manager (a game changer!)
• We are currently piloting an AI-powered recruiter and outreach specialist that proactively reaches out to prospective students and applicants and guides them through key steps like applying for financial aid or making a payment — giving timely, personalized assistance at scale and often much faster and more efficiently than traditional methods

(More information: Engage Summit 2024: Leading AI Innovation in Higher Education: A President’s Perspective)

The Launch of the Trailblazers Athletics Programs

Launching athletics isn’t just about competition (although we love a friendly competition at Forsyth Tech); it’s about community, culture, and creating new opportunities for students to engage and experience all that college should be. In a year, we built infrastructure, branding, and excitement for programs like E-Sports, basketball, and volleyball, showcasing Forsyth Tech’s commitment to continuously innovating and improving our students’ experience.

(More information: Forsyth Tech’s New Sports Era)

Pioneering Innovation and Loving and Serving Each and Every Student to Success

In 2024, Forsyth Tech solidified its role as a trailblazer and a catalyst for equitable economic mobility, earning prestigious recognitions and forging partnerships that reflect our commitment to loving and serving all students to success and leading workforce and economic development within our service area, the region, and the state. In February, Achieving the Dream (ATD) designated Forsyth Tech a Leader College, one of only 10 community colleges nationwide to receive this honor in 2024. This designation highlights the effectiveness of our whole-college student success reforms, which have driven measurable progress in closing achievement gaps and increasing completion rates for all students. Forsyth Tech was also one of only six colleges selected by Jobs for the Future (JFF) to participate in the Disrupt the Divide project, an initiative to increase the number of Black, Latino, and Indigenous graduates in high-quality nursing and advanced manufacturing jobs. Furthermore, we are one of eight colleges chosen by the Education Design Lab for the Reimagining Community Colleges, which emphasizes innovative, human-centered approaches to student success and workforce readiness. The Association for Community College Trustees (ACCT) chose Forsyth Tech as the Southern Region Equity Award recipient, which celebrates our college’s leadership in creating inclusive practices that ensure success for students of all backgrounds. Additionally, recently being named a Bellwether Award Finalist underscores our leadership in designing and scaling transformative programs like College Lift, which break down barriers to opportunity for first-generation and low-income students.

(More information: 1. Forsyth Tech Named One of Ten Leader Colleges in the US; 2. Disrupt the Divide; 3. Education Design Lab Designer in Residence Paula Dibley; 4. Forsyth Tech Wins Association of Community College’s Trustees Southern Region Equity Award; 5. Forsyth Tech Named Bellwether Finalist

Reflecting on these extraordinary accomplishments, I realized that success is never a destination — it is a journey fueled by vision, collective determination, and a shared commitment to loving and serving each and every student to success. In 2024, we demonstrated what is possible when innovation meets a shared vision and purpose, and every decision is rooted in the belief that education truly is “the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” (Nelson Mandela).

But our work is far from done. Looking ahead to 2025, we will celebrate a milestone — Forsyth Tech’s 65th Anniversary — six and a half decades of blazing trails in Forsyth and Stokes counties, the Piedmont Triad Region, and our beloved North Carolina. Our focus will shift to impact—measuring what we achieve and the difference it makes in the lives of our students, their families, and the communities we serve. As we strive to build on our foundation of innovation in 2025, we will continue to ask: How can we deepen our impact, boldly challenge the status quo when necessary, and lead the way to create lasting change that empowers and uplifts our students and communities and prepares the skilled workforce needed to sustain economic and workforce prosperity?

Together, we will work at the speed of innovation, turning possibilities into realities and making 2025 another extraordinary and impactful year.

To read more of my blog posts, please visit my Leading with Purpose: A Journey of the Heart and Mind, at my website: Live Your Purpose Leadership (JanetSpriggs.com).

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