Isaac Ladley attended the Western NY Tech Academy from 2016-2021. The Tech Academy is an early college program where you start taking college credit classes as early as 9th grade.  Isaac entered the program in 9th grade from Byron-Bergen High School. He graduated high school in 2019 and then continued the program for two years at Genesee Community College. 

Isaac chose Tech Academy because he was attracted to the idea of earning an associate's degree while in high school. He knew if he attended Tech Academy he was going to get professional development skills that other students were not getting at that time.  

When he started at the Tech Academy there were three pathways to choose from.  They offered Accounting, Food Processing Technology, and Supply Chain Management.  Isaac picked Supply Chain Management because of the different types of potential jobs he could get in this field of work.  

As a student at Tech Academy, the biggest lesson he learned was that no matter what you choose to do, you need to work hard for it. He learned the soft skills needed to be successful in any career. The mentorship program at Tech Academy allowed him to develop soft skills and eventually led to a future co-op position at Liberty Pumps. 

His favorite memory from the Tech Academy was being presented with the “Professional of the Year” award in front of his peers and business partners of the Tech Academy. Liberty Pumps was present when he was presented with this award. 

After graduating high school, he wasn’t finished at the Tech Academy. The Tech Academy extends to two years at Genesee Community College. The college credits he had earned while in high school and the pathway program all led to his degree program and concentration. After two years at GCC, he finished an AAS Business Administration Degree with a concentration in Supply Chain Management. 

Since he earned college credits while in high school, he was able to space out the rest of his college degree. He was able to take lighter semesters, which allowed him to work more.  During his last semester at GCC, he had to do a co-op to graduate. This is where the benefits of the Tech Academy still come into play. He reached out to Lindsay Warner who was a Business teacher at the Tech Academy and she was able to put him into contact with his Mentor from High School. His mentor was the HR manager at Liberty Pumps. 

Through this connection, he was able to find a co-op position in the purchasing department at Liberty Pumps. Isaac worked in this Co-op position initially for eight and a half months full-time and paid. During his time at Liberty Pumps, he realized that he wanted to enter his career at a higher level and this would require additional education. He applied to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for a bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management. 

“During the application process, I received letters of recommendation to enter the program from past Tech Academy teachers. They continued wanting to help with my continued success. I was also able to get letters of recommendation from the place I worked while I was at GCC. Thanks to the community of people I have been surrounded with, I was successfully accepted into RIT where I am currently two semesters away from completing my degree,” explained Isaac.   

Isaac is majoring in Supply Chain Management with a minor in Business Analytics. At RIT you also take an Immersion, which is three classes in a specific area of study. His Immersion at RIT is in Principles of Computing.  He is still working at Liberty Pumps with the intention of managing all of Liberty’s suppliers one day.  His end goal is to become a Supply Chain Manager.