Book cover titled 'I Love this Place' with a red heart and a yellow banner with handwritten text, by Patrick M. Erwin, with foreword by Dr. Tim Elmore.

Your school doesn't need another strategy.
It needs tough and tender leaders.

In I Love This Place, I share seventeen years of hard-won lessons from leading a premier high school music program, revealing how authentic leadership creates school cultures where everyone genuinely wants to belong. Through honest stories of failure and breakthrough, he introduces the HUSTLE framework—a practical approach built on Humility, Understanding, Scholarship, Trust, Leadership, and Excellence.

School culture doesn't change through programs or mandates. It changes when leaders change-when we stop relying solely on techniques and start embodying the values we want to see. And that culture is amplified when we grow more leaders in our schools.

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"Patrick provides steps that are both transferable and transformational-anyone can practice them, and they will change your school atmosphere."

—Tim Elmore, Founder of Growing Leaders

A speaker on a stage giving a presentation to a seated audience in a dark auditorium with blue lighting.

I Love This Place Workshops

I would love to come deliver an hour, ninety-minute, three-hour, or full-day workshop with your team. My workshops are interactive, not sit-and-get lectures. We will have a lot of fun together, integrating activities, games, discussion, and reflection to develop an action plan to take your school culture to the next level.

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  • Patrick was engaging, thoughtful and well prepared. He kept the students interest the entire day, and they all walked away ready to go back to their schools and become better leaders. We got great reviews from the schools that attended.

    —Aubrey Nelson: Direct Grad Services

  • Do it! Most inspiring thing you will experience!

    —Matt Duncan: Herschel Jones Middle School

  • Patrick led a half day leadership clinic with my band students this summer and left a significant impression. He has a knack for making students comfortable and had the charisma to encourage them to open up. The lesson that he presented became the focal point of our season. We used its principles to increase our efficiency during rehearsals and to foster relationships amongst our members. This has been the best year of my teaching career thus far and my student leadership has made the difference. Patrick’s clinic provided what my students needed to become the game changers they are today.

    —Chris Carr: Carrollton High School

  • I am currently a student studying clarinet performance at Juilliard, and I can say for certain that I could not have come this far without the guidance and inspiration from Mr. Erwin and the Hillgrove High School band program. Through taking part in Concert Band, Marching Band, and additional leadership courses, I gained a newfound love for music, leadership, and building interpersonal relationships that has allowed me to excel among my peers in the level of professionalism I bring to my studies, and has also presented me with unbelievable opportunities along my journey to leading a fulfilling and successful life.

    Juliyan M. - The Juilliard School