This article describes the journey of a current doctoral student from teacher candidacy to inservice work and mentor teaching to studying effective teacher preparation. The purpose of the article is to investigate the importance of the PDS triad--teacher candidate, mentor teacher, and university instructor--through one person's perspective. Having experienced two of these roles and studying the third, I discuss the importance of all stakeholders in the success of a teacher candidate's experience. More specifically, the article discusses the importance of highly effective mentor teachers in shaping and informing each aspect of the PDS triad.