George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast

From Hendersonville High to Teacher of the Year: A Hometown Story

• George Real Estate Group

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Discovering artistic potential and nurturing creative independence takes center stage as we sit down with Marley Moreno-Hollifield, Henderson County's 2025 Teacher of the Year. A Hendersonville native born during the famous blizzard of '93, Marley brings hometown pride and innovative teaching methods to the Henderson County Career Academy, where she's revolutionizing art education.

The conversation reveals how Marley approach to teaching has evolved dramatically with her implementation of TAB (Teaching Artistic Behaviors), transforming her classroom from a traditional teacher-directed space to a vibrant studio where students develop their own creative projects from conception to completion. "It's a managerial nightmare," she admits with a laugh, "but when they connect to the subject or their own art and gain confidence, it's career-changing." The results speak volumes – students mastering crochet, collaborating on sculptures, and developing crucial 21st-century skills like resilience, problem-solving, and self-direction.

Beyond the classroom, Marley shares her community involvement through the Girls Empowered mentoring program and her contribution to Hendersonville's iconic bear sculptures, including a recent installation featuring native plants in honor of the region's natural beauty. Coming from a family of educators and inspired by her high school history teacher Walt Cottingham, Marley's story exemplifies how dedicated teachers can transform lives. As she eloquently puts it when describing those magical moments of student discovery, "This semester has been lightbulbs just boop, boop, boop all over the place." Her infectious enthusiasm reminds us why exceptional educators deserve celebration and why teaching remains one of society's most impactful professions.

Tune in to hear how art education can empower young minds, why student-led learning creates deeper engagement, and what makes Henderson County Career Academy a unique educational opportunity for local students. Marley's passion for teaching will leave you inspired about the future of education in our community.

Speaker 1:

The George Real Estate Group radio broadcast is celebrating 10 years on WHKP. The George Real Estate Group is celebrating 10 years on the radio, live every Thursday morning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7 FM and AM 1450, and streaming online at WHkpcom. Each Friday morning at 845,. The George Real Estate Group presents the Hometown Hero Award to someone in our community who goes above and beyond to make our hometown a better place to live. Here's this week's Hometown Hero Show. It's 845 on Friday morning, and that always means it's time for the George Real Estate Group Hometown Hero Series, and we are tickled to death to welcome Noah George to the mics with us. Hey, noah, good morning and happy Friday. It's good to have you with us, man. Every Friday morning, we get the chance to talk to some Henderson County notable people, and today is no exception. We have the 2025 Teacher of the Year in the house with us, and first of all, though, we want to talk a little real estate news. What's going on in the real estate world, noah?

Speaker 2:

Well, first off, we're so grateful to sponsor the Hometown Heroes series every Friday morning. It's a privilege and honor to bring incredible men and women to the mics and hear their stories about what they're doing to make a difference in this community, and we love serving this community through real estate. Real estate, we know, happens around life. It could be a really positive reason why our clients are buying or selling, or it could be a challenging reason, but no matter what it is, we have the experience and the knowledge and the systems to help our clients navigate through the buying and selling process.

Speaker 2:

You asked, randy, about the real estate market. I mean we're steady. I mean certainly there's a lot of news out there that the sky is falling but the market is holding here. Over the last 24 months we're averaging some 125 single-family homes a month selling. We've had a slight increase this year to date versus last year. And then the prices they're holding in around the 530s, the average single family home price in Henderson County, and of course that's the average and we certainly have options for clients that are looking for things more affordable. And then we are working with homes in the you know one $2 million range too. I mean, so we across the the price ranges and whether it's residential or commercial, or land or um, you know your investment properties.

Speaker 1:

Whatever it is, we can help you navigate through that uh, you guys have still continue to have open houses, right?

Speaker 2:

well, yes, actually we have two wonderful open houses uh this weekend. 1351 Chanteloup Drive the address is Hendersonville but it's in the heart of Flat.

Speaker 1:

Rock.

Speaker 2:

It's an incredible home over two acres, 989, 4,500 square feet, that's going to be open this Sunday 2 to 4, 1351 Chanteloup Drive, and you can see all this information on our Facebook page. Also, we have a listing in Flat Rock, 19 Robert E Lee Drive. This home's $449,000, $1,700 plus square feet Amazing home. Both of these properties are going to be open Sunday two to four. We've had so much activity on the open houses. I mean people are out there looking for homes. We have sellers even coming out to check out what's on the market and a lot of times sellers are coming to check out our agents to say, hey, you guys are hustling and we want to hire somebody. That's out there and so we're so grateful. We've helped more people year to date this year, but I've said this before we're so grateful. We have over 100 years of combined experience and this is my 20th year with my real estate broker's license and we've helped over 1,500 families in my career. So grateful to serve the community through real estate.

Speaker 1:

All right, Two big open houses this weekend. I'm sure those will be well attended Chanteloup and Robert E Lee Drive. Just great addresses in Flat Rock they are.

Speaker 2:

They really are.

Speaker 1:

They really are All right. Help me to welcome Marlee Moreno-Hollifield, the 2025 Teacher of the Year. Good morning, Marlee.

Speaker 3:

Good morning. Thank you all so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

Well, thank you for being here and thank you for what you do and have done to become the Teacher of the year.

Speaker 3:

Luncheon for all the county teachers of the year and you know uh, mark garrett was starting to explain who it was about.

Speaker 3:

Three sentences in I started sweating, it's like he's talking about well, he said studio and I was like oh, uh-oh, I think I might be the only art teacher, so I think it's me. So of course there was a lot of just just shock. Um, my mind definitely went blank for a little bit, um, but it's, it's a huge honor, um, I again it feels surreal, so I but I'm, I'm so proud to be representing not only um the arts but also um my school, the Henderson County Career Academy let's talk about the Henderson County Career Academy.

Speaker 2:

Let's share. Our listeners may or may not be aware of it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I think that it is well. It's a smaller school so less people are going to be aware of it, just in general, because there are less kids there. But the Henderson County Career Academy is part of the Innovative High School. The Innovative High School is housed on the Blue Ridge Community College campus and it houses Henderson County Career Academy and the Early College, so all of our students are together. We do a lot of events together but the programs are separate. You know, the Early College goes on for their associates and our kids. We're trying to get into those Blue Ridge classes soon and hit them towards a career path. So for the Career Academy, ninth graders well, eighth graders apply to come in as ninth graders and so they come from all four base high schools and we are known for our Firefighter Academy. We're the only school, the high school in the county, with that. We have our Culinary Academy, our Business Academy, health Sciences and then the Art Academy is what I am in charge of.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. Tell us how long have you been teaching now?

Speaker 3:

So this is my ninth year teaching. It's my fifth year at the Career Academy. I've been in Henderson County Public Schools for eight years and I taught English in Japan for one year. So yeah, I've been all over the place. It's been great. Yes, you have. It's a cool job, just regardless of what you're doing for sure. How did you end?

Speaker 2:

up in Hendersonville I am.

Speaker 3:

Am from hendersonville, um, born and raised, so I was born 1993 party hospital. The blizzard of 93 actually yeah, I'm sure my mom was like woohoo, um, I went to hendersonville high school, graduated um, ended up at unca, liked studying abroad, went to japan but then decided to come home because I really love it here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah well, uh, besides the classroom, the studio classroom, you do a lot of other things with the kids and, uh, we talked uh just a minute before we went on the air, about you guys put a bear on main street yeah.

Speaker 3:

So I was able to partner with the Literacy Connection and I painted a bear this year and I had it in the classroom, so kids gave me tons of feedback. Of course, if you have anything in the classroom, students will give you feedback, so just be prepared for it, but it's actually very helpful. I am hoping to do one with my students next year. I do have a student who is going to do a bear next year. Her mom runs Smart Start, so she's like will you help me? I was like absolutely I'd love for you to do one.

Speaker 3:

I actually did one in high school as well with my classmates With Courtney Holscher at Hendersonville High School, the one I did this year. It's on the corner of the courthouse and at first, and it's native plants only so just trying to shout out our, you know, local wildlife, especially, you know, after helene. You know the devastation that occurred for everybody, but also in our forest, so feel free to check it out. It's one of the only two white bears on the street okay, let's talk about your involvement with jim.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah. So GEM is amazing. It's Girls Empowered. It's a program run through the United Way. It's been around for quite a few years. I have a personal connection to GEM. My mother is actually the program coordinator for GEM now and so she reached out to me about being a speaker for the Dream Board activity. So I have spoken with the fifth graders and the eighth graders, so I've done the two different levels and what it is is. It's just sort of you know, you get a big canvas, you have a bunch of pictures that my mom has printed out based on what the girls have have written about that they're interested in and want to do, and we talk about collage, we talk about goal setting and some people might call it a mood board or like a manifestation board, but it's really fun to see the girls work together.

Speaker 2:

Or a vision board.

Speaker 3:

A vision board. Yes, thank you A vision board, and it takes maybe like an hour, hour and a half after school and I love doing it. It's a lot of fun to give back in that way.

Speaker 2:

That's so amazing. So let's go back. Where did this? Where did it come? When did it come to you that you wanted to be a school teacher? And then, even more specifically, what teacher had the biggest impact on you as you thought about your career?

Speaker 3:

So my mother was a high school principal Well, no, not high school, sorry Middle school and elementary school principal. Before that she was a high school principal Well, no, not high school, sorry Middle school and elementary school principal. Before that she was a high school teacher. My father was an assistant teacher for quite a few years. I think that my great uncle was a teacher in Buncombe County School, so there's a big history of education so I've always respected it.

Speaker 3:

In high school I heard about the Teaching Fellows Scholarship and wanted to pursue that. So I knew from high school, especially after being a camp counselor and working with kids. I was like you can't be a camp counselor forever, but you could be a teacher. So I went into college for that. The teacher I actually was originally going to be a history teacher and the person that inspired me was Walt Cottingham. He was my history teacher at Hendersonville High School. I took his class three times. I took one of his classes twice just to have him again. He was that amazing. He's retired now but he influenced me. He was funny, he was professional, just so great. I loved him so much. So I thought I wanted to teach history. Turns out I did not. I found out pretty quick in college, um, so I decided I still wanted to teach and realized, oh, I could, I could teach art, I love art. Why not, like? Put those two together instead?

Speaker 2:

so that's that's how I ended up with my degree in art and not in history but but it's so true how impactful our teachers are, I mean even in your own story. But I mean you realize that. And again, the difference our teachers have in our kids' lives, I mean it's. I mean I'm lost for words, but I mean it's such an impactful yeah life-changing impact our teachers have with our kids.

Speaker 3:

Well, we're with them for eight hours a day, you know, and at different schools different amounts of time. Elementary school, obviously we remember elementary school teachers. You know they almost become like second moms or dads. You're with them all day. My students I see every day for an hour and a half straight for at least a semester, and so you know the kids also impact us a lot and they're really important to us. But I think I can remember almost every teacher I ever had and I would say honestly, almost always the impact was positive. I was really lucky. It is. It's a big deal.

Speaker 1:

It is a big deal, Marley. I know it's a big deal when you see the light bulb go off in a child's head. Tell us about that experience.

Speaker 3:

Oh, my, that is the best part. So, um, the whole time I've taught art. That is the best part. You know, when a kid like, oh, they connect to something you know, it's not even necessarily, oh, like, now they can do a realistic drawing, like that's not necessarily important part, it's when they connect to the subject or an artist or their own art and they get their own confidence. Um, recently I've switched the way I do my classroom, where it's when they connect to the subject or an artist or their own art and they get their own confidence. Um, recently I've switched the way I do my classroom, where it's called tab, which is teaching artistic behaviors, and so I don't know about what, when y'all were in school, when I was in school, a teacher gave a project and we all did it in art class.

Speaker 3:

What I'm doing is we do a few projects together, we do boot camp like skill builders together, and then most of the semester they're creating their own project proposals, like from start to finish. Like, what's your learning target? What are you gonna do? What artists are you going to look at? What medium are you going to use? So that this and I started that this semester has been like career changing for me. I've got kids that are just crochet masters now. You know, I never had a chance to teach crochet to a whole class. I didn't have the stuff. Kids didn't have the interest. But a couple do. I have kids that are really into sculpture. I have kids that are making models, you know. You of course, still have students that want to draw and paint, but I really hope that's the future of the art classroom. It's chaotic, it's a managerial nightmare.

Speaker 3:

I bet it is. It's a managerial nightmare. It's a mess, but if you can handle it and if the kids can handle it, it's just so cool when they they talk to each other even more than they used to. They're bouncing ideas off each other. Some kids are doing collaborative projects, which has been super awesome. So this has been the semester of light bulbs, like just boop, boop, boop, boop all over the place so, but it's not.

Speaker 2:

It's not. It's not the one size fits all with art, and you're empowering the children to and students to follow what they they're interested in and you're giving them a platform and an environment to pursue whatever they they feel called to yeah it.

Speaker 3:

It makes a huge difference for them, but also as a teacher, it makes the day better. The kids are just having so much more fun and it makes me have a lot more fun. But I think that's an important thing that school needs to be now is empowering kids to learn how to make their own decisions, to be resilient, because you know, when you're crocheting, I may not know how to help you. You might have to be resilient and watch a tutorial a few times, mess up a few times. You may have to ask your friends for help. So it's all about building these 21st century skills. Can you make a proposal? Can you reflect on your work? So it's been incredible. I've really enjoyed it a lot.

Speaker 1:

I feel the excitement.

Speaker 3:

I really do.

Speaker 1:

I want to go. Noah Marlee Moreno-Hollyfield, henderson county public schools, teacher of the year, recently honored at uh and voted on and by your peers I know that that's so important. Uh, we've got to go. Noah's got a certificate for you and some certificates at area restaurants. We thank you so much, marley, for your dedication and your joy. It's enthusiastic, it's contagious.

Speaker 3:

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Y'all have a great Memorial Day weekend and thank you for listening to the Hometown Hero.

Speaker 2:

There's a strange thing that happens in life. Sometimes, when things are just okay, we stay stuck longer than we would if things were truly bad. It's called the region beta paradox and explains why people stay in homes, that kind of work neighborhoods that used to be okay, or rentals where the price isn't too bad because it's comfortable. But comfort can cost you your dreams. What if you didn't wait for something to break before you made a breakthrough? What if the didn't wait for something to break before you made a breakthrough? What if the nudge you've been waiting for is now? At the George Real Estate Group, we hear it all the time. I'm so glad I did it while I could. The move, the decision, the change before it's too late. Whether you need more space, less stress or just a fresh start, you don't have to stay stuck, you don't have to settle and you don't have to do it alone. Call the George Real Estate Group at 828-393-0134. Don't let just fine, hold you back. Let's make a move while you still can.

Speaker 1:

The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, north Carolina, near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygregcom. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-393-0134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, flat Rock, north Carolina. Tune in live each week on Thursdays at 10.05 a on WHKP 1 0, 7.7 FM and 14 50 AM, or stream online at WHKPcom or download these podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. The George real estate group brings you the WHKP hometown hero series every Friday morning at eight 45.