Highland Mid-Kids Radio Club Interviews New Faculty Member

“Hello, I am Luke (Baxter) with the Highland Mid- Kids Radio Club. Joining us today is Karen Hollowell,  our new fourth grade teacher at Highland Elementary School. Thank you so much for taking the time to let us get to know you better.”

“Hello, I’m Lauren Mason. How many years have you been teaching?”

“Hi, Lauren. I have been teaching for 22 years.”

“Hello, I’m Elijah Good. What different grade levels have you taught?

“Hi Elijah – well I have actually taught a lot of grade levels. I started out teaching second grade, then I taught kindergarten in first grade for about 12 years. Then in Bath County, I taught the sixth and seventh grade and now I’m teaching fourth grade.”

“Hello, I’m Kylie Arbogast. Where have you taught?”

“Hi Kylie. I started out teaching in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Then I taught in Gates County, North Carolina for a very short while. Then I taught in Southern Virginia and most recently I taught in Bath County, Virginia.”

“Hi, I’m Ava Summers. What is your fondest or funniest memory of teaching?”

“Actually, I think for me, the best memory I had was a student who I taught, and he was in sixth grade. And, he had never passed an SOL before in English in all the years, and he passed mine. And also, when I taught kindergarten and I had a student who had, almost like a negative PAL score. I don’t know if you remember what PAL is, but you do it kindergarten through third grade to check reading levels, and when he left me he had a score of 92. And both times, I actually cried telling the children I was so proud of them.”

“Hi, I’m Jordan White. What is your favorite subject?”

“Well, teaching fourth grade, I’m teaching all of the subjects now, but my real passion is reading. I actually have a Master’s degree in reading to be a reading specialist.”

“Hi, I’m Meckenzie Lambert. What advice would you give to someone who wants to teach?”

“I would say if you want to teach, to pursue it with all the passion that you have, because if you’re not excited about it, then you’re not going to be the best teacher you can possibly be. You have to look forward to those kids. You have to look forward to seeing them every day on their good days and their bad days. And you have to love them. And you have to be willing to build relationships with them. So you have to take the time in your life to do that. And it just makes it so much better. I still have relationships with a lot of kids that I’ve taught over the years.”

“Hi, I’m Mary Anne Rogers. In your opinion, what makes Highland County special?”

“Well, Highland County itself is the closest to any town that I’ve seen so far like the towns in Hallmark movies – I just noticed that the other day. But the school is amazing. I have not met one person here who was not kind, who was not helpful. Everybody just seems to work together as a team. It’s like one big family and a lot of schools say they’re that way, but Highland Elementary and Highland High School is really like that. And Highland County is a community that really seems to be welcoming and takes care of their people.”

“Thank you so much for joining us today. Have a wonderful year with your new class. This is Bethany (Eye) and for Allegheny Mountain Radio News. This is the Highland Mid-Kids Radio Club.”