Local briefs: Coren is CTE Teacher of Year; former senator gets Long Leaf Pine honor

Innovative High School’s Christine Coren has been named as Henderson County Public School's North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching’s (NCCAT) Career and Technical Education (CTE) Teacher of the Year.

Coren is a Family and Consumer Science teacher at Career Academy and teaches all courses in the school's Culinary Academy. Coren’s Foods I and Culinary Arts & Hospitality I-IV students often cater events for the school. For the past 10 years, Coren has worked for Henderson County Public Schools and is a School Improvement Team member, FCCLA advisor and CTE department chair.

NCCAT’s CTE Teacher of the Year program offers district-level nominees the opportunity to engage in professional development through NCCAT in Cullowhee, where Coren will be competing alongside teachers from other districts for the honor of the state's NCCAT CTE Teacher of the Year.

Former state Senator Plexico awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine

According to a news release, former State Senator Clark Plexico has been awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor Roy Cooper in recognition of Plexico’s many years of service to North Carolina. The award is considered to be the highest honor that a North Carolina governor can bestow and is made to those who have made significant contributions to the state through their exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments, the release said.

The ceremony was held earlier this year via Zoom in order to include family, friends and former colleagues from a dozen countries scattered across four continents from places in Plexico’s varied and international career, including England, France, Spain, Finland, Egypt, Tunisia, Georgia, Nigeria, Vietnam, Cambodia and Mexico, as well as five different states in the U.S.

Participants included Plexico’s children, all living abroad, and other family members, some of whom live in Hendersonville, including his sister Sandie Salvaggio-Walker, nephew Bart Salvaggio and niece Dale Bradshaw and their families.

While serving the southwestern part of the state in the senate, Plexico’s home county was Henderson. He was elected to four terms and chaired both the Education Committee and the Education Appropriations Committee with responsibility for two thirds of the state budget.

Plexico was also a leader in energy conservation, election reform and economic development. According to the release, he continued advocating for these issues as State President for Law & Government Affairs for AT&T, working to convince the company to contribute over $1.5 million to Smart Start, the state’s early childhood initiative. Also, Plexico accompanied Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. to Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, China and Mexico to expand the state’s international economic ties.

In 2009, Plexico became the Country Director in Uzbekistan for the National Democratic Institute, leading efforts to build democratic practices in the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. He later led NDI efforts in Afghanistan, including working with former warlords to encourage their participation in legitimate political efforts. Recently he has been working to evacuate and resettle Afghans who spent years working on behalf of U.S. organizations.,

Plexico continues to lead seminars worldwide on effectively managing cross-cultural challenges and conducting business in different parts of the world, and is a tutor for Oxford University’s International Negotiations Program in Bangkok, Thailand. He serves as a political commentator for various news organizations, including Al Jazeera English News Network and writes guest columns for US newspapers from his perspective as a Tar Heel working and living abroad.

He currently resides in Tulum, Mexico with his wife, Juleigh Sitton.

New exhibits by the Art League will highlight recycling

Two exhibits made from recycled materials by the Art League of Henderson County will open March 31 and be on display for several weeks.

The exhibits will also coincide with Hendersonville's Earth Day festivities in April.

At the Main Library of Henderson County at 300 Washington Street, the two art walls will be dedicated to work incorporating repurposed materials in some way. Each piece will include an artists' statements of their process. Community Exhibits Chair Norie Sanchez said in a news release that pieces will be both two-dimensional and three-dimensional and include everything from used bottle caps to old trays.

“This is an out-of-the-box challenge for many of our artists, but the results have been amazing. There is beautiful creativity on display,” she said.

The Main Library show will hang for three months, from March 31-June 30 during regular library hours. Many of these works will be for sale by contacting the artist directly. The library does not handle sales for its displays.

Art Place, the gallery of the Art League of Henderson County at 2120 Asheville Highway, will host a companion display of artworks incorporating reused or recycled materials to coordinate with the library show. Pieces from jewelry to sculptures, tapestries and paintings will be on display from March 31-April 12 during gallery hours, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Works there will also be for sale.

The Art League will also have a booth with information and demonstrations of paper weaving at the Hendo Earth Fest on April 22 on Main Street in Hendersonville.

For more information on the exhibits, contact Norie Sanchez by calling 704-576-1667 or by email at noriequilts@gmail.com. For information on Hendo Earth Fest, contact Ann Twiggs at hville3twiggs@gmil.com or by going to www.hvlnc.gov/hendoearthfest.

Habitat at Home spring photo contest begins

Conserving Carolina is holding the fourth annual Habitat at Home spring photo contest, which is aimed at inspiring more people to restore natural habitat at their homes, as well as places like schools, businesses and houses of worship. The contest will be from April 1-May 15.

This photo contest invites people in Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina to show what Homegrown National Park can look like by entering pictures of their native plants and the wildlife they see in their gardens, yards, and landscaping. This may include bees, butterflies, frogs, salamanders, lizards, turtles, birds, bobcats, deer, bear, and much more.

To enter the contest, post photos or videos on Facebook and/or Instagram, as a public post with the hashtag #habitatathome2023. Everyone call also enter the contest by emailing rose@conservingcarolina.org. To be eligible for prizes, photos must be taken in Western North Carolina or Upstate South Carolina.

After the contest ends, a panel of judges will select five finalists. The grand prize winner will be chosen through online voting. The grand prize is a professional landscape consultation by Mark Byington of Byington Landscape Architects, who is an expert in sustainable landscapes. The other four finalists will win $25 gift cards to their choice of local businesses that sell native plants.

For more information go to conservingcarolina.org/contest2023.

City of Hendersonville offices closed on Good Friday

City of Hendersonville offices will be closed in observance of the Good Friday holiday on April 7.

Garbage, recycling and brush collection for City of Hendersonville customers will not be taking place April 7 due to the City's holiday schedule. Collection for Friday customers will be delayed by one week with collection resuming on April 14.

For water/sewer issues occurring on the City holiday, the afterhours number is (828) 891-7779.

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: CTE Teacher of the Year announced; former senator gets Long Leaf Pine