Sherri McCready
sherri@highlandchristian.com
Drama 2nd-5th Grade
Drama 6th-12th Grade
Sherri McCready has been teaching or performing drama for over 20 years in a variety of settings to people of all ages. Her performance experience started in High School through an excellent fine arts department and continued briefly through a brief stop at two colleges where she was first a Vocal major and second, a Ballet major. Her real training came from 100’s of school assemblies through out the United states during her travels from 1987-1999 with the Choice Lifestyle School Assemble Team. Her most recent endeavor, other than teaching at Elevate, was Directing and performing in Highland Acting Company’s production of Godspell.
Beth Gaffney
belouise@indygraphics.com
Intermediate Sewing
I am Beth Gaffney, wife to fellow artist, James Gaffney, another Elevate teacher, and a homeschooling, stay at home mama to 3 (and one on the way). I have a BFA in Fashion from Savannah College of Art & Design and once upon a time worked as a clothing designer but fell in love with being with my babies too much to go back to leaving them so many hours a day. So, now I have a passion for all things crafty as my creative outlet as I am busy managing a home. I love and dabble in all areas of fine arts from drawing and painting to sewing and crocheting and even silversmithing/jewelrymaking. I also run a small, home based business, LilyGiggle shoes, creating leather shoes for babies and toddlers. Most recently, I have had the blessing of working as costume designer for Highland Acting Company’s presentation of Godspell. All in all, I have logged in over 20 years of sewing and design experience and really enjoy passing on some of the knowledge I’ve gained to anyone willing to learn.
Doreen Garris
doreen@highlandchristian.com
Crochet/Knitting
Doreen is a stay at home wife and mom. She keeps busy taking care of her four boys in her home who are, 8 months, 3 years, 5 years, and 33…opps that last one is her husband! She is an artist at Garage 34 and enjoys sewing, knitting and crocheting. She also enjoys singing, hiking, and watching movies on her couch…can I just say she is multi-talented!
Maggie Cathcart
maggie@highlandchristian.com
Math Tutoring
Beginning Sewing
Maggie Cathcart has a bachelor’s of science in Math Education from Mars Hill College. Although she majored in Math, she loves the arts. She learned sewing from her mom when she was young and has enjoyed making things since then. Her spare time, however, doesn’t include math at all. She enjoys driving through puddles with her husband, spray painting old patio furniture to get “that” look, and gardening.
Emily Peniston
luke-emily@hotmail.com
Intro to Art
Emily Peniston is a creative arts teacher who has studied communications, fine and performing arts, literature, and education at various universities. She has worked as a camp music director, preschool music teacher, piano teacher, tutor, and has done missionary work in Scotland, Switzerland, Thailand, and Upstate New York. Her love of teaching is fueled by a passion to cultivate creative expression in others.
Michael Hayes
miknjain@hotmail.com
Cartoon Drawing
Michael Hayes has been drawing since he was 3 years old. In school he frequently posted comic strips on the main bulletin board and published illustrations for the college paper. He worked for several years as a graphic artist doing custom T shirt designs, textbook illustrations, and CD design before pursuing a calling towards social work and counseling. He loves to start sketching and see where his imagination leads. Michael has been married for almost 20 years to his beautiful wife Jain, and has 3 incredibly talented and funny children.
Jason Garris
jason@highlandchrisitan.com
Beginning Video Editing
Intermediate Video Editing
Jason loves to tell stories. He’s been using film to tell those stories for almost 10 years now. His videos have been used to make people laugh and think, but more often than not, just laugh. Jason also has a dream to see poorly edited videos one day cease to exist on Youtube. Let’s be a remedy to that dream together.
Celia Thurman
celiathurman@gmail.com
Beginning Hip Hop
Acrylic Painting
An Asheville native, wow! I began studying dance at the age of well, conception. I love to dance and I love art. I am so looking forward to getting to know some new dancers and artists, proficient or aspiring! I believe in the elevate school and that is why it is an honor to be involved! After graduating from Appalachian State with minors in dance and art, I studied Modern, West African, and Ballet with the American Dance Festival. And if you haven’t seen Godspell, see it!
Shannon McCready
shannon@highlandchristian.com
Beginning Guitar
Intermediate Guitar
Shannon is the lead pastor at Highland Christian Church. He has a wife, Sherri McCready, that is his partner in crime. They have 4 beautiful kids together. Shannon has 20+ years of experience of playing guitar. His real training came from 100’s of school assemblies through out the United states during his travels from 1987-1999 with the Choice Lifestyle School Assemble Team. His most recent endeavor, other than teaching at Elevate, was acting as the Executive Director in Highland Acting Company’s production of Godspell.
Jim Biard
j.biard@computer.org
Intro to Programming
Jim Biard has been developing scientific and technical software for 30 years. He was born and grew up in the Dallas, Texas area, and studied physics in college. He received a Master degree in Physics from Penn State University in 1985. He has worked on various NASA projects, developed commercial software, and is currently a contractor with the NOAA National Climatic Data Center here in Asheville. He and his wife Heather moved here in April of 2010, after deciding to start a new page in their life together once they sent their youngest daughter off to college.
James Gaffney
indy@indygraphics.com
Photoshop
James has a bachelors degree in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art & Design, and a lifetime of experience in ad agencies and printing companies, including running his own design company for the past 11 years. Likes to incorporate a little fine art and a little humor into his work and his everyday life. Drinks far too much coffee, plays with his kids (he’s got a bunch), and loves to paint, draw, doodle, Photoshop and ramble on in his spare time.
Hugh Wright
hugh@solehope.com
Graffiti As Art
Hugh Wright is a local artist, slash visionary with a love for youth and a desire to make a difference in how they see themselves and their opportunities. He spent the last 20+ years training and leading college and high school men and women as camp counselors and mentors. “I love to see youth learning, growing and finding purpose in their lives. Learning a new skill or conquering a new challenge, its one of the best feelings I have ever known, nothing builds self esteem and confidence like learning something new and building on that success and that’s why I love mentoring. I’m a leader and leaders are dealers, dealers in HOPE! That is what i will be dealing at Elevate. HOPE! Youth respond to the someone who takes the time to listen and impart knowledge to show them something new. Nothing says ‘I value you’, as much as leading, loving and listening.” Graffiti is just one of the art mediums Hugh is excited about teaching to aspiring artists, he wants a new group of artist’s to leave their creative mark on this world
Melissa Wilson
docicamag@gmail.com
Music Theatre Dance
Science
Book Club
Melissa is a biology professor at Montreat College. She is a proud wife and mother. She is also the founder of the online magazine called Docica. She has a love for dance and was trained in a prestigious school in California.
Debi White
dslwh@bellsouth.net
Glee
Debi White has been teaching, directing or performing music and drama for over 25 years. She graduated from Southeastern University with a degree in music education and went on to teach music in a private school setting. Debi later continued her education and obtained a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy. She and her husband currently own a private practice in Asheville and are both licensed marriage and family therapist’s. However, music and drama have always been a major part of Debi’s life. This has included directing and writing many musical and dramatic presentations. Most recently Debi has enjoyed the opportunity to direct the Highland Singers and teach Glee club for Elevate School. Debi is married to her wonderful husband, Steve, and homeschools her two beautiful and talented daughters, Lauren and Lindsey.
Tracy Sumney
tracysumney@aol.com
Gardening
Tracy is a wife and homeschooling mother of three. She enjoys antiqueing, reading and creating gifts from the garden. Raised on a farm in Michigan, Tracy has worked in several garden centers over the last 17 years and specializes in container gardening and design. She looks forward to sharing what the garden has taught her and passing on her love for plants to her students.
Michelle Longacre
Fun Dance
Michelle is a wife and nanny. She enjoys dancing, hiking, sewing, cooking, agriculture, and reading. She has been dancing since she was 13, starting with ballroom dancing and has had experience in ballet, hip-hop, jazz , modern, interpretative, and theater dance. She has worked with kids her whole life and enjoys teaching. She hopes to provide an outlet of creativity for her students through dance. And she just wants them to have fun. 
Suzanne Teune
steune@gmail.com
Life Drawing
Embroidering
Suzanne studied studio art at Wheaton College outside of Chicago, Il. She gradually moved her concentration toward working with fabrics via installation and fashion design. Ten years ago she began making and selling skirts to friends and in a Chicago boutique. There, she interned with designer, Elise Bergman. Later, she interned with Portland Garment Factory in Oregon. Suzanne has enjoyed embroidering her creations using a combination of sketching and freestyle since 2005. Currently, she is apprenticing under designer Mo O’Grady at Avaloo Boutique in downtown Asheville. (Swing in and say hello on Monday afternoons.) She also creates and designs her own line of clothing and sells her wearable art independently and at Garage 34. Beyond that, she loves to draw portraits and be outdoors. She feels incredibly blessed to be surrounded by the mountains of Western North Carolina.
Heather Biard
hjbiard@gmail.com
Spinning
I am the mother of 3 grown children and am excited as I start a new chapter in my
life. I have a degree in English Literature from Abilene Christian University and
have spent the last 20 years homeschooling my children, tutoring other children
in English and teaching a Drama class. With the move to Asheville I have been
able to feed my creative side. I learned to spin and weave as a teenager (I bought
my first wheel with my own money at 13). I love to sew and knit as well and
generally try out any fiber art. I also love to cook, which can be a challenge for my
family as my daughters are both gluten intolerant and my son has a corn allergy.
Whether I am reading, writing, spinning, knitting, sewing or cooking, I love to be
creating something. Getting to pass on any of these passions to others is exciting
to me. I want as many people as possible to catch the bug and look forward to the
opportunity to share with others.
Bronwyn Cronin
ashevillegirlschoir@gmail.com
Girls Choir
I feel that I would have gotten into much less trouble as a teenager if I
would have begun singing earlier. It was my high school choir director
that ignited my desire to sing. I had never had formal voice lessons up
until that pivotal point when Mr. Knabel spoon fed me two classical arias
that I would later perform before state judges at an ALL State competition.
Amazingly without knowing a word of Italian, I was taught to sing it and
received “superior” ratings from all of my judges with flying colors. Later
that year my choir director invited me to be a soloist in his international
choir that would tour France and England. It was evident to me that THIS is
what I wanted to do with my life. From there I studied with the late Gimi
Beni, a famous Baritione who was well respected in the opera world. His
words of wisdom to me were, “If you aren’t going to sing opera, well then
DON’T SING!” Because of my great respect for Mr. Beni, I continued to
study classically and earned a BA in vocal performance from ORU in Tulsa
OK. There I studied worship, composition and performance. Fast forward
very quickly ahead to the present. Here, I find myself in Western NC wanting
to share with young girls how having music play a leading role in my life has
been so much fun! Performing music has helped me build confidence, self-
esteem and provide inspiration in this labyrinth called life. I wish to impart
my passion for singing to my students.
Jazz Cathcart
jazzioncathcart@yahoo.com
Basketball Skills
Jazz Cathcart is the Senior Program Director of the “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Asheville, a long term academic and mentoring program in West Asheville. He has been working with students vocationally for twelve years and rarely goes a day without talking about his love for the Lord
Jazz was a basketball scholar at Montreat College where he was a three year starter and helped lead the Cavaliers to the National Tournament Sweet Sixteen, two Conference Championships, and a Conference Tounament Championship. He is also a member of Crossfire Basketball Team.
Colton Kilgore
kilgore.colton@gmail.com
Photography
Colton Kilgore is a “jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none” who enjoys both video and photography. He has a bachelor of arts in Electronic Media Communications. More importantly, his love for visual arts is eclipsed by his passion for travel and the people he meets along the way. Colton spent most of his life growing in Africa, and has lived in 6 different countries. This has given him a unique outlook on life, which he loves to share with anyone who is willing to listen!
