From the days of the Mr. Microphone, the Atari, and the TRS-80, long before Cellular Phones, Compact Discs, and iPods, Marty Norris has always had his hands in technology. From a very early age, he found electronics to be particularly interesting, especially the wonderful world of radio. While in elementary school, Marty would spend snow days spinning 45 RPM records, jamming his father’s 8-track tapes, and broadcasting to all of Bina, NC (suburb of Lansing, NC) via an ultra low powered FM Transmitter. 
During his middle school years at Northwest Ashe High School, Marty was introduced to Amateur Radio (aka Ham Radio), by his seventh grade science teacher. Soon he would have a license from the FCC to surf the shortwave frequencies and make friends all around the world. In 1991, at the age of 13, Mr. Marty was
the youngest amateur radio operator in Ashe County. Scouting has always been part of 
Marty’s life. He obtained his Eagle Scout award in 1994 with Troop 214 and is still involved today with area scouting functions. By 1996, he would graduate from Northwest Ashe and then pursue a degree from Appalachian State University in Technology Education. In June of 1998, Marty got the college kid’s dream job at WKSK in West Jefferson. He would return to his roots by playing DJ on the weekends, and became part of the dynamic duo on Friday nights that would broadcast Ashe County High School football. To this day, he still remains part of the 5000 watt “Voice of the Huskies” and involved with WKSK’s technical and engineering staff. Marty pioneered the station’s first website and assisted WKSK to become the first station in the high country to stream audio over the internet. In December 2000, Marty walked the stage at ASU to receive his B.S. degree in Technology Education with two concentrations (Secondary Education and Trade and
Industry). In 2001 while searching for a professional position, Marty was hired to teach math at Ashe County High School. The following year, he was moved into a Technology Facilitator position at West Jefferson and Fleetwood Elementary Schools. Soon in August 2004, the two schools would become one; Westwood Elementary. From this point on, Marty would be responsible for all facets of technology at Westwood during the IMPACT Grant. It was during this time, that he obtained his M.A. in Instructional Technology from ASU (December 2006). In 2010, his alma mater (ASU) called on him to become an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Technology. Still today, Marty is blazing the technology trail at that’s full of bits and bytes preparing our students to become twenty first century learners.