Maggi Hall

Experience

Maggi Hall is truly a jack of all trades. Not only  is she a real estate broker, former teacher, writer and animal activist, she is on a constant mission to make as much of a positive impact with her life as possible. Maggi uses education as a means to achieve these goals and has spearheaded learning programs for a wide range of students including those with disabilities. Throughout her career Maggi has won or been recognized for over thirty awards at the local, state and national levels. For the past seventeen years she has worked as a real estate broker at the company she founded, West Volusia Properties, in Deland, Florida.

Where did Maggi’s journey begin? Maggi Hall earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education and a minor in History from Stetson University in 1967. In 1974 she went back to school at Francis Marion University to obtain her Master of Education with a focus on special education. Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s Maggi sought to further her education from institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and South Carolina State Museum for certifications involving historical preservation and interpretative planning. Ever since Maggi was a young girl she always had a passion for history and in 1979 she began a hands on career in historical preservation by working as Designer and Contractor for historic preservation in South Carolina and Florida. She has won multiple awards for her pioneering work in this field and most notably assisted in the rehabilitation of the longest operating public school in South Carolina and later turned the school into a museum to forever preserve its history. Maggi has also been active in her hometown of Deland, FL. In the early 2000’s she initiated the revitalization and restoration of over 80 condemned buildings in the downtown area. After 39 years working as a historic preservationist she is still spearheading new projects and preserving the past for everyone to enjoy.

Maggi Hall began her career in education in the late 1960’s as a first grade teacher in North Carolina. From day one Maggi made it clear that she was an innovator and a born leader. She was the first white teacher to integrate the all black school system in Durham, NC and when she moved to South Carolina she continued her tradition of being the first to spearhead new programs. Maggi was the first to develop and implement the itinerant learning disabilities program and a class for emotionally disturbed male juvenile delinquents. Maggi’s goal was to help others through education especially groups that had been previously overlooked or written off. During her years of teaching Maggi was a prolific writer. She often wrote brochures, newsletters, and articles for various local and regional publications. To date she has over 32 published works.

Maggi Hall is presently working as a real estate broker at West Volusia Properties, a company she founded in 2001. She approaches real estate like she does her other important work, with heart. Her company deals with all sorts of properties and does not limit itself to one or two types so she can cater to a larger group of people, thereby helping others no matter their real estate budget or property type needs. It could be student housing, waterfront housing or commercial real estate. Maggi does it all.  In her spare time Maggi is a champion of animal rights and works diligently for a non-profit, no-kill animal rescue, which she founded in 2007. You can also find her volunteering for her community or even writing one of her books.

Maggi Hall’s website outlines her book, “Affirmed: Teachers as Citizens.” Maggi was inspired to write this book based on major, life-changing events from her time in the education sphere. You can learn all about the case by reading the book, but below is a summary of all three of Maggi Hall’s books.

In 1990, Maggi Hall spoke out via a newspaper editorial because she was frustrated by a lack of transparency in her district. For this, she was eventually released from her position as a classroom teacher “for behavior disruptive to the educational process.”  Maggi Hall adamantly believes that teachers do have and should execute the right to speak up.

Maggi Hall believes that the downward spiral of our public education system is caused by the repression of open debate and free speech amongst educators.

This book, “Affirmed,” deals exclusively with the rights of public school teachers though the consequences are the same for all public employees. If a public school teacher wants to know about how the district is spending and/ or allocating funds, they have every right to that information, just as any other citizen would. Maggi Hall truly believes that she faced retaliation for being a whistleblower. The school superintendent even published a “poem” in the local newspaper threatening Hall. Though her name wasn’t mentioned everyone who read the paper knew who it was aimed to silence: Maggi.

“If teachers’ opinions are not given or requested, they often conclude they have little to contribute, that they are somehow inadequate. The feeling of inadequacy leads to diminished self-esteem and ultimately to an attitude of defeat and dissatisfaction”

Maggi Hall did not stop after writing “Affirmed: Teachers as Citizens.” She has also authored “Flavors of St. Augustine,” “The Campus History Series: Stetson University,” “Images of America: Deland,” and “Images of America: St. Augustine.”

Flavors of St.Augustine: An Historic Cookbook, is not simply a collection of recipes, but rather a walk through history. The book includes periods of time in St. Augustine spanning from the British, through to the early American territory and ends with the current era of restoration in America. As it walks through these time periods, the book provides recipes that are both easily made and delicious. According to reviews of the book, most of the recipes are manageable except for the alligator tail and bullfrog legs. Florida’s FORUM Magazine published several of the recipes in one of their issues as well.

Flavors of St. Augustine contains recipes for coconut fried shrimp in cognac butter, St. Francis Inn Bread Pudding, mincemeat cookies, and even a recipe for bootstrap jerky.

Maggi Hall also wrote “The Campus History Series: Stetson University,” Stetson University, founded in 1883 in historic DeLand, Florida, has been educating students for over a century thanks to the passionate vision of the town’s early promoter, Henry Addison DeLand. DeLand, a New Yorker with a dream, wanted his newly adopted town to be distinctive in rural Central Florida. Since the state had no four-year college, his foresight brought to fruition the excellent educational facility we have today.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the campus boasts the oldest continually operated building used for higher education in the state of Florida—DeLand Hall—completed by Henry DeLand in 1884. The forerunner of DeLand Hall opened in November 1883 to include advanced studies in preparation for college. Thirteen students met in classes in the First Baptist Church until DeLand’s two-story frame building was erected at a cost of $6,000 on four acres at the northeast corner of Woodland Boulevard and Minnesota.

Images from the Stetson University archives will educate, enthrall, and entice history buffs, students, tourists, and residents alike. These vintage photographs will link readers to the past while inspiring appreciation for the quality education and cultural events Stetson University affords its students, the community, and the state.

Maggi Hall is a retired education, realtor, writer, and award-winning historic preservationist, environmentalist, and Stetson graduation from the class of 1967.