Two Hoover City Schools students and a faculty member were recently honored for exhibiting exceptional character.
The school district honored its 2014 Finley Awards winners March 20 at the Finley Awards Banquet at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center on U.S. 280.
Michael Zelwak, a teacher at Spain Park High School, won the faculty Finley Award. Student Finley Award winners were Chandler Fullman of Hoover High School and Will Freeman of Spain Park High School.
The Finley Committee for Character Education was created in 1996. Its current chairman is Jeff Dance. The committee hosts events throughout the year to recognize K-12 students who exhibit exceptional character, in the spirit of Coach Bob Finley, the committee and banquet’s namesake. Finley, a longtime coach and educator at W.A. Berry High School, led by example and was known for his calm demeanor, integrity and strong faith, program officials said.
Zelwak, a New Jersey native, teaches 11th-grade English at Spain Park High School. He also coaches the school’s cross country team and indoor and outdoor track teams.
Zelwak said in his 10 years teaching at Spain Park High School, he’s learned a lot about Finley’s legacy.
“Mr. Finley was a great man from what I know. Being a part of the Hoover City Schools, you hear about him and the history he left and the legacy,” Zelwak said.
Zelwak learned he was the 2014 faculty award winner in a surprise ceremony attended by his wife, Anne, daughter, Leighton, family members, friends and colleagues.
“Just to be considered (for the Finley Award) is an honor,” Zelwak said. “To win it is actually probably one of the highlights of my teaching career.”
Hoover High School senior Fullman said winning the Finley Award also meant a lot to him.
Fullman said Finley’s name is one he’s “only heard mentioned with good stuff. For me to win this, words can’t really describe it.”
Fuller is better known as “Superfan” around Hoover High School. The self-proclaimed fan said he’s an avid supporter of anything to do with the Bucs.
“I love Hoover,” Fullman said. “I especially love athletics, and when you combine Hoover and athletics, you just love it.”
Fullman has overcome many obstacles to get to this moment in his senior year. During his freshman year in September 2010, he suffered an aneurysm while on campus and was rushed to the hospital. He and his family later found out that he had Arteriovenous Malformation, or AVM, a condition best characterized as an abnormal connection between the arteries and veins, bypassing the capillary system and only detectable through brain scans.
The irony of that day for the Hoover superfan was that it was the same day he was set to try out for a spot on the school’s golf team. That dream never fully materialized, as Fullman spent the following 56 days in Children’s Hospital of Alabama, 17 of those days in a comatose state.
“I kinda realized I was just going to have to be a fan and support my fans,” Fullman said “I mean, if that’s what God wants me to do I am going to do it.”
Fullman has since been on a long road to recovery. He is active on campus in service organizations, honor societies and student government organizations.
Fullman said he plans to attend Auburn University and pursue a career in athletics, possibly as an athletics director.
Fullman’s counterpart at Spain Park High School is no stranger the spotlight.
Freeman, also a senior, is a nationally-ranked swimmer and has both academic and athletic scholarship offers to the University of Alabama.
He’s received numerous academic and athletic accolades during his high school career, most recently being named a national finalist for the Wendy’s High School Heisman.
Freeman is a six-year varsity letter winner and during his junior year joined the Spain Park High School Honor Council.
“(Our council) actually drafted a code of academic integrity this past summer, and we have been trying to implement it throughout the school,” Freeman said.
Freeman holds school, league and state records in several swimming events and is an eight-time high school state swim champion and six-time National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) High School All-American.
Despite his accomplishments, Freeman said he was surprised to be named his school’s Finley Award winner this year.
“I honestly never thought I would be here–be the winner. I used to see other kids get this award, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this is a bar I can never get to,’” Freeman said. “Now that I’m here, it’s like ‘people are looking up to me.’ That’s interesting.”