Every month, Assistant Principal Mr. Frank Hernandez organizes the H.O.P.E award for the staff at Freedom Area High School. For each award there is a theme that allows the students to vote for which teacher best fits the description of that specific category. For the month of April, the theme was “Believes in me.” In order to give every student a fair chance at voting for the teachers, Hernandez distributes voting slips during lunches and in the hallways between classes. On the sheet, students are to nominate the teacher that best fits the theme as well as a small paragraph giving the reason as to why they believe the teacher should be given the H.O.P.E. award. The winners of the H.O.P.E award this month were Mrs. Andrea Niedbala and Mrs. Brandi Burger. “I was shocked to find out that I won. It makes me so happy that my students know that I believe in them and that I know they can push themselves to their full potential,” Burger said. “I was so excited that I won! I always like to make my class smooth sailing and let the kids know that I care about what’s going on in their lives, and I believe they can achieve anything they put their mind to,” Niedbala said.