Hoover High's Sophie Griffies wins 2020 Finley Award for character among 683 seniors

Sophie Griffies on Thursday was named Hoover High School’s winner of the 2020 Finley Award for outstanding character among all 683 seniors at the school.

Griffies was honored during an assembly for seniors in the school’s gymnasium, along with more than 20 other seniors nominated for the award.

The 17-year-old is the commander of the school’s Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and is known for her outstanding leadership, said retired Air Force Col. Chris Moulton, who is one of the Jr. ROTC instructors at Hoover High.

“When they talk about leadership, I would just show you a picture of her,” Moulton said. “She is the alpha. When she speaks, they all fall into line. They all listen.”

Moulton said Griffies has been a superstar in the Junior ROTC program from the beginning. She commands the drill team, has the most community service hours, has won numerous national Junior ROTC awards and will win a few more at the end of this school year, he said.

Griffies is the poster child for the core values of the ROTC program: integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do, Moulton said.

“She understands the idea of perseverance, determination. That’s her. There’s no half-finish or anything like that,” he said.

On Friday, Griffies was tasked with giving an hourlong briefing on the Hoover High Air Force Junior ROTC chapter to the school principal, school system superintendent and Air Force ROTC regional director — all by herself, Moulton said.

“The idea that a 17-year-old child can do that is remarkable,” he said. “She’s got a level of composure that you almost can’t imagine in a child this young.”

Alicia Wilbanks, director of the Hoover High School dance department and coach for the Buccanettes dance team, said Griffies has overcome many obstacles in her life and shown a rare amount of work ethic and responsibility.

When Griffies tried out for the junior varsity Buccanettes when she was in the eighth grade and failed to make the team for her freshman year, she enrolled in an advanced dance class and worked extremely hard to learn more and improve herself, Wilbanks said.

She demonstrated perseverance, tried out for the team again and made it for her sophomore year. During tryouts for the following year, she broke her ankle and tore her Achilles tendon, but she pressed on in tryouts wearing a boot.

“She was determined to be on the team no matter what,” Wilbanks said. “She’s such a crazy hard worker.”

Griffies was named captain of the junior varsity team for her junior year, but when it came time to try out for her senior year, she decided to give up the activity she loved to focus her energy on Junior ROTC. She said it would have been an injustice to not be able to give 100% to both.

“What a mature decision for a junior in high school to say, ‘As much as I want to do everything, it wouldn’t be fair to those programs to not give 100% to each,’” Wilbanks said. “Who does that?”

Griffies said her dream is to become an Air Force pilot. She plans to attend Troy University and looks forward to being part of the ROTC program there, she said.

It was “absolutely mind blowing” just to be nominated for the Finley Award, she said. The other nominees are people to whom she has looked up since middle school, she said. “Being able to stand next to them was an honor in and of itself,” she said.

Hoover schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy told the senior class at Hoover High on Thursday that winning academic and athletic awards is great, but the awards for great character probably trump all the other awards given out in the school district.

“I am so absolutely proud of all these young people for being nominated,” she said. She encouraged all the senior class to not only have integrity when no one else is looking, but also in the way they treat one another. “Do you value each other? Do you respect each other? Are you kind to each other?” Murphy said. “Whether we ever know it or not, be people of good character.”

The Finley Committee, the group that each year selects a senior at each of Hoover’s high schools and a faculty member from the school system, plans to announce the other two winners of the 2020 Finley Award soon.