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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Josh Helms is the winner of the 2024 Finley Award among all the seniors at Spain Park High School in Hoover.
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Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools.
Phanuelle Manuel is the 2024 Hoover High School senior winner of the Finley Award for outstanding character.
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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Spain Park High School math teacher Keri Ross, at right, is congratulated for winning the 2024 Finley Award for outstanding character among all faculty who work for Hoover City Schools.
Glen and Kelly Helms have had two sons nominated for the senior Finley Award for character at Spain Park High School — Trey in 2020 and Josh this year.
Out of all the seniors in the Jaguars’ Class of 2024, Josh actually won the award, which is considered one of the most prestigious honors bestowed in the Hoover community.
Josh Helms joined Hoover High senior Phanuelle Manuel and Spain Park math teacher Keri Ross in receiving the top three Finley Awards at a banquet at the Finley Center on March 21.
Each year, one senior from each of the two high schools and a faculty member from Hoover City Schools are chosen for the top awards, given in honor of Bob Finley, who coached and taught at Berry High School until he died in 1994 and was known as a man of outstanding character.
JOSH HELMS
Helms, a member of the Jaguar basketball team, also is an Eagle Scout and on a leadership team at Riverchase Student Ministries, helping guide middle school students.
One person who nominated him for the Finley Award said his most remarkable attribute is his genuine compassion for his peers.
“He consistently demonstrates inclusivity by actively seeking out opportunities to partner with students who may not always feel included,” science teacher Jenifer Bradley said in a letter.
Spain Park parent Kwa Hatchett said Helms exhibits “immense and palpable godly character. He is that quintessential child that all parents hope will befriend their child.”
Boys basketball coach Chris Laatsch had three of his players, including TJ Lamar and Parker Chase, in the running for the Finley Award. He said the committee’s job of picking one winner from among the host of nominees was a daunting task.
“That being said, Josh is an outstanding young man and such a humble [person] and just a server and a lover of people,” Laatsch said. “I'm not shocked at all that he was chosen.”
Helms said his path began his sophomore year, when he welcomed Jesus into his life.
“Once I realized that Jesus saved me and that he cared for me while I was a sinner, that changed my whole life,” he said. “If God has that much compassion and grace for a person, why can't I show that much grace for someone?”
His brother, Trey Helms, is now a student at Mississippi State University, and their parents said they are proud of both of them.
“We look up to them as much as they look up to us for what they do day to day,” Glen Helms said. “It is amazing what kind of faith they have, what kind of character they have.”
Their mother said she’s a little partial, but she thinks they’re both wonderful boys. “It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful to see what they've accomplished,” Kelly Helms said.
Josh Helms said he would have to tease his older brother about being the only one to win the award, but he also credits his older brother with being a shining example for him.
“I kind of look up to him a lot,” Josh said. “He's a lot wiser, a lot older than me, and I see a lot of characteristics of Jesus in him that I want to follow.”
Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools.
Phanuelle Manuel is the 2024 Hoover High School senior winner of the Finley Award for outstanding character.
PHANUELLE MANUEL
Manuel was chosen from among 647 seniors at Hoover High and was among 39 nominees for the Finley Award this year.
Adults who nominated her described her as an honest person of profound faith with a deep-rooted love for family, a strong sense of loyalty and a caring heart for others in the community.
She is a 2022 graduate of the Youth Leadership Forum of Birmingham and has been involved with the Birmingham-area YouthServe nonprofit since 2020, currently serving as president of the Youth Philanthropy Council.
In her work with YouthServe, Manuel helped direct the investment of $60,000 to a variety of initiatives, including bringing mental health coaching to public school educators, helping a foster care center provide transitional living to children aging out of state care, supplying reading help for struggling second graders in poverty and helping first-generation and second-generation immigrants gain access to secondary education.
Manuel also has served as a Hoover Ambassador and Peer Helper, helped tutor her younger brother and other students and co-founded an initiative called Matronize to provide resources for women after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
She also is known for a strong work ethic and high academic achievement, ranking in the top 10 of her class, taking 14 Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes, being inducted into several honor societies and participating in the Engineering Academy, Science Olympiad, Scholars Bowl and Girls Who Code organizations.
“She is self-sufficient and responsible and has good time management skills,” wrote Youth Leadership Forum Executive Director Susie Abbott. “In addition, she is confident and has exceptional communication skills. She knows when to be serious and focus on a task, but she also knows how to have fun!”
Sydney White, the Advanced Placement coordinator at Hoover High, wrote in a nomination letter that Manuel is one of the most deserving students she has taught in 16 years.
“She’s nuanced and authentic in ways that human beings typically aren’t,” White wrote. “Character traits that can be learned behavior for someone with enough self-reflection to achieve over a studied period of time are simply innate for her. In short, I think I would recommend her for just about anything from babysitting my child to running a small country. She is diplomatic, caring and objective.”
Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Spain Park High School math teacher Keri Ross, at right, is congratulated for winning the 2024 Finley Award for outstanding character among all faculty who work for Hoover City Schools.
KERI ROSS
Ross attended the initial ceremony in which Helms was informed he had won the senior Finley Award for Spain Park, but she said she couldn’t believe her ears when she was announced as the faculty winner.
“I was not expecting to be part of it in any form or fashion,” she said, acknowledging she has been on the Spain Park committee that selects that school’s student winner. “I was just stunned, stunned.”
Spain Park parent Susan Kendrick said in a nomination letter that Ross is able to demonstrate and convey not just her knowledge of the material she teaches but also her love for learning and excellence.
“I believe her passion for the material is contagious,” Kendrick wrote. “But it is her leadership that helps her students grow in responsibility. She believes in her students, expects the best from them and helps them work to make it happen.”
Parents Michael and Jana Lee cited the extra effort Ross gave in working with their son as he battled cancer.
“Mrs. Ross stepped in that gap for our son,” the Lees said in a letter. “When we were overwhelmed with chemo treatments and doctor’s appointments, she made sure he was not only on top of his math assignments, but all of his assignments.”
Spain Park Principal Amanda Esslinger said Ross is a great teacher and great person.
“When kids come into her room, they feel loved and cared for and encouraged,” Esslinger said. “It is not uncommon for us to hear students say, parents say that she's firm and she sets expectations, but she does everything that she can do to help students meet those expectations and to do it in a way that they believe in themselves.”
The principal said Ross is quick to say that people don’t sign up to take a math class. They have to take a math class.
“But there are kids that sign up for AP Stats because she is the AP Stats teacher,” Esslinger said, “and they've heard what a great teacher, what a great person she is and how she cares for her students.”
