The third and fourth graders at Andalusia Elementary School have spent the past 10 weeks participating in Liberty Learning Foundation’s community leader program. On Tuesday the students concluded the program by recognizing 13 local community heroes.

During the course of the program, the students learned about civil duties and career, and learned how to have pride in the community and themselves.

The second grade classes each nominated one local hero for to receive the Helping Hands Heroes Award.

On behalf of Mrs. King’s class, Tionna Jackson presented Barbara Peek with the first award of the ceremony.

“We nominated Mrs. Peek for leading the student broadcast program and all the hours she spends with the students,” Jackson said. “She is also our school photographer and takes all the pictures at our events.”

Mrs. Wiggins’s class nominated Kiley Spears and Maddie Jessie told why she was nominated.

“Mrs. Spears is the director of Meredith’s Miracles and she also volunteers a lot of her time for numerous school events,” Jessie said.

For Mrs. Moore’s class, Marcus Henderson presented the award to Mary Griffin.

“Mrs. Griffin is a substitute custodian at Andalusia Elementary School and she is always busy as a bee,” Henderson said. “She is willing to clean up anything and she always does it with a smile. Her attitude while doing her job, teaches us to have pride in our beautiful school.”

Julie Curry was nominated by Mrs. Harwell’s class and Avery Morgan presented the award.

“Mrs. Curry is the PTO president and she spends a lot time organizing school events,” Morgan said. “She helps raise funds we need to learn, and by volunteering so much of her time she puts others before herself. She truly helps this be an amazing school.”

For Mrs. Cross’s class, Anna Reese Wells presented the award to Andalusia Police Department and Andalusia City Schools’ resource officer Jackie Woods.

“Officer Woods encourages us to always make good choices,” Wells said. “He makes us feel safe in the halls in the morning. That is why we nominated Officer Woods.”

Mrs. Black’s class nominated Frank Schaffer for the award. Annistyn Page presented it and told the crowd why Schaffer was selected.

“Even though his job is to keep the campus cleaned, Mr. Schaffer goes above and beyond what his job requires,” Page said. “Some of the teachers call him ‘Super Frank’ because there is nothing that he wouldn’t do to help others. He loves all the kids and he doesn’t think what he does is special, but rather it’s just what he should do. That’s why we picked Mr. Schaffer.”

The final Helping Hands Heroes Award handed out by the second graders was given to Marcia Reichert by Addison Owen of Mrs. Bryant’s class.

“She always goes around with trash bags to pick up trash that people have left on the side of the road,” Owen said. “She also volunteers a lot of time helping us with school work.”

Next up, the third grade classes nominated local heroes for the Torch Team Heroes Award.

On behalf of Mrs. Weed’s class, Harold Jones presented Jamal Hourel with the award.

“Jamal is a running back for the Andalusia Bulldogs and he demonstrates the three Cs that tell what it means to be a Torch Team Hero,” Jones said. “Jamal showed courage on the field while leading the Bulldogs through the state playoffs, he shows compassion by being a mentor to our class on Tuesday and he shows commitment by rarely missing time with us. Those along with many other reason are why we selected Jamal as our Torch Team Hero.”

Natalie McGlamory from Mrs. Thrower’s class presented the award to Katie Poole.

“Mrs. Poole is involved in Andalusia Dance Tumbling and Cheer that she bought,” McGlamory said. “She teaches dance to more than 200 girls in the county, and she is also our P.E. coach.”

Pierce Majors presented the award to Jennifer Majors on behalf of Mrs. Pugh’s class.

“Mrs. Majors is our technical specialist at school and she helps everyone with their computer problems,” Pierce said. “She is involved in many other things and can also be a substitute when needed. She is always helping the kids with a smile on her face, and she is also important because she is my mom.”

For Mrs. Clark’s class, John Robert Mixon presented the award to Mark Rudd.

“Mr. Rudd always comes to our ‘Feast Around the Word’ and demonstrates with his karate team,” Mixon said. “His dojo, Andalusia Isshinryu Karate, was named Dojo of the Year in 2015.”

Riley Cravey from Mrs. Pearce’s class nominated Dr. Bhagwan Bang.

“Dr. Bang grew up in a small town in India where he watched children suffer from lack of medication,” Cravey said. “That is what inspired him to become a pediatrician, and now he has been serving the children of our county for more than 20 years.”

Anna Nguyen presented the final award of the ceremony to Dr. Bill King, who was nominated by Mrs. Chavers’s class.

“Dr. King has been a dentist for more than 40 years,” Nguyen said. “He has given healthy smiles to many kids at this school. He has been serving on the school board for the 21 years, and he had part in getting this building built.”