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June 2025 | Volume 13 | Issue 9
Sun
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THE NEW PLAYBOOK The college sports market has changed — and high school athletes are paying the price. As NIL money and transfer culture reshape recruiting, Sports Editor Kyle Parmley examines how even the best local players are dealing with new challenges.
For athletes like Spain Park’s Brock Bradley, the changing landscape of college sports puts recruiting in different light. Photo by Todd Lester.
See THE NEW PLAYBOOK | page 28
Alabama’s new Teacher of Year wants kids to grow, play By JON ANDERSON Katie Collins, Alabama’s new Teacher of the Year from Bluff Park Elementary, has spent 20 years in the classroom — and says today’s kids face a new kind of challenge. “The kids in our classrooms don’t know how to solve problems,” Collins said. Collins said parents today have become overly protective because they fear their children getting hurt, and that fear may be limiting key growth opportunities. For example, parents may hear about a
child being abducted while playing outside their home in North Dakota and, as a result, think they can’t let their child play outside anymore, Collins said. “We’re very anxious in parenting,” she said. “We as a society are overprotecting our children in the real world — and underprotecting them in the virtual one,” she said. The result is crippling for kids, who most of the time can do a whole lot more than their parents think they can, Collins said. And the kids become anxious and fearful because their parents are
INSIDE
Katie Collins, a first grade teacher from Bluff Park Elementary, in May was named the 2025-26 Alabama Teacher of the Year. Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools.
anxious, she said. “The data is telling us that kids walking around in our schools are the most anxious generation. They are the most fragile generation,” Collins said. “It’s a national mental health crisis.” Collins, who will be taking this next school year off to travel the state and motivate other teachers, hopes to spend a lot of her time encouraging teachers to be catalysts for change.
Sponsors............................ 4 City...................................... 6
See TEACHER | page 30 Schoolhouse...................... 8 Business............................ 10
Real Estate....................... 13 Events................................ 14
Sports................................ 18 Community...................... 22 facebook.com/hooversunnews
Summer Fun
Another One
Explore ways to have fun and stay cool in Hoover all summer long.
Bucs girls track and field team claims its fifth consecutive Class 7A outdoor state title.
See page 14
RE-ELECT COUNCILMAN DERRICK
HOOVER CITY COUNCIL
See page 18
SERVANT LEADER “In order to be a great leader, you must first be a great servant.” - Derrick M. Murphy
www.derrickmmurphy.com Paid for by the Campaign to Elect Derrick M. Murphy PO Box 360571 Hoover, AL 35236