February 2023 | Volume 11 | Issue 5
Sun HOOVER’S COMMUNITY NEWS SOURCE HOOVERSUN.COM | STARNESMEDIA.COM
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Let’s Face It: Your Smile is Yours Forever Our Lifetime Smile Guarantee offers peace-of-mind. If you’re unsatisfied with your smile after treatment, we’ll fix it at a discounted price. Visit BhamSmile.com to schedule a free consultation. SERVING HOOVER, THE 280 CORRIDOR, HOMEWOOD, MOUNTAIN BROOK, TRUSSVILLE AND VESTAVIA HILLS
Lady Bucs Rolling
Hoover High girls aiming for elusive 3-peat.
See page A18
Medical Guide
Get to know some of the health and wellness providers in and around the Hoover area.
See page A25
INSIDE Sponsors........... A4 City......................A6 Business.............A11 Community...... A16
Events............... A16 Sports............... A18 Spring Medical Guide........... A25
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MASTER TEACHERS Hoover’s Teachers of the Year known for creativity, hands-on learning
By JON ANDERSON
I
f you walk past Maghan Craig’s classroom at Bluff Park Elementary School, don’t be surprised if you hear students singing. She’s not the choir director
at the school, but she does teach her first grade students songs to help them remember concepts, and they often sing those songs as they transition from one activity to another.
See TEACHERS | page A24
Maghan Craig, left, a first grade teacher at Bluff Park Elementary School, and Kevin Pughsley, a sixth grade Earth science teacher at Berry Middle School, were named Hoover’s Teachers of the Year for the 2022-23 school year. Photos by Erin Nelson. Miss Jefferson County's Outstanding Teen Elaina Burt, a junior at Briarwood Christian School, stands in front of a plane at Over the Mountain Aviation at the Shelby County Airport. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Flying high: Riverchase teen soars with epilepsy awareness efforts By JON ANDERSON For six years, Elaina Burt has watched her cousin, Charlie Wilson, battle epilepsy caused by a gene mutation called SMC1A. Charlie is nonverbal, stays in a chair all day long and is fed through a tube. She’s on medication for epilepsy, but if she didn’t
have the medication, she would continuously have seizures all day, said Burt, a 17-year-old who lives in Riverchase. “We’ve really had to grapple with the unfairness of that,” Burt said.
See ELAINA BURT | page A22