Freedom has certainly had its share of assistant principals. This year Freedom welcomed Mrs. Darlene Corris to the position, a woman with an interesting background and no intentions of leaving. “As long as everybody will have me, I plan on staying,” she said. Mrs. Corris has a non-traditional educational background: she worked for 10 years, part-time, getting her bachelor’s degree. “I just never wanted to impede on my role as a mother,” Mrs. Corris said. After receiving her undergraduate degree she began teaching at Mt. Lebanon Middle School and shortly thereafter got her master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Most recently, Mrs. Corris worked in Ohio at a school about twice the size of Freedom. She taught at Teays Valley High School for one year, teaching chemistry and physics. The next year the assistant principal job opened up and she thought, “I’ll just give it a try.” Teachers who had worked at Teays Valley for 15 to 20 years also applied, yet she got the job. “Be careful what you wish for, you get it,” Mrs. Corris said and laughed. She says she would go back to teaching in a heartbeat, but also loves working in the administration. After working as assistant principal for three years, Mrs. Corris had to move back to Pennsylvania because of her husband’s job with Westinghouse. “She is an asset. Mrs. Corris, in my opinion, is an excellent fit for this high school. She has a great personality; she’s a great instructional leader,” Dr. Staub said. Coming to Freedom, Mrs. Corris is no stranger to instituting new technology. At Teays Valley she was the Director of Curriculum for Science, Math and Technology. When it comes to her job, she seeks inspiration from different aspects of her life. “I always fall back on my experience as being a mom, both in the classroom and as an administrator,” Mrs. Corris said. Her former students would agree. Jonnie Timmons, a recent graduate of Teays Valley High School said, “she was definitely like a second mom to me. She was a great principal and a great teacher.” Mrs. Corris said the hardest part of her job is discipline, because she can’t control all the variables. She also has to worry about being fair. “There are black and white issues but there are also the gray,” she said. Mrs. Corris’ ultimate goal when dealing with a problem is not to punish but to correct the issue. “If you had a problem she was right there trying to help you through it,” said Timmons. “I went through a lot in high school, and no matter what, I knew I could go to Mrs. Corris. She is an amazing person and you’re lucky to have her.” “Everybody that I have talked to said they wish Mrs. Corris would come back,” said AJ McKinney, a senior at Teays Valley. “I was sad that she left.” Their loss is certainly our gain.