Many changes occurred in the district during the summer and leading up to the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. One of these changes was the hiring of Mr. Justin Turpin. Turpin applied and was hired to be the Assistant Principal back in July. Turpin graduated from Plum High School, he is originally from the Pittsburgh area. Turpin started his educational career as a band director in West Virginia. He taught band for almost 20 years before deciding to move back to Pittsburgh and get the position at Freedom Area High School.

“I was drawn to Freedom because of the size of the school,” Turpin said. “I fell in love with the small nature of a building. There are better opportunities to build relationships with students and the staff, so when the opportunity came open at Freedom, I jumped at the chance to apply because I wanted to work at a place where I could form those bonds.”

Despite attending and teaching at larger schools, Turpin is adapting well to the nature of a small school setting. One of the biggest pros of attending a smaller school is building stronger bonds with everyone in the district. Turpin has fully embodied this newfound possibility and has made it his priority.

“My biggest goal coming into this year at Freedom was learning about all the students and the staff,” Turpin said. “I wanted to be able to walk down the hallway and know everyone’s name and know about each student.”

As the year goes on, Turpin has been able to meet with more and more students. He believes that he is getting closer to reaching this goal. He also hopes that the students see him as someone they can go and talk to when they have an issue or concern. Turpin wants to make sure that every student feels supported in whatever they are trying to accomplish. 

Looking ahead, Turpin would like to work towards further accomplishing his goals. He wants to spend more time going into classrooms and observe what is happening with learning. He wants to get a firsthand look at what everyone is achieving and striving for daily in the classroom.

“My goals for the rest of the year are to continue to learn about our students, know where they come from, know what they are good at, know what struggles they have so that I can help make them successful here at Freedom,” Turpin said. 

Overall, Turpin has had both an eventful and enjoyable year so far at Freedom. Freedom has a great school but focussing on constant improvement is a big goal for Turpin. There are always ways to tighten up loose ends and do better in all aspects of learning. He hopes to help every student reach their fullest potential and continue to improve.