As an English teacher, Freedom Athletic Director Steve Amaro is used to his students using figures of speech.

So when freshman Kelsey Almassey came to him and said she wanted to leave her mark on the school as part of her end-of-the year leadership project, he was hesitant. But when she showed him some of her old drawings, and a design to paint the press box in Freedom’s football stadium, he was sold.

“Here at Freedom, we try to enable the students to do the best they can,” Amaro said. “If all of a sudden we realize a project is going to take place that would benefit the entire campus, the best thing we can do is try to eliminate any obstacles.”

After 15 hours of work, the press box now reads “Freedom Falcons.”

“I just wanted to make my mark on Freedom,” Almassey said. “I thought: what better way to do it than to add some school spirit?”

Now that the project is complete, and receiving rave reviews from the school’s administration, Almassey isn’t afraid to admit it was the first time she used outdoor latex paint. “It was a lot of work, but it wasn’t too awfully difficult,” said the student who carries a 4.0 grade point average. After she convinced Amaro and later Principal Erik Faulkner to allow her to carry out the art project, the hard part was over.

To start the project, Almassey laid out the letters on her computer. After enlarging the letters to scale, she stenciled them onto the press box and painted them.

“I’m proud of her for wanting to add some school spirit to the school,” said Nicole Almassey, Kelsey’s mother. “I try to support anything that has to do with school.”

Almassey’s idea came to life while she visited other schools during her middle school track career. She noticed that most of the tracks’ press boxes were decorated.

Having already painted a mural on a friend’s bedroom wall, Almassey needed some scaffolding and a stroke of courage to pull off the project. “It makes me feel pretty awesome,” she said.

The project struck Amaro as one of the most ambitious a Freedom freshman has ever pulled off, and hopes it inspires other students. “Not only did she have her shot, but I think she has opened up a couple doors and opportunities for other students,” he said. “I have a feeling it is going to really hit her when we get 5,000 people in here for a football game.”

Now that Almassey has made her mark on the school with paint, the soon-to-be sophomore hopes to etch her name in the school’s record books: “I want to break the high jump record.”