In the STEM department, many students can agree that there is a surplus of mentionable teachers for Teacher’s Appreciation Week, but recently, students have come to meet and realize another teacher to add to the group.

Holly Andrews, who teaches honors algebra, is now coming to a close in her first year in Azle. And though this year brought stresses for teachers previously thought unimaginable, she overcame the struggles of COVID-19 and online teaching with a smile.

“[Mrs. Andrews] doesn’t realize how funny she is and she will say something that makes me laugh and she won’t even know what she said that made it so funny,” Junior Kora Clark said, “I really enjoy her class and her keeping me on track.”

Mrs. Andrew makes it a point to try her best to make her students feel welcome in her classroom by greeting each one and every student to her class and every online student, and if she doesn’t catch a student when they walk through the door, she apologizes and welcomes them. Throughout the year, she even keeps notes of student’s birthdays and gives them special pencils or cards she sends through the mail.

“On my birthday, Mrs. Andrews sent me a birthday card and it was so sweet and thoughtful,” Junior Angel Brown said, “I’ve never had a teacher that was thoughtful enough to send me and a lot of her other students a birthday card in the mail before.”

She is always welcoming students to come to class if they need extra help, and thinks ahead for students’ education by preparing sophomores and juniors for the SAT and entrance exams for mathematics in college. Students even find that she is easy to talk to in class and can ask for help with any work that they need.

“[Mrs. Andrews] super adamant with any help that you literally ever need,” Sophomore Trey Thornton said, “She’s just genuinely a nice person and I can see that she loves to teach.”