Page 26 2023 Hometown HEROES Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS May 2023 and help where he could. He made an effort to work with and understand the student’s life and background, compromising on the due dates of assignments and allowing them the chance to rest. Students weren’t afraid to communicate or be open with him; he was a safe space for a great deal of them. I’ve seen students who were hated by other teachers and looked at as “lost-cause dropouts” completely turn around when they ended up with Mr. Cooper. He wanted to understand and uplift them, not give up on them. Those students started getting higher grades in his class, participated, and took tests on time. He’s been a shining light in so many people’s lives, and for him to burn so strong and for so long truly shows how amazing and dedicated of a man he is. If every teacher in the US Education System showed the care and understanding he had, lights would be a lot brighter all over the world.” These students were not the only ones reached by him, though. Upon getting in touch with LCHS through social media, I found out that a post regarding the 2023 graduates and retiring staff reached almost 12,000 people, “mostly due to the photo of Mr. Cooper.” With over 330 positive reactions on photos in respect to Mr. Cooper, the comments were littered with congratulations and thanks to him for being an amazing teacher. On individual shares of the post, many people referred to him as the best teacher they had ever had, their inspiration, and reminisced on the impact he has had in their lives. Mr. Cooper loves when former students make efforts to keep in touch, and looks forward to what may come with his retirement. In his last few weeks at the high school, Mr. Cooper carefully packed up a room full of many memories. Cards, artwork, and photos from his students were on display all over the classroom and on his desk. Mr. Cooper left with organized boxes and binders of their gifts. If the note or artwork from the student didn’t have a full name or year with it, Mr. Cooper found their school photo to put with their piece. He was very excited to show the binders and boxes that remained to me upon our first visit since my graduation in 2021. My favorite piece in his collection was a note from his wife. Up until his last day of work, it remained in his desk as it had always been for the last 23 years. Written were her warm wishes for his “first day in class.” Mr. Cooper stated that at first his goals as a teacher were to survive, and then he wanted to earn his students’ respect, be remembered as a good teacher, and prepare them for a life after high school. He was very certain in saying that, “I will miss all the smiles more than anything.” I have so many stories I could tell about Mr. Cooper. I’m tearing up knowing I won’t get to spend an hour a day, five days a week in his class anymore. In my recent visit, I left with five hugs and a promise of crappie filets and a lesson on how to prepare them. I know he had many favorite students, and I was so happy to know that I got to be one of them. He had a closet with nice shirts and ties for students to borrow if they needed professional attire for class presentations. Mr. Cooper had a drawer in the file cabinet behind his desk dedicated to snacks and water bottles for the students. I got to go up and get what I needed from the drawer anytime I needed it. Every year the first prompt for our individual binders was to write about ourselves: our lives, interests, goals, and dreams. He truly wanted to get to know all of his many students as thoroughly as he could. I had my own intensive problems, and Mr. Cooper always let me go to the Continued --
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