As she grins from ear to ear, waiting patiently for students to enter, attendance secretary Elizabeth Cooper welcomes students with a friendly face.
Born in Colorado, Cooper finds herself at Ocean Lakes after her extensive experiences working with young people. After moving here at eight years old, she spent 15 years in private daycare administration and served as a social worker for over a year.
Although she has only been here for two months, her impact is quite noticeable.
“She has been phenomenal and has soared with every job opportunity,” Assistant Principal Jenna Flipowicz said. “Her personality is very compatible with everybody here, and we have enjoyed having her so far.”
Cooper is responsible for the new tardy system where tardy students only have to quickly fill out a google sheet to sign into school, a quick, easy and effective process that allows students to get to class that much quicker. She also attributes her early successes to her amazing working environment. She notes that the tardy stations work very well for the first 15 minutes after every bell, allowing the attendance office to not stay crowded constantly and overall creating a helpful system.
“I love it here because of the friendly people, including the staff and students,” said Cooper.
One of her favorite parts of the job is being able to interact with students daily, and enjoying the small talk she gets for just minutes at a time.
Cooper is all about having fun and enjoying life, mentioning how she loves spending time with family and friends, planning events, helping others, and thrifting on weekends with her mother.
“I honestly would just like to enjoy it here and really live in the moment,” Cooper said.
Students have already made note of her impact and how her friendliness improves their morning.
“It’s nice to be welcomed with a smile when you’re late,” junior Marino Purdue said. “Mrs. Cooper never fails to brighten my morning.”
