Keeping up with Cooper

New yearbook teacher Madalyn Cooper waits patiently as her students walk through the door. As more and more students walk in, she is overcome with a wave of excitement and nervousness.

Cooper started teaching at the beginning of the spring semester as the new yearbook adviser after the previous adviser left at the end of the fall semester. This is Cooper’s first time being a full-time teacher.

“[During my first day] I was overwhelmed, excited and nervous all at the same time,” Cooper said. “I got extremely lucky [by] getting the chance to become Hebron High School’s yearbook adviser and come into a very unique environment where there’s a lot of creativity and more time to do the things we need to do.”

Sophomore Jentrie Reynolds has been in yearbook since the start of the school year. She said it was difficult to switch to a new teacher in the middle of the year, but she feels more comfortable with the changes.

“At first, it was kind of hard adjusting to a new teacher in the middle of the semester,” Reynolds said. “Especially with something as complex as making a yearbook, It took a while for me to adjust, but now it just seems normal.”

Cooper was a feature editor for her college newspaper. She said after being an editor for a newspaper, she wanted to become a teacher and be able to help students reach their full potential.

 “I knew from when I graduated that I wanted to be a teacher and having that journalism background made me want to become a teacher,” Cooper said. “I wanted to be an adviser and help students reach their potential and help them learn how to report, write, photograph and design. I think with those skills, these students can do so much in the real world.

Reynolds said Cooper has done a good job of adjusting to a new environment. 

“So far, I think she’s done great,” Reynolds said. “Having to come in the middle of the school year is already hard enough, but with something like a yearbook, it’s definitely a harder task. She didn’t really have an idea of what the yearbook theme was and how we were doing it, but she adjusted to it very well.”

Cooper said she wants to increase overall yearbook sales and include more about the staff members.

“I also want to include more students and faculty in the actual yearbook itself because students and faculty are a big part of this campus and I want them to be able to look back on their memories,” Cooper said. “I just want to make sure that here at Hebron and in the yearbook that we are kind of getting the full story of everyone that contributed to that year.”