Lori Ann Henderson Cooper, 31, has been part of Dallas County all of her life.

From graduating with an advanced high school diploma from Dallas County High School, she continued her education at Troy University where she obtained a Bachelor Science in elementary education.

She now serves as a reading specialist in the county school system she was a student at now serving at Brantley Elementary School.

“A reading specialist, is an educator who is professionally trained in teaching literacy skills,” she said. “I work with students to assess their reading styles and offer instructions for improvement. As a reading specialist, I assist children in developing fundamental reading comprehension skills.

“I believe that teaching is a calling, and that calling gives great purpose to one’s life,” she said. “It is building people, and helping them become more of what they are meant to be. I do not know of anything more fulfilling than knowing you have taught a good lesson, that was understood. Teaching is giving of yourself to others, pouring out your knowledge and wisdom, to be used up by the students. It is helping, first the mind, but also the heart.

“The relationships you develop as a teacher are absolutely amazing. You are meeting people at a critical point in their life, and having a chance to build into their lives,” said Cooper. “The relationships you develop as a teacher are absolutely amazing. You are meeting people at a critical point in their life, and having a chance to build into their lives. It’s fantastic. You see your students every day, or every other day, and you get to know their minds, and their hearts. It is a great privilege and such a wonderful thing about being a teacher. As a teacher, I will be remembered by students for the rest of my life. The respect and love I show in the school has an impact on a student’s view of themselves, on their other relationships, and on their future.”

Cooper stays busy with her family and community involvement.

“I am married to a wonderful hard working man Dillan Cooper and we have a beautiful, fun, loving little girl Emma Kate Cooper,” she said adding that she also is involved in the DYW Committee and Elkdale Baptist Church.

“Community involvement is the power to bring positive, measurable change to both the community and lives of our young people. When you work in your community you are giving that positive outlook to others around you,” she said.