Thanks to a new partnership with St. Edmond’s SEAS (Supervised Enrichment for Academic Success) after-school program, both students and Cooper, 41, are l earning new life skills and mentalities for success.

As an associate at St. Edmond, Cooper has had the joy of helping with the first-graders, who have also taken quite a liking to her.

“They just really kind of adapted well and adopted her,” said Gini Chizek, SEAS coordinator.

It was evident from the first time she met them, when all the kids were fighting to read to her first, Cooper said with a laugh.

“They are so cute,” she said, appreciating the feeling of being liked in the classroom. “But they can also be ornery.”

At Lifeworks, clients like Cooper are matched with employers to gain new life skills, while accompanied by job coaches at their jobs with the eventual goal of working independently. Using a whole profile of interests and existing skills, job developers like Ann Halbur help make a match that will spring them to success.

“We want them to feel good about the job they’re doing and give them a sense of purpose,” Halbur said. “But it also gives that business or organization a wonderful experience. Together, it’s a win-win.”

And often, those working through the partnerships are just happy to be given that chance to succeed.

“Our individuals are genuine,” Halbur said. “They want to do a good job for anyone they’re working for or working with. They get a bigger sense of accomplishment than maybe other individuals that take things for granted in life.”

Over the last year, Halbur said, Lifeworks has seen an increase in the program matching disabled participants into positions that integrate them into the community.

“We’re nowhere (near) where we want to be (in terms of volume), but we got a good start,” she said. “I call (the matches) miracles because I feel like there’s no way naturally that some of these partnerships could just mesh together without God leading that process.”

And Cooper’s faith-based employer couldn’t be happier with the match — one that has enhanced their mission in teaching children that they’re made in the image and likeness of God in their own unique way.

“I think this partnership is beautiful because Tina is growing, our students are growing in different ways,” said Abby Glass, principal of St. Edmond. “Our students are understanding that we’re all different. … This is what, to me, service is all about.”

The learning has truly been a two-way street in the dynamic relationship.

“We do this one page with letters, and (a student) was teaching me because I can’t read,” Cooper said. “When I was in high school, they didn’t teach me.”

“Tina is going out of her shell even more every single time we work together, but she’s also learning a lot,” said Ashley Faiferlick, Cooper’s job coach. “Her interaction has grown, and I feel like she’s just getting more and more comfortable.”

With a love for children that started when she helped raise her nieces, Cooper is finding a way to put her passion into practical job skills for success. For now, she helps with getting snacks for the kids, reading with them and practicing their math skills with flash cards. With time, more responsibilities will be added to her job.

It’s a whole new learning experience for everyone, said Chizek, who has been teaching elementary students for 48 years.

“I think (the biggest lesson) is the acceptance of differences and being able to understand not everybody is going to work the same way,” she said. “If you can accept differences in people, that’s probably 90% of your life. You have to be able to understand and accept people who are not the same as you.”

When that lesson of respect for others isn’t instilled in students early, Chizek said it can create big problems in the classroom and later on as those children grow into adults.

“Everybody’s different,” Cooper said. “If we were all the same, we’d be fighting.”

And while the step of this partnership might be small, Glass said Cooper is having a bigger impact on students than she’ll ever know — all because of her being who she is: someone with a love for children who makes a special impact early in children’s educational journeys.

“That’s how change is made in society and in our rooms with our students,” Glass said. “(The steps) might seem small, but the impact, I think, is huge.”

Everyone has a gift to bring, no matter their abilities.

By focusing on a diversity of gifts that contributes to making humanity better, the principal hopes to create not just better students, but people with a better respect for human dignity — a mission that would be remiss without input from people like Cooper.