Yorkville P.E. teacher and coach Clarissa Cooper ‘a natural role model’ as alum of the school

Clarissa Cooper did not envision a career in teaching growing up, and she did not necessarily expect it to be in her hometown.

Yorkville is sure happy to have her.

Cooper graduated in 2016 after playing basketball for the Foxes and athletic director Luke Engelhardt. She now is in her fourth full school year as a teacher and coach at her alma mater.

Cooper, who played basketball collegiately for three years at Aurora University, is now the sophomore coach at Yorkville. She also started the flag football program at Yorkville last fall and teaches physical education.

Cooper, who graduated from Aurora in 2019, student taught at Autumn Creek Elementary in Yorkville her senior year. Upon graduation, she got a job in Mazon, a small town south of Morris with 150 kids in fifth through eighth grade.

She said it was amazing and loved working there while making the 45-minute drive from Yorkville.

“I thought I’d end up at more of a smaller school, not that Yorkville is huge,” Cooper said. “I thought I would be at a smaller community. They say you don’t go back to your roots.”

Cooper did, however, set down roots back in Yorkville. She married her husband, Trent, and they built their home on the south side of Yorkville next to the farm of his grandfather, a Foxes “superfan.”

“I definitely think it put into perspective what I wanted,” she said.

Engelhardt told Cooper about the available position in 2021. During her first year, she split time between middle and high school.

“She just has an unbelievable ability to make relationships and build rapport,” Engelhardt said. “Her relatability is outstanding. She is a natural role model. She has the humbleness about her that goes along with her personality that gets people to buy in. She is doing it because she cares about people, both teaching and coaching.”

Cooper originally went to college to pursue athletic training. She did sports medicine in Yorkville and Sandwich, and imagined traveling with professional teams like the Cubs as an athletic trainer.

“I thought that was my avenue, and then I realized I don’t know what I would do if they broke a femur in the field,” she said. “I contacted a former teacher, she was like ‘Why don’t you try teaching?‘. It’s been pretty successful so far.”

Cooper is at home on the Yorkville basketball court, but she also isn’t afraid to venture out of her comfort zone. A year and a half ago, Engelhardt mentioned to her the idea of starting Yorkville’s flag football program, which completed its first season as an IHSA-sanctioned sport last fall.

“I had no idea it was such a popular thing and he was like ‘Would you like to coach girls flag football?’ and I said ‘Why not, let’s try it,’” Cooper said.

“The girls were just awesome. Do I know exactly what I’m doing? No. But building the program has been awesome. The girls were so vulnerable to learn, it’s easy to mold right now. The girls are all ears.”

Engelhardt appreciates how Cooper embraces challenges thrown her way, usually from him.

“She doesn’t have a ton of football background, but the way that she attacked that job and learned the sport and got the girls excited about it, she’s just been a leader,” Engelhardt said. “She is just an absolute workhorse that gets the job done within our athletic department. She has an ability to take an idea and turn it into a project. She does the work.”

This year, Cooper started a sports officiating course in the wellness department at Yorkville, teaching it along with Yorkville varsity boys basketball coach John Holakovsky. She did the work behind the scenes, preparing, lining up guest speakers and coming up with a curriculum.

“As you know, officiating has been a struggle. It’s cool to allow kids an opportunity to do it,” Cooper said. “It gives the athletes a different light.”

What Cooper most enjoys about her work is seeing the growth in kids. Kids like Yorkville senior basketball players Brooke and Madi Spychalski, who were freshmen in Cooper’s first year.

“It’s cool to see them grow as young adults, and all the other kids. Not only from the basketball realm but from a teacher’s perspective,” Cooper said. “It’s cool to see kids get jobs, to see what their passions are. I am growing too as a person. That is my favorite part, the growth.”

Cooper, too, appreciates the growth in Yorkville, the community. Her senior year was the first year of construction being done on the new wing at the high school.

“It’s obviously growing in good ways, and there is a good support system with our superintendent and administration,” she said. “It’s good to see the community grow and become more diverse. Hopefully, it can continue to become more diverse, and we can implement new things.”