Senior Spotlight is a Cascadia Daily News annual series, highlighting the lives and experiences of graduating seniors from Whatcom County high schools.
COOPER HOWARD
In high school, Cooper Howard always finds his way into the spotlight. Whether it be through drama or cheer or going viral at a Unified basketball game, his presence was known at Sehome High School. He also plays soccer, skis with the Special Olympics, sings with the choir and is part of the school’s leadership class. In the fall, he will attend the University of Missouri – St. Louis and be part of Succeed, a program for people with intellectual disabilities. He plans to study archeology, an interest he developed while visiting Machu Picchu with his family.
How do you stay active?
Drama club. Soccer, skiing and basketball. The reason why I like basketball is because I want to be on the court, and I like shooting all threes.
What do you like about Unified sports?
It’s like family. When I don’t know what to do, I talk to my Unified coach, and he tells me what to do out there and play all kinds of plays. If I’m ever feeling down or something like that, my teammates are supportive and I can talk to them a lot.
A video of you got millions of views online. How’d that happen?
At one of my basketball games, one of my teacher’s sons dared me to do the worm. He said that once I make that shot, I should do the worm. So I made that shot, and when I was halfway down the court, I did the worm. I thought it was really funny, and then it went viral.
What was your favorite play from your time in drama?
A favorite musical, actually. My favorite musical was ‘Cinderella.’ I liked being part of ‘Cinderella’ because it’s fun to be in that drama community. I was part of the ensemble.
Do you have a favorite memory from high school?
When I was on the cheer team, I was the person who was running the flag, and I felt like the crowd went wild. I was running and the crowd did the wave, and I loved that.
What hurdles have you overcome in high school?
I have Down syndrome, so for me, it’s really hard to do my classwork. I feel like all my teachers are helping me out with my accommodations. I need that kind of support, but it was fun. I feel like the teachers, staff and friends believed in me. But, I don’t have too many friends to hang out with outside of school. Everyone’s nice to me at school, but I wish I had a circle of friends to do things with on the weekend or to go to school dances with.
How do you feel about graduation?
I feel like it’s really nice to graduate, get my diploma and going across the stage to throw my hat up in the air.
How do you feel about leaving your family?
It’s fun to ditch them, actually. But, it’s going to be sad. It’s going to be OK because it’s going to be more exciting to go to college.
How do you feel about leaving Sehome?
I’m sad/happy. I’m going to explain my sad reason first and then my happy reason. My sad reason is I’m going to miss a lot of my friends down here, and teachers and staff members. The happy reason that I want to leave is because I want to do stuff by myself and learn from my mistakes.
JACKSON VAN PELT
In high school, Jackson van Pelt found his home participating in theater. He performed in every show
possible, on top of leading the Thespian troupe and in the juggling club, National Honor Society and
Science Olympiad. Outside of school, he volunteers with the North Cascades Audobon Society and with the Sardis Raptor Center to rehabilitate birds of prey. After graduation he’ll head to Maine to spend six weeks on Great Duck Island at the Alice Eno Field Research Station to study nesting seabirds. Then he’ll study human ecology at the College of the Atlantic.
Why do you spend so much time with birds?
When I was really young, I loved birds. I was obsessed with birds. Then during COVID-19, I downloaded a bird sound identification app on my phone. From that point onward, I started getting more and more interested. So, I got into bird photography. I got binoculars and started actually going out birding. Then, my sophomore year of high school, I had a friend who was volunteering at Sardis Raptor Center. She said that they were looking for volunteers. So, I went out and did a tour with them and asked about volunteering, and I started that week.
How’d you get involved in theater?
I got involved with theater at BAAY — Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth — when I was 13. I absolutely fell in love with it. It was a great community for me, and I struggled in middle school finding people that I really connected with and having an extracurricular activity with such a supportive group of people was really important to me.
When I came into Sehome, I auditioned for ‘Connect/Disconnect,’ which was our device film project. We weren’t allowed to be next to each other or near each other at all. We wrote the script and filmed it. It was based in the world of COVID, so we were doing a modern-day piece on what it was like for teenagers … We did ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ which we did outside at Woodstock Farm because we still weren’t allowed to do it inside. That was my first time meeting most of the people in person and the same community that I found at BAAY, I found there and absolutely loved it. And I just looked up to everyone so much. I really couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else, so I stuck with it.
Is there a teacher or staff member who has impacted your high school experience?
Kandace McGowan is my director and my teacher. I have had her every single year for drama. I’m in advanced drama and theater tech, and I’m currently TA-ing for costuming. I spend most of my … days in the theater and a lot of time outside of school, creating a show. She is such a wonderfully kind person, and she truly has everyone’s best interests at heart. She is trying to help students grow.
How do you feel about graduating?
I am ready. I’m sad to be leaving the community, but I’m also ready to move on. I kind of know what I’m doing next year, and I’m really excited for it.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I think trust yourself more and believe in the good of other people. I struggled with that a lot when I was in middle school. Connecting with people was really hard, and I think knowing that most people have your best interests at heart and that finding those people is really important.
Visit CDN’s Senior Spotlight page to learn about Whatcom County graduates from other schools. New profiles will be posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until June 19.
Hailey Hoffman is a CDN visual journalist; reach her at haileyhoffman@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 103.
