Special Guest - Amazing Athlete & Role Model
Host: Louise Cooper
About Louise: Louise Cooper, a 55 year native of Johannesburg, South Africa, living in California. She has proven herself in education, sports, and in her fight against an aggressive form of breast cancer.
She has a background in Special Education and has taught children of various ages and abilities for over 30 years. She has written and developed curriculum for all subject matter, written plays for the children to perform, and integrates her personal life experiences and challenges with the student's learning. She has served as a Mentor teacher in the Credential program, and mentored colleagues within her school system. In addition, she has chaired Student Council, developing student leadership on campus.
She has extensive experience in endurance sports, both nationally and internationally. She has competed in 7 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championships, 8 Eco-Challenge Expedition Competitions, ESPN X-Games Adventure Race, Raid the North AR, Southern Traverse AR, Switzerland World Championships, Primal Quest AR, 4 Raid Gauloises Expeditions, taking her to countries such as Borneo Malaysia , Fiji, New Zealand, Ecuador, Brazil, Lesotho, Australia, Vietnam, Tibet, Nepal, Philippines, and Argentina. She has competed in more than 70 marathons, and numerous ultramarathons of 50 - 100 miles. One month after completing chemotherapy and radiation, she ran the Catalina Marathon, 5 months later she ran the Badwater 135 mile ultra marathon through Death Valley, to finish in 2nd place. She has competed in the Coastal Challenge 150 mile running race in Costa Rica., and in several staged running races in the deserts,that have taken her across the Sahara in both Morocco and Egypt, the Gobi Desert in China and Vietnam. She has run the infamous Mont Blanc 100 mile race which has an elevation gain of 28,00 ft.
She recently finished 1st in a staged running race in Antarctica.
The Seven Summits is a dream and goal Louise would like to achieve, and she has already bagged Mt Elbrus in Russia, the highest peak in Europe, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, Aconcagua in South America, several volcanoes in Ecuador, and has attempted Mt. McKinley in North America, only to be turned back by high winds, stormy conditions, and avalanches.
In addition to her athletic endeavors, Louise has always been a leader in the outdoor and local California community. She has been a member of the Big Sister program, a mentor teacher, and was president of the Basin Blues Running Club for many years. She has coached the Team in Training Adventure racing groups. She works as an outdoor instructor, corporate training facilitator, motivational speaker, and fundraiser for breast cancer research and children's foundations. She is a team member of Project Athena, racing to raise money and awareness for women who have suffered a life set back and offers them an opportunity to achieve their athletic dream.
She has 4 rescue dogs and works with Animal Rescue to help place homeless animals She has organized and race directed many athletic events. In 2003 she was voted as one of the 5 Outdoor People of the Year by Hooked on the Outdoors.
Louise uses her victories in sport and life to serve as an example of how to confront life's most difficult obstacles. Teaching by example being a most effective method, she uses her experiences to help the students she teaches to set goals, how to go about achieving them, about risk taking, and dealing with failures and successes.
Welcome Louise, we're very fortunate and honored to have you join us!
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