Over the years, Fountain Hills Unified School District has seen a fair number of alumni return to teach the next generation of Falcons. This year will be no different, as Lizzie Cooper returns to Fountain Hills and joins a trend over recent years by working with her family.

Last year, Gillian Levin joined the FHUSD staff and worked with her sister, Gianna Wilson, and mother, Sandra Levin. In 2019, Austin Keating reunited with his older brother, Matthew Keating, and both worked at the high school.

Lizzie Cooper will be a first-year teacher at McDowell Mountain Elementary School this year. She’ll teach second grade and her mother, Jill Cooper, will teach Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) classes right down the hall.

“I think it’s really cool,” Lizzie said. “And it would be something that would happen in Fountain Hills.”

Lizzie graduated from Fountain Hills High School in 2019 and from the University of Arizona this past May. As a third-generation teacher, she views education as her calling. Lizzie even taught some of her students previously at Here We Grow Learning Center.

Lizzie worked with preschool-aged children when she was in high school and over the summers when she came back home from college. She knows several incoming students from when they were two years old, and she knows some older students from when she helped her mom with Camp Invention.

Jill Cooper leads Camp Invention over the summers and has taught STEM classes to all grades for years at McDowell Mountain. Jill runs the elementary Robotics Club and even teaches kids as young as pre-K to think sequentially, which she says is foundational to computer coding.

Lizzie’s older brother, Andrew Cooper, was the 2015 Fountain Hills High School valedictorian and his high school robotics team qualified for state and the VEX World’s Robotics Competition for four consecutive years. Andrew earned an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University and recently worked on electric vehicles for Nikola motor.

“I think I broke the mold,” Lizzie said. “I’m really focused-in literally, like reading and writing and that kind of instruction…My goal is to raise all their reading levels up [more] proficiently than what they were before. I feel like that’s a big one. I really want to focus on reading and making sure they’re prepared for third grade classroom management-wise.”

Lizzie didn’t expect to return to Fountain Hills so quickly after graduation, but she couldn’t help herself from comparing her hometown schools to every school she applied to. Lizzie realized that she wanted to come home, and she’s received several words of encouragement since taking the job offer.

“Everybody's excited to have our own come home,” Jill said. “Fountain Hills is a special environment. It's small, and everybody knows everybody. When we get our students back, everybody gets really excited, because not only is it a great place to work, but it’s kind of like giving back.”

Jill added that Lizzie will now be coworkers with serval former teachers, including her kindergarten teacher, Denise Matus, and art teacher, Tracy Perry. Lizzie’s former principal, Dr. Cain Jagodzinski, is now the district’s superintendent.

McDowell Mountain has changed a lot since Lizzie was a student. In the past year alone, the school changed locations to a newer building and implemented a new schedule.

“That was actually something they told me during my interview,” Lizzie said. “That they would have more team planning, and that made me very excited because I need all the support I can get. I know I have such a great team, so I'm going to be leaning on them a lot.”

Lizzie gains confidence and peace of mind with the ability to collaborate with veteran teachers every day, and Jill said she and other returning teachers “are over the moon” because of the additional planning time. It's a win-win, since students will also receive five more minutes of instruction time per day than they did last year.

Lizzie is saving money and commuting time presently by living with her parents. Jill is happy and proud to have her daughter back with her at McDowell Mountain, and she said Lizzie is organized and has her mind on the right things.

Lizzie was a cheerleader all four years of high school and loved the community involvement she witnessed as a student. She’s excited to cheer on the next generation and give back to her hometown along with her fellow alumni.

Former Falcons Jeffrey Bonner, Thomas Ferington, and Laura Lorenz return again this year, and Selina Reisig and Ali Shroyer will join the FHUSD staff this fall. Several alumni help their former teams as assistant coaches, including Daniel Butler, Hector Leon, Stephanie Lies, KC McMahon, Soliel Smith, and Devin Strang.