Between saving lives as a lifeguard and juggling her busy academic schedule, senior Olivia Cooper has been able to maintain an impressive 3.9 unweighted GPA as she heads into the final stretch at La Salle.

Her plate is full with taking AP Spanish 5, Probability and Statistics, Anatomy and Physiology, Lasallian Ministry, AP English IV, and AP Government/Economics.

Being in Lasallian ministry gives the students the opportunity to be mentors for students at Lot Whitcomb. “Because of her sincere care for others and positive attitude,” Lasallian ministry teacher Mr. Hortsch explained, “Olivia is a great mentor for her buddy at Lot Whitcomb.”

Outside of the classroom, Cooper has been involved with multiple sports and extracurricular activities. She’s co-founder of La Salle’s Dog Appreciation club, “which is by far the best club at La Salle,” Cooper said.

She also got the opportunity to go to Moab her junior year, which is “the greatest thing that La Salle has to offer,” she said. “It’s such a great combination of being able to spend quality time with your friends, experiencing the outdoors, and learning about environmental issues that really matter.”

She has been on the cross country team since freshman year and has been doing track and field for three years. Being a part of the cross country team has allowed her to create strong bonds with her teammates who “are like family” and make thinking about next year difficult.

As she makes plans for after graduation, her teammates are in the back of her mind, saying that “it’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to them.”

Looking ahead to her first year of college, Cooper has been accepted into six universities: Seattle University, University of San Diego and University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of San Francisco, and University of Redlands.

She has yet to decide what she wants to go into but knows she wants to continue with Spanish. She believes that “being bilingual is such a useful and impressive skill,” and hopes to be able to incorporate Spanish into her future career.

Cooper’s desire to continue with Spanish came from Mrs. Kessler, whose class inspired her “to really want to become fluent in Spanish and gave me the confidence to work toward that goal.”

Mrs. Kessler got to join Cooper on the study abroad trip to Costa Rica and “witnessed first-hand her passion for Spanish.” Mrs. Kessler also expressed that Cooper was able to bring back inspiration and apply that to her academics. “Her enthusiasm and passion motivates others to see what door a second language can open for a person’s future.”

During her free time during the weekends, she loves “taking day trips to the beach or to the gorge.”

She also loves to procrastinate by watching Netflix. “After finishing the 11 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, I didn’t really know what to do with my life anymore.” Luckily, soon afterwards she found the show Scandal and has been captivated ever since.

Cooper says that one part of her motivation for staying focused in this last semester is “the thought of eventually getting a high paying job so that I can support a luxurious life for my future dogs.” She’s especially fond of Corgis and miniature Australian Shepherds, and predicts that she’ll end up being “one of those ladies with seven dogs.”

The room “lights up” whenever Cooper walks into a class, according to Anatomy and Physiology teacher, Mrs. Coleman. “Olivia oozes positivity: she makes little cards for her swim students, endlessly cheers for her teammates, and possess an incredible work ethic.”

Through Scandal and daydreams of her future dogs, Cooper is staying focused through her last few months of being a Falcon and is looking forward to what the future holds.