Introducing Mr. Cole Cook, the new Ames High Health teacher and the head girl’s basketball coach for the 2022-23 school year. Born and raised in Iowa, Mr. Cook is an avid athlete, having played four sports when he was younger. In track, he ran the 400m hurdles at State for two years. He also played football, baseball, and basketball in college and in the semi-pro leagues. 

During his teaching career, Mr. Cook taught at Woodward Granger for a year, and prior to that, he taught in Colorado for 3 years. At the respective schools, he taught P.E. and health, coached boys’ basketball, and had experience as an athletic director. When asked about why he became a teacher, Mr. Cook explained that during his childhood, he struggled with what many students are challenged by every day.

“So my dad wasn’t around a lot. I mean he was, but he wasn’t very nice. So the male role models in my life were always the teachers and the coaches.” 

For Mr. Cook, it was his football, baseball, and basketball coaches that were the mentors he could talk to when he needed a male role model. 

“They taught me what it kind of meant to be an adult,” he said. “So I’m hoping that if I can to do that for one kid, one kid a year, then doing this [teaching] just makes sense to me.”

Mr. Cook wants the students to know that “they can come talk to me about a lot of things. If they’ve got something they need to vent about or something happened at school and they need advice, I’m here for them.”