Harper's Unsung Hero - Lindsey Cook

A Passion for Education

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

—-Socrates

The passion that exists in the words and actions of educators is on display every day in our buildings and classrooms. There are certainly moments of despair and frustration that occur that we try to shake off. Seeing the fruits of our labor can be a painstaking process that requires diligence, hope, and patience.  A smile from a child, a thank you from a parent, and a conversation with a former student years after being in your classroom are examples of moments that feed this passion. Sonoma Elementary educator Lindsey Cook has put her heart and soul into her years in the classroom and now as her school’s principal, fueled by her passion for education.

Lindsey’s lineage is another example of multiple generations with ties to Harper Creek. “I was born in Battle Creek in 1984 at Community Hospital, the oldest of two children, including my brother Gregory,” Lindsey said. “Our parents, Scott Culp and Melinda Mikolajczyk, are both Harper Creek graduates. My grandma, Patsy Mikolajczyk, also graduated from Harper Creek and enjoyed a career of more than thirty years as a teacher at Sonoma and Beadle Lake. My grandfather, James Mikolajczyk, volunteered much of his time for many years in Harper Creek’s schools and for their athletic events.”

Lindsey grew up in our school district for her first few years. “I remember living on Martin Street near Beadle Lake Elementary and going to school there when I was in kindergarten. Back then, kindergarten was half-day. I spent the mornings at my babysitter's house on D Drive, just down the street from school, and went to school in the afternoons. I had Mrs. Degraves as my kindergarten teacher. Mrs. Wheat was my first-grade teacher for a few weeks at the start of the school year before our family moved to Lakeview.” 

Lindsey may have been a Spartan the majority of her K-12 experience, but she always remained loyal to her family’s Harper Creek allegiance. If school of choice had existed at that time, she and her brother may have continued at Harper Creek through high school graduation. “I went to Lakeview for most of first-grade, all the way through high school graduation,” Lindsey noted, “but I remained rooted to Harper Creek with my extended family being a part of the district as residents and employees. Lakeview raised me, but Harper Creek always felt like home.”

Lindsey was a Harper Creek wanna be attending Lakeview, but she still cherished her time as a Spartan. “I had amazing experiences at Lakeview starting at Minges Brook Elementary,” Lindsey shared. “It was my time at Minges that initially piqued my interest in becoming a teacher. My first-grade teacher, Mrs. Bowen, taught me how to read. Looking back now, I realize that Minges was ahead of their time with their curriculum. I loved the challenge of school and learning. My mom had a terrible experience as a child going to several different schools. She didn’t want this for Gregory and me. She was always hard on me when it came to school. She struggled as a student and wanted me to be a good student.”  One defining moment opened Lindsey’s eyes, helping her to understand the influence a teacher could have on a student. “There was one time when my mom became very frustrated with me and how well I was doing with spelling,” Lindsey explained. “She told me that she was going to have me repeat second grade. This devastated me. She even spoke to my second-grade teacher about this without me knowing it. After talking to my mom, my teacher had a conversation with me and reassured me that I wouldn’t be repeating second grade. She gave me an uplifting pep talk. This was when I first realized that teachers could be a support for their students.” 

Lindsey spent many hours in her driveway as a child, enjoying one of her favorite activities. “I can remember my grandpa putting up my first basketball hoop with a plywood backboard,” Lindsey recalled. “I spent much of my free time playing basketball at home. I started playing junior basketball in fourth grade. I went to all the basketball camps that Lakeview’s girls’ varsity basketball coach, Coach Bussler, put on.” 

Lindsey envisioned herself playing basketball all the way through high school, but she injured her knee during her freshman season, and that was the end of her basketball career. She quickly found something else to fill the void. “My freshman English teacher, Sue Spaulding, was also the newspaper advisor,” Lindsey noted. “She recruited me to be on the newspaper staff. In my junior year, I was the sports editor, and in my senior year, I was the editor of the entire paper. I enjoyed writing and working for the newspaper, but I never considered journalism as a career. I always wanted to be a teacher. Being on the newspaper staff helped me to build many of the skills that I still use to this day.” 

Lindsey graduated from Lakeview High School in 2002, ready to pursue her teaching degree. Her interest in becoming a teacher was spurred on early, with time spent in her grandmother’s classroom growing up. It helped to deepen the relationship she and her grandmother shared and also sold her on becoming a teacher.

The fall after graduating from high school, Lindsey transitioned from Spartan to Bronco. “I enrolled at Western Michigan University right out of the gate, with assistance from scholarship money I received through the Michigan Merit Award,” Lindsey recalled. “I started in the elementary education track, minoring in English, science, and social studies, and lived on campus in the dorms my freshman year. I was working full-time as a secretary at the Math and Science Center in Battle Creek while taking a full load of classes at WMU. Being at the Math and Science Center helped me make some connections within the schools here in Battle Creek. I also started working at Curious Kids Daycare Center in Portage. After this experience, I decided to pursue elementary education with an early childhood emphasis.” 

Lindsey enjoyed her time at WMU, but she decided to make another transition. “With the time I was spending at the Math and Science Center and with the switch to an early childhood emphasis, I decided to enroll at  KCC after only one year at WMU and live at home to save some money,” Lindsey explained. “I finished at Miller College in December 2013, earning a BA with a major in social studies, and minors in elementary education and early childhood special education. I did my early childhood internship at Wentworth House preschool for a summer and spent a semester interning in a kindergarten room at Riverside.”

Lindsey was gaining valuable experience and creating connections with local school districts long before earning her teaching degree. Working at the Math and Science Center was part of this, but her willingness to immerse herself in as many experiences as possible as an undergraduate went beyond this. “I worked as a parapro at Prairieview while going to school from 2008 until I did my internship in 2013,” Lindsey noted. “After my internship, I was placed as a para at Community High School, Lakeview’s alternative high school. Initially, I didn’t think I would like working with high school students, but I loved it. I realized that kids need help at all levels. My primary role was to help students catch up on missing assignments.” She was content to hold down a job as a parapro while holding a teaching certificate, but her end goal was to have her own classroom. She was able to make a difference as a para educator, but fortunately, Lindsey’s wait for a classroom teaching position was short-lived. “I was at Community High School for only two weeks before going to Westlake as a long-term sub in a kindergarten classroom,” Lindsey said. “I remained in the kindergarten classroom through the end of the year.” 

Spending the bulk of the school year in the kindergarten classroom opened the door for Lindsey. She proved her worth and was ready for the next step. “In the fall of 2014, I was offered my first official teaching job as a GRSP teacher for Gull Lake,” she recalled. “In the fall of 2015, I was on the move, transitioning to a job at Endeavor as a first-grade teacher.” 

Lindsey met her husband, Deven, while both were students at KCC, which helped to bolster her ties to Harper Creek. Deven didn’t live in the Harper Creek District boundaries at that time, but his three children from his first marriage, Elizabeth, Gabby, and Deven Jr., all attended Harper Creek Schools as school of choice students and eventually graduated from there. Deven and Lindsey were married in 2008 and purchased a home together in Harper Creek. 

During her time at Endeavor, Lindsey and Deven’s family was growing. “I had my twins, Addilynn and Owen, in May of 2016,” Lindsey recalled. “I went on bed rest in April and wasn’t able to finish the school year. Our oldest child, Abigail, was born in 2011. I had worked and was going to school while pregnant with her, and after she was born, but when I became pregnant with the twins, Deven and I decided I would stay at home after they were born. The twins were born in May of 2016.” 

Lindsey enjoyed staying at home with the twins, but she still had an itch to continue teaching. After spending one school year at home, she was able to figure out a way to do both. “When the twins were a year and a half, I started teaching English online to non-English learners,” Lindsey said. “I loved teaching online. Most of my teaching was at night or early in the morning, so it allowed me to teach but also be available as a mom during much of the daytime hours. It filled my teaching itch. I taught virtually for three years. I was also working at St. Joe Elementary at this time as a time-sheeted reading interventionist, which offered some flexibility for me as a mom.”

Being a mom while also teaching English online and working part-time as a reading interventionist offered contentment for Lindsey, but she began longing for something different. She wanted her own classroom, and she wanted to return to Harper Creek, where she attended kindergarten years earlier. “Securing childcare for the twins was a major hurdle to being able to return to work in a traditional school setting,” Lindsey explained. “We were on waiting lists, but there simply weren’t two slots available at any local daycare centers. During the fall of 2018, Wattles opened another kindergarten classroom a few weeks into the school year. Just a few days before Harper Creek posted the kindergarten classroom, we found childcare for the twins. The timing was perfect. We placed the twins in childcare, and I joined Harper Creek’s teaching staff as a kindergarten teacher for Wattles Park.”

There weren’t any teaching positions waiting for Lindsey at Wattles Park in 2019. Fortunately, she would transition within the district and remain at Harper Creek. “The next year, enrollment numbers were down at Wattles for kindergarten, so I went to Sonoma to teach fourth grade,” Lindsey noted. “I was nervous about jumping up to fourth grade, but it was a good fit right off the bat. There were gaps in some of the skills of the students, so my skills in working with early childhood literacy worked well.” 

Lindsey was experiencing success in the classroom and enjoying teaching students, but she began to find another skill set that brought her joy and benefited Harper Creek beyond the classroom. “During the COVID years, I found that there were many co-workers in our building and around the district who were coming to me for guidance,” Lindsey said. “Parents were also coming to me with questions. I realized that I could make a big impact as an administrator. I decided to start a graduate program in Educational Leadership at WMU in August of 2023 and finished in April of 2025.” 

Now with an Educational Leadership endorsement on her resume, Lindsey looked ahead to the right opportunity to become a school administrator. Her graduate studies at WMU provided her with guidance on what to expect as a school principal, but she had also honed some of the skills needed, taking on many leadership roles through the years as a Harper Creek teacher. These roles included leading the fourth grade as a member of the DCC (District Curriculum Council), representing the Harper Creek Education Association as Vice President and Secretary, facilitating grade-level meetings as FAME coach, and also serving on the PBIS team, Instructional Leadership Team, Covid Superintendent Advisory Committee, and the District Literacy Team. Her work in the classroom through the years, in combination with the leadership responsibilities she has taken on, helped set the table for a very prestigious award for not only Lindsey but also for Harper Creek. “I was awarded the Michigan Region 7 teacher of the year for the 2025/2026 school year,” Lindsey noted. “This has been a humbling experience knowing that many amazing teachers in our region also deserve this honor. What I appreciated most about being given this award is that it has provided me with many opportunities to advocate for our district and for students in general.” 

The experiences that Lindsey has gained from all of the leadership roles she has served in have prepped her for her transition out of the classroom to administration. “Sonoma needed a principal this past fall,” Lindsey explained. “I put in my application and was offered the job. The transition has gone well. I have developed relationships in my building with staff, parents, and guardians through the years I have taught here, which have helped in my transition. I have learned a lot since I started, and I know that there will be more to learn. I take pride in supporting the school.”

Being a school principal requires more responsibility for Lindsey in directing her co-workers and working with parents and guardians, but in many ways, being the lead person at her school requires a similar mindset and skill set that she has utilized in the classroom. She reflected on this. “Teaching has changed during my career, but the needs of kids have not changed. How we reach kids and what we need to do for them is still the same. Building relationships is always important. We can’t control what happens outside of our school walls, but we have an opportunity to make school a positive part of each student’s day.”

Lindsey’s passion as an educator has been a driving force in her day-to-day work as a teacher, and the learning has taken place in her classroom. Her passion will continue to serve her well as a building principal, laying the groundwork for her interactions with students, staff, parents, and guardians.