Middle Gate Elementary School physical education teacher Laura Cooper retired at the end of this past school year after over four decades of working as an educator, with 33 of those being in Newtown.

While Cooper began her teaching career in 1974, she started working at Newtown in 1991. She originally taught in New York as a high school teacher for two years before switching over to elementary.

“I was in a private school that taught kindergarten through twelfth grade back then, and my principal thought I’d be a better fit for elementary,” Cooper said. “He was right, and I never looked back.”

Cooper said that she always knew that she wanted to become a teacher. Even at a young age, she was the teacher whenever she would play school with her younger siblings. She wanted to be a science teacher at first, but Cooper says she changed her mind after getting involved with sports as a high schooler.

From then on, Cooper made it her goal to instill a love of movement in others and share her love and passion for physical fitness. She taught students the importance of fitness by “doing a little bit of everything,” having them play a wide variety of sports and practice fundamental skills.

“Most people aren’t gonna go to college for sports or pursue it professionally, but if they find something that they like and can use for the rest of their life to stay fit, that’s what matters,” Cooper said.

She added that she did not want her students to worry about being good at a sport, but to instead move around and have fun whatever they did. These include traditional competitive sports as well as non-competitive team-building games.

Cooper’s favorite sport to teach her students was Long Base, a modified T-ball game that she said the older students “adored.” For her younger students, Cooper said their favorite activity has always been the parachute. She also mentioned The Great Flood, an activity where she throws out “trash” all over the gym and everyone has to work together to pick everything up.

Whether it was seeing her students compete in Long Base or run under a giant parachute together, Cooper said she was happy to see her students find activities that they love.

“Movement is good for you, and it’ll keep you healthy. I always tell them to enjoy moving, even as they get older,” Cooper said. “Even if they just like to go hiking, that’s awesome.”

She says her favorite part about teaching, ever since the very beginning, has been the students.

“I loved getting to see their smiles coming down the hall; seeing them in the morning, seeing them off on the bus in the afternoon. They wave to you, they’re so excited … they’re just happy to be here,” Cooper said.

Even though she will miss working at Middle Gate, Cooper said she made so many happy memories over the past several decades. One of the highlights of being an educator, she says, has been bumping into the people she taught as kids later in life.

“There are so many children in this building whose parents went to Middle Gate,” Cooper continued. “So I call them my grandchildren, and it is so great when they come back and they say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re still here.’ … I can’t tell you how many kids have come through saying that I’ve had their parents and now I have them. It’s awesome.”

As for hobbies, Cooper says that exercise has always been a “staple” of her life, even outside of teaching. She also said that she likes yoga and hiking, but that she is excited to “pick up some more hobbies that [she] hasn’t had time for” before retiring.

Looking ahead, Cooper said that she was looking forward to having time to travel a little bit, and to spend some more time with her grandkids. She also plans to work part-time at Southern Connecticut State University and supervise their physical education student teachers, something that she says is a “full circle” moment for her.

“I’m gonna get to help the next generation of teachers, which is pretty nice,” Cooper said.

Alongside her family, Cooper says that her biggest support as both an educator and as a person has been the other teachers.

“Working in a school, you create such bonds with the other teachers, and we really are there for each other,” Cooper said. “We help each other through the rough days, we bounce ideas off each other … It’s really terrific.”

Retiring may be bittersweet, but Cooper carries the memories throughout all her 43 years as an educator with pride. She said that being a teacher gave her the chance to learn so much about other people.

“You hope that you make a mark on them, you know? That you supported them and cared about them,” Cooper said. “It’s amazing to run into former students at the store … and that they still carry those memories with them.”

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.