Photograph by George Sakkestad
Columbia Middle School teacher Jerry Cook gives a drafting lesson to Reuben Afuola.
By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Jerry Cook's students fly airplanes. They race C02-powered cars down a track at 60 m.p.h. They build bridges, houses and robots. And they do it all at Columbia Middle School in Sunnyvale.
Cook, who was selected as Teacher of the Year by the Sunnyvale Elementary School District and given an award at Showcase Sunnyvale, has been a teacher for 28 years. He has taught with the Sunnyvale district for 21 of those years and spent another in an Oregon school and six in Germany.
Cook teaches the fun classes--from woodworking to modern technology--but makes sure a lot of learning goes along with the good times.
"AMD has given us equipment, and some of their employees come and help me in the shop. We build race cars powered with a CO2 cartridge that go down the track at 60 m.p.h., and we build robots with Legos and control them with computers," he said.
Some of Cook's hands-on projects include making toys for Toys for Tots. He also teaches a leather-working class, in which the class projects are sold, and a home-construction class that lets students gain knowledge by visiting construction sites and making miniature replicas.
Cook works on small remodeling projects part-time when he's not teaching. He has also taught plastics, jewelry, ceramics and small-engine mechanics.
Lately, Cook has incorporated more technology-based activities in his classes.
Cook finds that, at the middle-school level, the girls tend to be more adept than the boys.
"Some of my best flight times [in the planes my classes build] have been by girls, and some of my best bridges have been built by young ladies. They happen to listen better," he said with a laugh.
Cook is not one to blow his own horn, but admits he has good relationships with his students and his fellow faculty members.
Betsy Doss, principal at Columbia Middle School, said Cook was nominated by other teachers for the Teacher of the Year Award.
"He's always doing things that engage kids. Kids are waiting outside his door before classes start to work on projects. After school they want to finish things up. He always has time and is always proud of them. He gives them opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have," Doss said.
Cook serves as multimedia specialist for the district and shares that training with other faculty, Doss said. He has also coordinated getting software for the computer lab at the school.
"He goes above and beyond the call of duty and has the expertise to share," Doss said.
As a staff member, she added, Cook is always honest about what's happening and has a fresh perspective.
"He's been a teacher for many years, but he's not jaded. He played a large role in establishing a positive tone here at Columbia when we opened three years ago," Doss said, adding that although his room wasn't ready on time, he never complained.
Cook set a tone for the other teachers, who respect him, Doss said.
Cook received a degree in anthropology after beginning his college career as an engineering student.
"Then I decided to combine the two and go into teaching. I like people, and I like building things, so I put the two together, and it seems to work," he said.
When he's not working with students at school, Cook spends time helping out with the young adult group at the Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto.
"We had 100 people at our house for dinner one night. They all sat on the floor," he said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, November 13, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.