TEACHER'S GOOD DEED COMES TO LIGHT.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

CALIFORNIA CITY -- Teacher Ginger Cooper is being hailed as a hero for saving the life of one of her pupils by performing the Heimlich maneuver and dislodging a piece of cinnamon doughnut he was choking on.

The first-grader had been eating in the cafeteria at Robert P. Ulrich Elementary during a morning nutrition break and rather than seek help from the cafeteria staff when the food got caught in his throat, he ran past six classrooms to find Cooper in her classroom.

``I was at my reading table working with students who had stayed in for recess. In came running this little boy who was turning blue and gasping for air,'' Cooper recalled of the incident that occurred before Christmas break.

``I asked him if he was OK, and he couldn't answer me. I put two and two together, he can't talk, he's choking, and gave him a Heimlich maneuver,'' Cooper said.

Cooper called the boy's parents later that night -- he hadn't told his mother about it -- but didn't tell anyone else because she just considered it all in a day's work.

``It's just something you do when a child is in need. I didn't think it was that big of a deal,'' Cooper said.

Co-workers at the 1,000-student school eventually did find out, however, after the boy's mother came in after the holiday break and told Principal Stephanie Newby what had happened.

The mother said she needed to talk to Newby about an incident that occurred between her son and Cooper.

``As an administrator you always say, `Oh-oh.' Mrs. Cooper is a wonderful teacher and I couldn't imagine what it was,'' Newby said. ``She sat down and proceeded to tell me how her son's teacher had saved his life.''

As a result, the Mojave Unified School District board at last week's meeting recognized Cooper for her actions.

``Mrs. Cooper, being the person that she is, never came forward and said, `Look what I did,''' Newby said. ``When I talked to her after, I told her what a wonderful thing she did, and she calmly said, `It's what I do, I'm a teacher.'''

``In my mind, she's a hero. She exemplifies what a hero is all about. A hero doesn't say look what I've done. They simply say this is what we do.''

Cooper was embarrassed by the board honor. The greater reward, she said, was that her student sought her out for help.

``I'm his teacher. He panicked. He didn't know what to do. He said I knew you would help me, so he came to me as his teacher,'' Cooper said. ``I was grateful that he trusted me enough to come to me. That's the biggest award that I got.''

Cooper, a resident of California City, has been teaching for 10 years, the last six years at the Ulrich campus. Before that she taught in Las Vegas.

She learned to do the Heimlich during a first aid/CPR training class and has performed it twice before, once on a child in Las Vegas and another time last summer on her son's girlfriend.

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