Women’s History Month: female leaders at OHS
By McKenna Worsham
Photo of Mrs. Tiffani Cooper taken from owassops.org
Incredible female leaders are quite easy to find at Owasso High School. With an admin team led by many amazing women, such as head principal Tiffani Cooper, OHS is equipped with wonderful role models for young women. Throughout all departments of the high school, teachers, administrators and support staff alike include powerful women to celebrate during Women’s History Month (and all year long).
Immensely kind and strong, Ms. Kenzie Cannady is a perfect example. Owasso’s first female Agricultural Education teacher, Cannady has spent her first year at OHS teaching the girls in her classes how to work for what they want and achieve their goals in the ag industry.
“I was always told growing up that you might be bossy, but nobody calls a boy bossy, so I think that we are just very determined, and we know what we want,” Cannady laughs.
Women have historically been at the forefront of prejudice and misogyny; however, Owasso has made a space for all people to grow and learn. Cannady does a fantastic job at making the young women in her classes feel comfortable and empowered, even in their male-dominated fields.
Cannady proudly states, “I always say ‘girls can too’...just showing them every single day that you can do this job, it’s hard…but you can also show people that you understand what the ag industry looks like and that you can do it too.”
Where Cannady teaches these values in the classroom, Principal Mrs. Tiffani Cooper is an incredible female leader across the entire school. Cooper has spent all of her teaching years as an Owasso Ram, and she is one of many role models for young girls in the school. An impactful principal who leads her students and staff with kindness first, Cooper is one of the many women Owasso has to celebrate this month.
Cooper said a few words to the young women of OHS, “Know that you’re enough, you don’t have to look to someone [or something] outside of you, you need to be okay with you…just being secure in who you are as a person, as a woman.”
Cooper leads the school with grace and appreciation for the women who helped her become the successful woman she is today.
“One [woman] that sticks out is Dr. Coates…she was definitely one of the women who inspired me along the way,” Cooper smiles, speaking of Superintendent Margaret Coates.
Another woman who heavily influenced Cooper to begin teaching in the first place was her mother.
“My mom, she was an educator. She kind of always painted the picture of the sky’s the limit…I was encouraged that whatever I wanted to do, whether you’re a woman or not, it doesn’t matter; you just follow your passion,” Cooper reminisces.
These inspiring women, and countless others, walk the halls of OHS, creating a supportive environment for the young women and female staff every day. Loving others and supporting equality within the school is necessary; strong female leaders such as Cooper and Cannady are illustrative examples of this support.
“I always want my girls to know that just because they may be thought of as bossydoes not mean that they are. It just means that they’re determined; they want what they want, and they know how to get it,” Cannady declares with a smile on her face.