SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A Parkway High School senior is among the nine outstanding volunteers from around Louisiana honored this week as a 2022 Champion of Service by Volunteer Louisiana and Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser.
Volunteers were selected from seven geographic regions across the state, including Northwest Louisiana.
The first name on the list of honorees is 16-year-old Brianna Cooley.
Brianna Cooley, 2022 La Volunteer Network Champion of Change (Source: Brianna Cooley)Brianna Cooley and her mother Julie Cooley (Source: KTAL NBC6)
Cooley began taking dual enrollment classes at Bossier Parish Community College in ninth grade. Taking those courses created a path for her to graduate this spring, a year ahead of her cohort.
The Phi Theta Kappa honor that she earned while taking classes at BPCC earned her a spot on the 2022 All-USA Academic Team. The honor also comes with a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to New York City for a private ceremony.
But Cooley wasn’t tapped to be a Champion of Service because of her academic accomplishments. Instead, she was selected because she consistently performed selfless acts in her community. She has been giving of her time for so long she works with Volunteer Louisiana and certifies volunteer hours for others.
She calls herself an introvert.
That may be true until you start talking to her about kindness and community service. Then she is an open book. She was lighting up as she spoke about her passion.
“Whenever you serve others, you find your passion. Helping others happens to be my passion,” Cooley said.
Cooley comes from a military family, so she was saddened to learn about the staggering number of military suicides. She was more alarmed two years ago after her family attended two funerals within two months of people close to her who committed suicide. Those deaths made her wonder why no one talked about youth suicide and how she could help.
Then a light bulb went off. Cooley adopted the mindset that suicide prevention began at home. She believed that the seeds of suicidal thoughts started with feelings of isolation that caused people to feel unseen and unheard.
So during the COVID lockdown in the spring of 2020, she issued a challenge to her online community and started kindness bingo.
She created bingo cards that she and others could mark their good deeds until they had BINGO. Once they win, they get a prize. But the ultimate award Cooley hopes is that the good deeds and giving would become a habit for participants.
Cooley says that there is an opportunity to volunteer at every turn. And if you don’t know how to get involved, start with things that interest you.
“I play tennis, so I started teaching four and five-year-olds tennis at Querbes Park,” Cooley said. “Every high schooler who needs volunteer hours wants to go to the animal shelter and pet dogs,” Cooley says with a bit of an eye roll. “I want to encourage them to go beyond the requirement of service hours and do something they really care about. That way, they will want to keep volunteering.”
Her mother, Julie Cooley, is very grateful that she’s had a front-row seat to watch her daughter evolve into a strong youth leader.
“It’s so awesome to watch her in action because I know how much she cares,” Cooley said. “But what’s most important to Brianna is not that people are handing out toiletry kits to the homeless, or working in a food pantry. What she cares about is that as a volunteer you see that person that you gave that kit to and you see the person who came into the food pantry in need,” that, Julie Cooley says, is the magic behind the giving.
Shelia Revell of Shreveport was also honored as an Americorps Champion by Volunteer Louisiana.
The U.S. military veteran and a dedicated volunteer team leader for LaVetCorps in Shreveport working tirelessly to serve her community on her assigned college campus and in her larger community. Volunteer Louisiana says Sheila helped establish and grow the Veteran Student Center at Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College, led fundraising and volunteer clean-up efforts following Hurricane Ida, and served as the liaison to south Louisiana college campuses to get supplies to those in need following the storm.
She started working with the Vaccine Equity Project in April 2021 to inform others about the benefits of vaccination against COVID-19. Sheila felt compelled to remove barriers to healthcare access and promote understanding throughout her community after suffering the loss of many friends and family members.
