Pisgah senior wants to put a smile on your face

Pisgah senior Cooper Kruk has always known he wanted to help people. He wasn't quite sure how, though.

At one point, he wanted to be a teacher, but after getting braces, he found his calling.

"I decided that orthodontics was the path for me, because I get to help people be comfortable in their own bodies and be happy with themselves," Kruk said. "One of the first things you notice about someone is their smile, so if they love their smile, then they're going to want to show it off more. Hopefully, if you give a smile, you're going to make the world a happier place."

With the looming what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up question behind him, deciding where to go to college was the easier choice. After touring NC State's campus, Kruk quickly fell in love with it.

"As soon as I stepped on campus, it just felt like home. I know that's a cliche that people use with college, but everything just felt right about it," Kruk said.

Kruk will have some big help with school, receiving the Park Scholarship - a full-ride that covers the cost of his education.

"I feel so relieved with this scholarship. Knowing that I get to pursue a major that I love with the goal of helping people in the end, with the school paying for it and giving me the opportunity to grow in my leadership abilities and teamwork abilities, and supporting me through all of that while I'm in college is pretty amazing," Kruk said.

Getting there was a lot of hard work. On top of chasing scholarships, Kruk was also a key contributor to Pisgah's tennis and volleyball teams this spring.

"It's a lot of effort. It's basically a full-time job," Kruk said of juggling school, sports and college applications his senior year. "A lot of it came down to prioritizing what was important. I knew I had made a commitment to my sports team, so I wasn't going to be able to give that up, but also getting this scholarship was pretty important. It was a lot of late nights that I stayed up writing essays for my scholarships, but it was definitely worth all those late nights."

He was also involved in a lot of clubs and organizations at Pisgah, including student government president, the four-year president of Pisgah Athletic Student Community Outreach, a member of the Leo Club, the secretary for National Honor Society and a founder of the Grow Club.

The Grow Club is one that Kruk is particularly proud of. The club spends time with students in the after-school program at Bethel Elementary, providing students with homework assistance they might not have at home.

"We would play games with them, go through their schoolwork, help them if they needed it, just being there to support those kids, because it's very important that everyone has the best chance that they can to learn," Kruk said.

That's also part of what he liked about NC State. When he visited, he saw people out and about, living their college lives and helping one another out. It reminded him of home.

"It's very much community-oriented. There were a lot of clubs out doing different volunteer things around Raleigh," Kruk said. "Just seeing how much they give back to their community, it reminds me of Canton, and how everyone works to give back to our community here. That helped it feel more like home, and seeing everyone interact with each other."

The senior gave credit to his parents for their importance to his educational journey, but also gave a big shoutout to Jennifer Cody. Cody was Kruk's AIG enrichment teacher in middle school and moved up to the high school at the same time as Kruk as the AP Research Teacher.

"She has been phenomenal," Kruk said. "She's helped me through all my wild job goals and college goals, where I switched from wanting to be a teacher and going to Auburn or Ole Miss, to now I'm going to NC State for orthodontics. She's supported me and guided me through each step and every year of my high school career."

Kruk follows in the footsteps of another Park Scholarship recipient from Haywood County last year, Tuscola alum Cecilia Morgan.

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