Small hands big ideas

Published 11:16 am Wednesday, September 3, 2014

When Cooper Rankin discovered Orcas Auto Tech, it was love at first sight.

“I walked in and said, ‘I could live here!’” said the 10-year-old budding mechanic who first visited the shop with his mom Shelly a few years ago.

Cooper knew right then that he and owner Uzek Susol would be close friends – and he was right. He spends a few hours there every Friday learning about engines, plasma cutting, oil changes, tires, tow trucks and classic cars.

“Uzek jumped in to make it a really rich and amazing experience,” Shelly said.

As Cooper’s friend, Susol lets him watch as he works on projects.

“In 25 years of business and dozens of employees, I’ve had adults who don’t have the attention span that he does,” Susol said. “Every single time I drop him off back home, I am ecstatic that I took the time to be with him.”

Since he opened in 1990, Susol has worked with teenagers interested in mechanics through the career learning program at Orcas High School. He hopes Cooper will participate when he is older.

Cooper is not your typical fifth grader. His mom describes him as passionate and creative and having a thirsty mind.

“He is bewildered when kids don’t get him,” she said.

Cooper has been a go-getter from the start. First he was obsessed with firefighters and big trucks. While living in Las Vegas, he was a regular visitor at the local departments. He was also well-known to the garbage men. Every week he would stand on the curb, waiting to help them pull the lever on the garbage trucks.

After moving to Orcas four years ago, Cooper’s desire to learn has been nurtured by a diverse group of islanders.

“He is always surprising me with the things he remembers and the way he connects with people,” Shelly said. “I’ve tried to facilitate his interests and passions without getting in the way but also making sure he stays safe.”

Through the mentor program at the Funhouse Commons, John Olson taught Cooper about arbor work and helped him launch his landscaping business.

“John and Suzanne have gone above and beyond even the mentor program’s guidelines,” Shelly said. “They have had a tremendous impact on Cooper and taken a role in his life and in all of ours that is more like family.”

Jerry Todd brings Cooper into his shop for woodworking where they have made bowls, chairs, picnic tables and a checkers set. Walter Henderson taught him to beautifully and safely carve wood. John Ahrens answered Cooper’s Christmas wish for martial arts classes.

But his true love is engines and big trucks. He knows the make and model of a truck just by the sound of its engine and exhaust.

Cooper’s dream is to own Orcas Auto Tech but for now he is content to continue learning from those in his community.

“Kids used to bully me in class, so I am very comfortable with adults,” Cooper said.

His shop at home features more than 100 tools that he found at garage sales or the Exchange. In his spare time, he builds and fixes lawnmowers.

“I love working on big machinery and little machinery … any machinery really,” he said.

Cooper is in both the OASIS program (where his mom also teaches) and regular classes at Orcas School. Last year he learned at home for an entire semester, studying subjects like science, mechanics, woodworking, metal work and physical science. Shelly says islanders like Susol, Schmidt, Olson, Mindy Kayl, Merrick Parnell and Barbara Thomas make that kind of education possible.

Cooper recently earned his CPR training at Orcas Fire and Rescue and he went to Inventors Camp at the Funhouse Commons this summer. He helps out at the Orcas Golf Course by picking up lost balls and driving the carts up for patrons. He has also announced at high school sporting events.

“It would be easy to dismiss a kid, but people haven’t here. They respond to his genuine enthusiasm,” Shelly said.  “So many people have been part of Cooper’s life. He’s had so many job offers from people who say, ‘when you are 16, you are coming to work for me.’”

Cooper and his twin sister Carlie were adopted by Shelly, who has been raising them with the help of her mother Sue. Cooper says he and his sister are “good friends.”

Carlie is equally as enthusiastic as her brother but her interests lie in the arts. She studies silk aerial dancing and participated in a circus camp this summer. She also sells her cards and artwork at the farmers’ market.

Edee Kulper, the mother of Cooper’s friend Evan, says she was impressed with him instantly.

“He’s one of the most curious, networking, proactive go-getters I’ve ever met,” Kulper said. “His garage is a testament to his industriousness – it is filled with tools, projects, parts and pieces. You name it, he has tried to build it. Put him in a room with a dozen grown men and what they’ve done combined might not hold a candle to what Cooper has done in one decade of life.”