The Many Faces of CHSAA Leadership- Cora Lanter
This week we continue our series of articles highlighting the many faces of leadership throughout the CHSAA membership. Our hope is that by taking a small glimpse into the window of their leadership background, you will gain a greater understand of why they are such strong advocates for the vision and core values of the Colorado High School Activities Association.
Cora Lanter serves the Severance High School community as an Assistant Principal and Athletic Director. The Hastings College graduate is in her 17th year in education and her second year as an administrator, her first at Severance.
What has your journey in education consisted of? Did you start out in the classroom? What administrative positions led you to where you are? Did you come into education specifically for this role?
While attending college I tore my ACL playing softball, which adjusted my summer work plans in construction to working at a YMCA summer camp. One little boy that summer changed my career path and I returned to school and changed my major to education. I was fortunate to student teach at my former junior high school in Cheyenne, WY, and then hopped right into teaching at that same school when my former art teacher retired. I was fortunate to teach art and coach volleyball, track, and softball in Cheyenne for seven years before I moved down to Texas. While in Texas, I worked as an art tutor for incarcerated students at the Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center (Austin, TX), on the weekends and as a PreK teacher in Pflugerville during the week. My time in Texas was educational, but the heat, the traffic, and the distance were enough for me to return home. After my return north, I was fortunate to find a position as an art teacher, softball, and track coach at Windsor High School. So, I moved to Windsor, and then eventually Severance. I spent eight years with Windsor, served in various roles and found great encouragement from my colleagues and principal to pursue my master’s in administration. I never believed, when I started out in education, that I would become an administrator. When I started taking classes, becoming an athletic director was my five-year plan. I figured I would need to start as a dean, work as an AP, and then pursue an AD role. Several years passed after obtaining my degree and initial administrative license, but my five-year admin plan changed dramatically when I went from the classroom to a summer school administrator, to an AP/AD all in a 3-month period. I served my first year as the AP/AD at Fort Lupton High School. My experience there taught me a lot about who I was, who I wanted to be as an administrator, and I am very grateful for my time with the Blue Devils. Now, in my second year as an AP/AD, I work much closer to home, at Severance High School. This year has been full of new experiences and learning opportunities. With a brand-new administration, we are learning and growing together, and it has been an amazing and mutually supportive working environment. The SHS team, both staff and students, have been outstanding to work with and a big part of why I chose to come home.
Did you participate in activities and/or athletics in college?
While at Hastings, I played volleyball for two years, where I served as an outside hitter. I also played softball all four years, where I played shortstop, catcher, and outfielder. Two sports held many challenges between juggling academics, physical strain, and coaching staff changes. During my freshman softball season, I tore my ACL and that made it very challenging to return to volleyball 4 months later. I did return but discovered that volleyball was something I would have to surrender to keep myself healthy and continue playing softball. I had a second minor surgery after volleyball concluded, hit PT hard and came back for late winter workouts and rolled into the spring softball season ready to go.
