Prairie View Elementary Principal Quennel Cooper was elected this month to an officer’s position in the Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association (MESPA).

Cooper will begin a two-year term as MESPA’s secretary/treasurer on July 1. In this role, he will review MESPA’s financial statements and provide updates at board of directors and annual meetings, take minutes for all MESPA governance meetings, chair the STEM Innovation Award selection committee and also represent MESPA at key national events.

Cooper, principal at Prairie View since the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, was recognized by Eden Prairie Schools Superintendent Josh Swanson at the Feb. 24 school board meeting “for his transformational leadership, dedication to students and staff and commitment to advancing education in Minnesota” in relationship to his receipt of MESPA’s West Suburban Division Leadership Award for 2024.

At that board meeting, Swanson also recognized Mitch Heglund, assistant principal at Eagle Heights Elementary, for receiving a National Outstanding Assistant Principal Award, as announced by MESPA.