Transcript: Cooper Mlakar on Leadership, Culture, and Success

Good morning, and welcome back to the show. We are here with University School Class of 2023 alum, former prefect, and now student at University of Colorado Boulder, Cooper Malacher. How are you, Cooper? I'm good, I'm good. Thanks for having me on the show, guys. Thanks for being here. You know, your perspective is going to be really interesting because you're only a couple years out of high school, right, and out of U.S., and some other alumni have been on the show, but they graduated much, much before you. So before we can get into these after U.S. details, though, we kind of want to return to how you got to U.S. and what your journey was to this point. Yeah, so I've had a few family members come to U.S., so my dad went to U.S., I had some cousins, and then my grandparents, or my grandfather, so there was that generational pull to it. But I live in Chagrin, came to visit in like fifth grade, started at U.S. in sixth grade. And just fell in love with it. It was a lot of fun. Loved middle school. And then, you know, had fun in middle school, getting to know my class, getting to know the teachers. I became house captain, which was a lot of fun. And then coming to high school, got to go to school with my brother for a couple years, and that was fun. And, yeah, I mean, U.S. has a lot of opportunities that I loved. Playing sports here, you know, friends, and just the relationships. The relationships with the teachers was awesome. Do you have any specific memories that you're pretty fond of from your time in the middle school? Yeah, I mean, I mean, Founders Day, you can always look back on. Those are always fun. I think, you know, eighth grade year, I just had a lot of fun with, you know, the house captains and running around and doing all the projects that we would do. I mean, really just like, it's the small things. It's like hanging out in class with your friends, talking to your friends at lunch, going to field and just messing around, whether it's playing dodgeball or matball or whatever. I think, like, the best field memory, I think, was, like, sixth grade. We did some, like, sports cup. I forget what it was called, but each team was, like, a country or something, and you just played, like, various sports throughout the year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was a lot of fun. I remember my team made it, like, to the finals, and we lost to basketball. Because the other team had, like, the two best basketball players in the grade. But that was pretty fun. And were you involved in any clubs or activities at the upper school? Yeah. So I was, outside of being a prefect, I was in One Love. I was on the Aurelian Society, LaPresti Board, and Student Defense Committee, which I think were, like, the big ones. And then I was in, like, you know, Ping Pong Club and all the small ones. But those were awesome. I really loved being in One Love. That was awesome. And to see that grow throughout the years on just the number of people in the club. But then we expanded to, you know, having the meetings with, like, HB, which was awesome to see. They get that different perspective. That was cool. Student Defense Committee was a lot of fun. Playing the homecomings as much as we could with, like, you know, because we were still getting out of COVID and all that. So planning events and trying to figure. New ways to do that. And Aurelian Society was sweet. You know, figuring out volunteer opportunities and pursuing those and things like that. And I'm in LaPresti and One Love. So One Love is still going strong. Good, good, good, good. Yeah. You know, who are some of the mentors at U.S. who really just took you along and took you under their wing and really made you into who you are today? Yeah. I got to tell you about Mr. Perry, Brian Perry. He was my homeroom teacher. Right from the get-go. From freshman year. He was great. Our personalities just matched. And, you know, whenever I had questions about school, whether it was a way to talk to a teacher or not doing well on an assignment or a class, he always helped me. Even in math, too. I never had him as a math teacher, but he would always help me on the side sometimes when I needed it. Ms. Ullery was fantastic. Met her through One Love. Me and her got a great connection, and she helped me out with just life and just, you know, stressing about school, stressing about life and all that. She was awesome. I mean, there are so many different teachers. I mean, I could shout out Mr. Richmond, even Coach Mabasa. Coach O'Brien, for sure, had a huge impact on just my mental health, especially junior and senior year. You know, Mrs. Coy. Dr. Gotchie, when he was still here. And even Mrs. Coy. Even Mr. Gallagher. I mean, there were tons and tons of teachers that I really connected with and that I really appreciate, you know, the relationships I had with them. And they're always good to see when I come back and visit. You know, going back to that prefect topic, right, you became that prefect in your senior year from a care house, right? What made you want to really become a prefect, and would you say that you were always a leader? So, I think, you know, I wanted to become a prefect. I think it stemmed from just middle school, from seeing, you know, founders. I think it stemmed from that day with the prefects and wanting to be house captain. And then coming to high school, I think, you know, establishing myself as a leader. You know, I would like to think I've always been somewhat a leader or tried to be, whether that's in small settings like group projects or, you know, on an athletic field. I definitely wanted to have that leadership mentality. And I think one of the best things about being a prefect is, you know. The fact that, like, students are, you know, looking up to you, too. It's not just, you know, it's not just you're a disciplinary person. I think as a middle schooler, I really looked up to the senior prefects, even though I never knew them, really. And they were just the kids in the halls, even as a freshman in high school, that you wanted to be with or wanted to be around and be like. They were the guys, you know, that were good at school. They were the guys that everyone was saying hi to, that the teachers were saying hi to. So they just had this attitude and the way that they carried themselves around that I liked. And I kind of just wanted to be that guy that people could come up to and say hi and know I'd say hi back.

You talk about trying to assert yourself as a leader. What were some of those principles that maybe you led by or tried to use when you were a leader? Yeah, I mean, I think basically that, you know, I feel like the core ones are approachability. I thought that was one of the big ones I mentioned, like in my prefect speech, I think, was just being able to, you know, I wanted kids to come up to me and ask for help and, you know, kind of be this friendly person that people are not scared or nervous to talk to. You know, I think one of them is your ability. To just communicate with others, you know, not try to be a dictator leader and just boss people around, but be someone that really hears other people's thoughts, understands where they're coming from, and try to actually pick the best solution, not just the one you think of because, you know, you're labeled with the leader. It's just trying to figure out, you know, how to work with people and how to work with people and how to work with people. How to reach the ultimate goal together. You know, you guys had a really amazing group of prefects. Like, thinking back, that was our eighth grade year. So we weren't really in the high school with you guys. Yeah. But we still kind of felt that same, like, impact. And we heard all your speeches at Founders Day and had Founders Day kind of with you. Even from that day, we felt the impact that you guys had as leaders. How did you lead such a wide range of talents, backgrounds, and interests at U.S. so effectively? And how do you do that? And how do you think prefects really kind of fit into that role? Yeah. There, I mean, there was a lot that, I mean, my senior year was a lot of fun. And I think it was really special, too. And it was really, you know, because of that group of prefects, I think, and that entire senior class. And I'm glad that even as eighth grader, you felt our impact, whether it was big or small. You know. But right at the beginning of the summer, we had our prefect retreat. And Ms. Coy asked, you know, what we wanted to do. And it was our first true year out of COVID. And what I mean by that is, you know, sophomore year, right, we were still masked up. We had our kind of our, you know, four classes a day. Everyone's masked. You didn't eat in the cafeteria. You had assembly in a classroom on Zoom. You still had Zoom. Junior year was a little different. I think we went unmasked the second semester. But everyone was still, you know, they weren't, like, eating all in the cafeteria. We weren't still all in the auditorium, whatever. And then senior year was kind of the first, like, normal year. And so they kind of put it in our hands of, they posed us the question, what is normal? And so we wanted, our goal was to really just show everyone else what we thought U.S. was. And, you know, Ms. Coy asked us, how do we do that? What are the things that we want to really address? Right. And the big word was culture. And so the prefect really worked on, you know, how do we change the culture or just bring it back and show, you know, the juniors through freshmen and even the middle schoolers, if you guys felt the effect, what the culture at U.S. was like. So it was really just us working together as a class, as friends, to make school fun again and just make sure that everyone, you know, was walking through those doors with a smile on their face. Excited to be here. Excited about the things that U.S. has to offer. And it was just that journey. And it was a lot of fun. And I know it did have a huge impact. And people still talk about replicating the brotherhood that was felt during your, when your class was seniors. Looking back on your time at high school, do you have any things you wish you were involved in or maybe any regrets from your time in high school? So I, regrets? I don't know. You know, I think I learned early on, you know, that U.S. is a great spot to try everything. And, you know, I think, you know, I think it was the freshman club fair. I signed up for like 20 clubs because I was just like, why not? You know, it's easier to, you know, drop them later on in your years here than it is to pick them up probably. So I was in, you know, O'Reilly Society freshman year. I was in Student Events Committee freshman year. I was in, you know, Lopresti senior year and, or freshman, oh, you know, freshman year and One Love too. So, and I loved being in all of those. I loved being in all the clubs. You know, I wouldn't say I had really any regrets. No, I, I used my time here. I had a lot of fun. I tried a lot of, a lot of things. My sophomore year, I took drama class, which was, you know, way out of the ballpark for me. But I had so much fun. It was something different for me. Got to really. You know, more classmates of mine than I didn't know, really know before, rather than just taking photo with all my, you know, close friends. Now, I think, you know, if I had to give one advice, I'd say you're four years at this place and you're going to miss it. It's an awesome spot to be. And so try everything you want to with wholeheartedly have fun. And yeah, just, just enjoy the four years. You know. Coming out of U.S., you decided to go to Colorado Bowl. Yeah. Like you're, like you're already obviously says. What made you kind of decide that school? And when did you know Colorado was the place for you? Yeah. So I've had some family go to Colorado. So there wasn't too much pressure from that, surprisingly. I know that some families that are, you know, like a not college family. We were never like a, you know, Colorado family. But I just wanted to go to a place that. That offered things outside of the campus so I wasn't stuck on campus all day. And I was originally looking for schools that offered like, you know, just hotel management is kind of my area that I want to go into. I'm just studying business there. But I yeah, I wanted to go to a school that offered things outside of campus. And Colorado is a beautiful spot. I mean, there's mountains, you know, five blocks away from my apartment. They're skiing in the winter. They're hiking in the summer. There's camping, there's fishing. I can just go drive around and go look, you know, scenic views. It's a beautiful state. It's a lot of fun. And so, you know, I didn't apply to that many schools. Boulder was probably just my top choice when I went to go visit. I was like, this is pretty sweet. You know, it was a blue sky day with, you know, the mountains. I was like, all right, this this isn't too bad. So I got accepted. And then I think. Actually, I think a few weeks before I got accepted, I got the notification on my phone that Deion Sanders was the football coach. So I was like, all right, like if I, you know, it would be a hard spot to pass up. And then, yeah, I got the acceptance letter and I was like, all right, let's let's go. Let's go. Yeah. Following Coach Brian. Yeah, exactly. How much of those outdoors, the hiking and skiing do you get to actually enjoy when you're at school there? Yeah. So last year I got a car freshman year, which isn't a, you know, huge thing. Don't bring a car out freshman year, you know. But I got like 20 days of skiing last year, which is not bad. It was actually pretty good. I'm trying to go out on weekends when I could. This year I do have my car out. So hoping to ski a lot more. I didn't do, you know, too much, you know, like more special hikes, I guess. I mean, I did the hikes, the mountain range. That's right out the edge of campus, you know, a lot. We do that when friends or family come to visit during the fall or, you know, you're out of class and me, my friends would go up for the sunset or something like that or, you know, just a nice Saturday and you're bored. We go on a hike. So it's definitely an active, active campus in the sense that you're moving around. It's really hard to just sit inside all day, especially when it's blue skies, 360 days of the year and the sun's shining. So, yeah, definitely out and moving.

How is that environment with Coach Prime there? Shador, Travis, Travis Hunter? Has that kind of brought some energy to the campus? For sure. Last year, I think when we definitely had the old hype, whether our season was what, four and nine or whatever it was, it was unbelievable. I mean, I was my dorm was right outside one of the main like quads and we had big noon kickoff there. Like four weeks in a row, they would post a list of celebrities that came like every weekend. So we had like I mean, we still have celebrities come to our game. So I think I mean, Lil Wayne shows up like all the time. It's definitely awesome. The hype that Dion brings with just the celebrities that come, the excitement to the games. I mean, all the games are sold out. And this year being a lot better than we were last year with Travis winning Heisman, which is awesome, whether there's debates he should have or not. You know, Shador playing well. And those two go in, you know, probably both top ten picks. It's definitely exciting to, you know, to see a transformation of a football team that hasn't been good in 30 years to all of a sudden, you know, they have a bowl game and they're winning and the games are sold out. It's it's it's definitely a lot of fun. Definitely went at the right time. You know, kind of going back to us, do you think really like us prepared you for the college experience and just for college as a whole? So I joke around because one of my roommates is from Cleveland, but he didn't go to U.S. and, you know, he doesn't know how to like write a paper. Like and so I, you know, jokingly, I'm like, dude, like I write papers just nonstop, like sophomore English all the time. But U.S. definitely teaches you a lot of skills. Needed. And I think the biggest one is time management just simply because college is all it's a lot of freedom. I mean, you have class whenever you don't have to go. You don't have to show up. You know, I know a lot of friends that never show up to class and just submit the assignments or figure out how to take the tests. But U.S. teaches you, you know, you got to go to class. They teach you how to take notes, how to study. A lot of my friends. They're in the library late nights just trying to figure out, you know, how to do homework efficiently and how to study. And I'm just like, I've I've been doing this since, you know, sixth grade almost. So I'm studying, you know, writing papers easily, reaching out to teachers when I need to, utilizing my resources. And I do think that all just comes from what you have taught me. Many seniors are still in the midst of their college process. Do you have any advice for those seniors? That are still waiting to hear back? Don't stress. I mean, I think everything happens for a reason. I definitely was stressing during my college process just because I applied to so little schools. I mean, one of them was Hawaii and that was a, you know, all right, if all else fails, I'll throw on some flip flops and go and go to class. So thank God I got into Boulder because otherwise I think my life would be in a very different situation right now. But don't don't worry. I think everything's going to happen for a reason. You know, it's not the end of the world, too, if you don't get into top school. And then I think for those kids that, you know, know where they're going or they've already, you know, decided or heard back or whatever, you got one semester left. Really enjoy. I think our class from the get go, you know, you really start to realize and this is kind of hits right after spring break when you're really close to being done that you're you're kind of done with all these guys, you know, the hundred some guys in your class. And I think it was special for our class because we kind of realized that in the fall. And I think that was one of the reasons that, you know, the class of 23 was able to connect and do a lot that we did because we just loved being around each other and having fun together. So, you know, don't fret. Don't worry about what school you get into if it's not your top school. Just. Live in the moment. Be present, you know, still show up to class and, you know, have fun with your friends. You know, one last ride. So, you know, I don't think we really touched on a huge in this podcast, but you were the captain in 2022, 2023, undefeated lacrosse season and many other sports teams. And then you guys advanced to D2 state championship. I mean, I even remember you guys had two wins against like Chicken Falls that year, Gilmore, Toledo, St. Francis, like those are big games. What was being the captain of such a successful team like? And how do you think it changed your perspective on leadership and just how like sports influences people? Yeah, I think it really ties back to that word culture. So that lacrosse team or program, you know, since being here freshman year, you know, we practiced for two weeks, got shut down because of COVID. And then sophomore year, we were in a real, real rough spot of just, you know, the team not really knowing how to blend well leaders, not really knowing how to lead because a lot of those guys were just that was their first time playing varsity varsity lacrosse. You had a lot of kids that were JV players, you know, going into sophomore year and they lost it and now they're juniors or they had juniors that were swinging and now they're expected to lead a team. So you lose that, you know, field experience. And so that was different. It was difficult. And then my junior year, you know, we started to pick up the pebbles a little bit and figure out, you know, what it meant to be a team. And I think U.S. Lacrosse, too, has this high standard to be this sort of excellence where, you know, if we don't make it to the regional championship against, you know, Sugar and Falls every year, it's the season's team to failure, which I don't think is necessarily true. It's just, you know, it's a tough spot to be in when D.T. to lacrosse. To me, it felt it was, you know, you have the competitors or the teams that it was like, all right, this is this is good lacrosse. And then you have some where it's like, all right, well, maybe that was just like a practice. And then D1 lacrosse, we'd face Ignatius and get, you know, like 22 to nothing. I remember a sophomore year. But that senior year, let me, you know, get on track. It was going back to just culture and trying to figure out how to blend the team. And understand, you know, what our goal was. And that was, you know, to restore U.S. lacrosse and put us back on the map. And so it was really just building a culture and building a team. And from there, it just snowballed to, you know, we're winning games. We're winning games smoothly. We're playing as a team. It's not like an individual mindset. You know, there's not one player that's trying to do it all. There's ten guys on the field for a reason. And all those ten guys were working together. And I definitely think that's what it was. I definitely think that's why we were able to, you know, beat your end twice, go undefeated, have an awesome season and make it to the, you know, state semifinals. We talked about that brotherhood that was built during your time in U.S., and it's definitely a testament to the leadership of people like you. But as those leaders graduate, how do you think that brotherhood can be sustained?

I think, I mean, every class is a little bit different. How every, how the leaders bond together, I think it's real. I mean, I think one of the best parts about the brotherhood from my class was we just really just got close senior year and I don't really know what it was. It's not like we had a huge like only senior assembly. I'm like, all right, let's all be friends, guys. It just happened, you know, and it was it really trickled down from the prefects. I think there were a lot of close friends, you know, in that prefect group. And so being. Able to, you know, kind of gather a bunch of people to go to those sports games and have fun and all that, I really just think the key is to get to know your class, you know, have fun with each other, go out and eat after school, after practice, have fun. You know, teachers will probably like this, but just cause mischief during study halls or like, you know, you're in the lower commons, have fun. You know, those are the things that you're going to remember. From U.S., just the oldest small, you know, dumb, stupid little things that you do. And those small things are what's going to create brotherhood. You know, this is kind of become a tradition on our podcast of a question that we ask. And it's one that Charlie and I discuss a lot is those early mornings. You've got a lot of projects do assignments do. We had maybe a long night the night before. Yeah. What keeps you going? What's your why? Oh, I mean, wow. All right. That's a good one. Deep one. Yeah, that's a good one. You want me to answer this currently or you want me to answer this when I was at U.S.? Well, however you want. Maybe currently. Okay. Man, I think I think my why is just why not? You know, I mean, that could be a basic answer. But I think this past summer and this year, I've really kind of took to heart the sense that, you know, you only you only live once. I'm in college once. I'm in high school once. I was my only sophomore year of college. Make the most of it. And when it comes to, you know, school, right, you could be like, well, why am I going to do that? You know, like it's so just like like I could be doing a lot better things. No, like do you know, you got to do well in school. We go to college to do school. Um, so, yeah, you might have three tests that week. Why would I say you and there's chat, UBT or whatever and all those things? Because why not? Why, you know, go to school and just slack off, go to school, make the effort. Because at the end of the day, you're going to be looked at eventually on how you did at school for your first job. So the things you learn, you have three tests this week. How are you going to manage that? You're going to be in the workforce. One day and have three big projects your boss is going to give you. Well, how are you going to do that? You know, you learn, you learn something with everything, every single thing you do. And I think life's amazing in the sense that, you know, it's just a full of experiences. So my why is just you gain experience. It's it's fun. You learn something new, whether it's, you know, you hate studying for a test or, you know, you don't want to. Write this essay, do it because they'll feel good when you finish it. And it will feel a lot better when you get a better grade on it than if you slacked off and got a worse grade. And then you, you know, just go out and live college and slack off the rest. So make the most of it. Make it meaningful. It's a great answer. Looking to your future, what is your dream job situation coming up older? And do you have any plans to move towards that goal? Hmm. Yeah. So. You know, like I mentioned a little briefly before, I'm really interested in hotel management, hospitality, still trying to figure out kind of what you know, how to get into that, what I want to do. But my big dream has always been to work for Disney, work on the hotel side of those things. Grew up as a huge Disney family. I just love how they, you know, that child, you know, how you feel, that childhood feeling you get when you go to Disney. I love how their employees, too. Their guests and all that. So I'd love to do something involved in Disney. You know, I've worked my way up from there, I guess. But trying to figure out, you know, some something along the lines of the hotel travel industry is kind of where I'm looking. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Cooper. This is a great interview and for just so many great stories. And honestly, one of my favorite episodes so far to our listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll hope you join us next Wednesday. For another episode of The Late Start Show. Yeah. Thank you. This is awesome. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming in.