FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Regine Cooper lives against the grain.
Growing up in the historically segregated community of Fort Myers known as Dunbar, Cooper chose to surround herself with mentors who could help her achieve a quality education and launch her career.
Cooper, who is Black and goes by the nickname Re’ (pronounced like Rae), has gotten her foot in the door in a vocation that in Lee County typically has been run by white males. She has landed herself a role, at age 23, in managing part of the most expensive high school ever built in Lee County with lead contractor Suffolk Construction.
“There’s a huge learning curve to be working in construction, especially in construction management,” Cooper said. “There’s so much information you have to learn in order to be good at what you do. If you don’t have the mentors to guide you along the way, it’s really, really hard. I’m really grateful to have and be empowered by women, especially on my team, like Shelly Peterson and Danielle Hartman.
“It’s amazing to be around women who empower me. They give me hard tasks and believe I have the ability to complete them.”
At Gateway High School’s construction site, on the southeast corner of Griffin Boulevard and State Road 82, Cooper wore a yellow vest, a hard hat, safety glasses, gloves and a mask as she gave a guided tour. She serves as a liaison between Boston-based Suffolk Construction, the company managing the project for the Lee County school district, and the myriad of subcontractors.
The high school, estimated to cost $98 million, will comprise 300,000 square feet, will have a complete array of athletic fields and three stories of classrooms for about 2,000 students. It will have specialty learning centers such as a veterinary clinic, cyber security training and carpentry academy. There will be three main buildings, with the largest being devoted to the classrooms, plus the gymnasium and cafeteria and an auditorium.
A little more than 50% complete, Gateway High is slated to be finished in time for the 2021-22 school year.
Cooper, who graduated from Dunbar High School in 2015 and won a state championship as a freshman on the 2012 girls basketball team, said she is taking pride in her role with the new Gateway High gymnasium, planning the new maple floor installation and the arrival of the bleachers.
“I’m in charge of a lot of the things that you can see,” Cooper said. Think flooring, carpeting, wood floors and bleacher seats, not HVAC systems and internet technology cables. “I get all of the information to and from the subcontractors and make sure everything is what the architect called for.”
Cooper landed her job following a childhood filled with challenges. Her biological father was in and out of her life, and her mother was in her life but didn’t raise her as she battled her own problems. Her grandmother, Earline Goodman, raised Cooper.
When Cooper was 11, Goodman suffered a stroke. This left Cooper bouncing around, living in different homes. She lived with her school bus driver for awhile and then with various friends and teammates from her youth basketball teams.
Cooper gravitated to learning at Dunbar High, and she joined a program that helped her prepare and find funding for her college education at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, from which she graduated last year with a degree in political science with a minor in education.
In February 2019, Cooper called the father of Lauren Tuffo, one of her traveling basketball teammates. While catching up, Pete Tuffo, the southeast regional president for Suffolk Construction, suggested she apply for Suffolk’s Career Start program. Cooper obliged.
“She’s incredibly intelligent,” Pete Tuffo said. “On top of her intelligence, she is so driven and so focused. Every aspect of her life.
It really stood out.
“Not only is Re’ incredibly intelligent, she has the ability to interact with people. All kinds of people. She’s really beyond her years. You can see what a great, genuine person she is. We’re honored to have her on the Suffolk team.”
Cooper joked she would someday have Tuffo’s job. When told this, Tuffo said he did not doubt it. Suffolk takes pride in its diverse workforce, Tuffo said, with about 51% of its employees people of color and 34% women in the southeast region.
“No one would be prouder if she did,” Tuffo said. “I think Re’ will succeed in anything she puts her mind to.”
Tuffo said he gravitated to Cooper because of her engaging personality and drive to succeed. That she possesses these traits despite childhood challenges only made her an even more compelling person, he said.
“Then you hear her story,” Tuffo said. “Then you take a step back. In spite of what her upbringing has been like and the challenges she had … everyone gravitates to her. It adds to who she is and her character. I don’t know if that’s because of how she was raised, or that’s just who she is.”
In the trailer housing Cooper’s office at the construction site, there are two white boards hanging on the walls. One has a list of tasks for her to monitor, such as ordering mirrors, sound absorbing panels, etc. The one behind her desk has the word of the day and quotes of the day, plus yellow post-it notes with words of wisdom.
On July 29, “harlequin” was the word of the day: “used to describe something that has a lot of different colors, often in diamond pattern.”
“No weapon formed against me shall prosper,” “It’s me vs. me, who’s your competition?” and “Don’t kill my dreams because you’ve stopped dreaming” were the quotes of the day.
Cooper said because she’s Black, she said she felt as if she needed to try harder than her white counterparts. Daily education helped her fulfill that need, she said.
“There is a lack of diversity,” Cooper said of her job. “Construction is an old white man’s business. Historically, it’s been like that. They’re trying to change the narrative, hiring a Black female. I’m very lucky to have mentors who are women. That doesn’t mean that sometimes there’s a cultural gap here in the workplace.
“Unfortunately, that is how I feel. I’ve always felt like that. I have always felt like I need to be perfect. I’m the type of person who wants to be the best person I can be. But I also feel like there’s less room for mistakes. I don’t want to be put in the category of, ‘She just got this job because she’s Black.’ Or, ‘She just got this job because we need to raise our diversity numbers.’”
“I always aspire to be a top performer. I do ask a lot of questions sometimes. I try to overperform, so I can be on a level playing field.”
Cooper, who now lives in North Fort Myers, said she tries to pay things forward. She mentors at-risk teenagers at Dunbar High School.
“A lot of them are athletes who could be better students,” Cooper said. “I had my academic support. It enabled me to have other resources to go to.
“I never thought I would be working in construction. But here I am. I’m just glad that I went against the grain.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.