EAST PROVIDENCE — East Providence High School teacher and Unified League/Special Needs sports mentor Kristen Coutoulakis was recently chosen as a recipient of a Cox Communications "Outstanding Coaches" award for the 2022-23 term.

(Updated/corrected, August 14, 5:45 p.m.)

Before leaving his position as the district's athletic director upon his election to become Rhode Island's Secretary of State, Gregg Amore nominated the EPHS Physical Education instructor for the award.

"Kristen’s commitment to her athletes extends beyond the court. She has been a devoted physical education teacher at East Providence High School for 23 years," Amore wrote in his nominating statement. "I say frequently that 'Townie Pride Never Sleeps', and Kristen makes me very proud to be a 'Townie.'"

Coutoulakis, also known as "Coutie," received a $1,000 award as part of being recognized. which she donated to East Providence Special Olympics.

Coutoulakis said she "was honored and humbled" to be named a  Cox Outstanding Coach while noting her staff, among others co-coach Dana Brodin and aide Beth Studley, and parents "were the true driving force behind this honor."

If you arrived at EPHS on any morning, as students were beginning to trickle in, you would meet Coutoulakis. Her smile lights up the hallways, and students gravitate to her as she makes her way through. She calls each student by name and asks how their night was, if they are caught up on homework, and how their specific hobbies are going.

She knows their favorite sports teams and who played who the night before, and she has no difficulty gloating when her favorite team wins a game, particularly if it’s the Yankees beating the Red Sox.

Coutoulakis espouses positive spirit and involvement with staff and students from the start of the day, through dismissal, and at after school events. Most importantly, she treats each student with respect and has a genuine interest in their lives.

Coutoulakis advocates full participation for students with and without special needs through Unified sports programs and Unified PE classes. In addition to coaching Unified Volleyball and Basketball (a Special Olympics model for sports participation), Coutoulakis worked to have EPHS officially recognized as a "Unified Champions School" through Special Olympics.

In addition, she is currently a RIAPHERD (Rhode Island Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance) Executive Board member and participates with Shape America. In addition, she has developed in-services and continuing education sessions for state and national conferences.

Where Coutoulakis truly shines, however, is in her commitment to promoting a safe, healthy, nurturing environment for her students. When students are not able to join the Unified team, she makes sure they have the team shirt to wear on game day so that they feel like they are a part of it. Coutoulakis is a proponent of the social-emotional aspects of PE that are often overlooked when people look at PE as a “gym” class. She has a website dedicated for this purpose, https://sites.google.com/epschoolsri.com/coutiescorner/home.

Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Coutoulakis worked with the school resource officer to organize students to raise funds through the Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge. She was able to recruit enough of the staff and student body to be among the top participating schools in Rhode Island. When the plunge was cancelled due to restrictions, Coutoulakis went ahead and made sure to plunge anyway to fulfill her commitment to the people who had donated in her name.

All told, in the three years she has organized the annual Polar Bear Plunge participants in city, she has raised nearly $20,000 to support Unified Athletics at EPHS.

Instead of taking the easy road during that time, Coutoulakis began to take classes and learn everything she could about online platforms for physical education. Her assignments for her students focused on having them express themselves in their own ways, from video assignments to athletic challenges. When students were not responding online, she continued to reach out and learn about new programs and pathways to teach interactively while online in remote learning.

Coutoulakis has been an active, avid student of online learning to prepare for this school year, from compiling non-contact and non-equipment based activities, to setting up remote classrooms with current research-based content. She also encouraged her staff for continuing education over the summer to ensure each teacher would be ready for this new hybrid model of learning.

Adults who truly change children’s lives are those who take the time to get involved and get to know children on a personal level. And Coutoulakis is that kind of instructor/mentor for sure.