WHITEHOUSE, Texas — As Troup High School junior Cooper Reid continues his healing journey after suffering a severe brain injury last fall, hundreds of people have been sending prayers to the Reid family in East Texas and beyond.
One teacher and her students from a neighboring school district have used their mathematical skills and formulas to make a map, showing just how powerful and far-reaching those prayers for Cooper have been.
Amanda Davenport, a business teacher at Whitehouse High School, said she and her students collected ZIP codes from members of the Facebook group, "Praying for Cooper," and received close to 350 responses.
They used Microsoft Excel to create the map by inserting different equations.
"A picture's worth 1,000 words. In this case, it's 1,000 plus prayers. So, it just shows the power of what one photo can do," Davenport said. "We've got a beautiful map out of Excel that at least, where at least one person is praying for Cooper."
The students said the process involved applying the data, their knowledge and using the functions and formulas they've learned in class to create the map.
Davenport thought of this idea because her son is friends with Cooper. When Davenport reached out to Cooper’s mother about the project, she was in awe of the information gathered and was very supportive.
The map shows the whole nation rallying and praying for Cooper.