Stephen F. Austin State University

Tim Haynes is a teacher students remember years after graduation as someone who made an difference in their lives.

His theater students call him Haynes or Haynesie, but hold him in high regard. His colleagues voted him teacher of the year at Cooper High School this year. Plus, he was invited to take part in a Horton Foote workshop in July at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York. Foote wrote ''The Trip to Bountiful'' and the screenplay for ''Tender Mercies.''

''He has the perfect characteristics that every teacher should have,'' said Jordan Leverton, 18, a senior at Cooper. ''He listens. He teaches in a way that no other teachers do. He teaches us life lessons and discipline. He teaches us how to act and how to treat people.''

Haynes said he loves working with kids. He expects a lot from them and they deliver.

The January performances of ''Beauty and the Beast'' had people around Abilene - not just Cooper parents - talking about the show. Haynes began planning for the show a year before the curtain rose.

Barbara Perkins, director of fine arts for the Abilene Independent School District, said Haynes spends more time at the high school than he does in his Tuscola home.

''He literally works day and night,'' Perkins said. ''He's just a great asset to our district.''

Haynes is also the chair for the fine arts department at Cooper, working closely with the music and art programs. In his scant spare time, he works on his art and writes plays.

One of those plays, ''Domino,'' is part of the Ensemble Studio Theatre workshop. Participants will study and work on scenes from the play. The best show in the workshop will be presented in a new play showcase in New York in October.

''I'm really nervous,'' Haynes said. ''I told my mom, I know why my grandmother broke out in shingles when she was worried.''

His bittersweet comedy takes place in Haynes' native Roscoe in the days leading up to the big homecoming game. Two former classmates vie for the title of homecoming queen at their reunion. The action takes place in the domino hall owned by one of the women.

Having grown up in Roscoe, Haynes understands that life. After graduating from Roscoe High School, he headed off to The University of Texas at Austin to study computer sciences.

''I hated it,'' he said. ''I hated everything about it.''

His interest in drama prompted him to wander over to the theater department. On the way, he got lost and ended up in an art classroom where drawing students were doing nude studies.

''It was a day of enlightenment for me,'' Haynes said, chuckling at his naivete in those days. ''There was a group of people standing naked, like George Washington crossing the Delaware. I was shocked. I'd never thought about how they painted nudes. I didn't know people posed for them.''

The experience showed him how little he knew of the world. He found the theater department and saw a boy and girl in Grecian clothing running through a scene. There was wailing and crying and she clung to his leg.

''I thought, 'This is what I want to do,' and I didn't even know what it was,'' he said. ''I went outside and cried. How do you go ahead and figure what you want to do?''

Unhappy at UT, Haynes went home for winter break and told his dad he wasn't going back. His father told him he didn't need to go back to Austin, but he was going to continue college.

He ended up at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches and found his calling, earning a bachelor's of fine arts degree in theater in 1974. He and his late wife, Alice, married in 1973. She attended Baylor University Dental School.

Haynes later earned a master's degree at Trinity University and taught in various places, including Big Spring. In Abilene in 1996, he opened T. Cooper's Coffee Cafe in the River Oaks shopping center. He served sandwiches and salads and did some catering for three years before getting back into teaching.

One day, while buying popcorn and soda at a movie theater, he got a call from Perkins, offering him a job at CHS.

''I sat down on a bench in the lobby and ate my popcorn and thought about it,'' Haynes remembers. ''I never did see that movie.''

The proposal he got from Perkins and CHS Principal Gail Gregg called for him to teach theater and serve as chair of Cooper's fine arts department and bring the entire program and faculty together into one cohesive unit. He also oversees the auditorium, and Gregg said Haynes is present for every performance.

Gregg has watched Haynes transform the entire department. CHS's one-act play had not advanced to the area University Interscholastic League play competition for 17 years before Haynes came on board. Under Haynes' direction, the one-act play has advanced the last three years.

''We've moved light years in three years,'' Gregg said.

CHS used to have a musical every year, featuring only seniors. Haynes told Gregg students were not going to advance to college if they were only able to perform in a musical as seniors. So the musical tradition changed.

''It was a tough decision,'' Gregg said. ''We caught some flack, but it was the right thing to do.''

Haynes has also recruited talent to the program. He hired Kristie Perkins, Barbara Perkins' daughter, as his associate theater director about a year ago.

Kristie Perkins said Haynes has taught her aspects of set building, costume design, directing and teaching, and that he knows how to make anything happen.

''He can turn trash into art,'' she said.

While they work long hours, often late into the night, he understands the need for downtime.

''But when it's work time, we work hard,'' she said. ''He brings out the joy of the job because he finds it entertaining ... He keeps it light. He keeps me grounded. He reminds me that we have a fun job.''

That fun comes through in his classes and rehearsals. Haynes laughs and jokes with the students, but isn't afraid to let them know that he is the teacher and is in charge.

''I try to create an environment where the kids can tear down walls for themselves and express things for themselves,'' Haynes said.

When he works with students, Haynes smiles, he cajoles and he demands, but the young actors understand him and respect him, both for the way he treats them and what he teaches them.

Students went through a program where they had to learn how to put on a play, said sophomore Kaitlyn Martin, 15. It made her and the other students realize what Haynes goes through with every play he directs.

''He gives you just enough responsibility so you grow in his class,'' Martin said.

She said Haynes is like a big kid, but that he also has authority and people respect him.

''I feel emotionally about 16 or 17 - I think that's why I get along with the kids so well,'' Haynes said. ''I understand what they're thinking. My basic philosophy of teaching is if I can create the environment, the kids can create their own creativity.''

Hanging up on the walls of the art building are renderings of costumes for ''Cats,'' the Cooper musical for January. They look professional, but they were done by a student who was a junior at the time. After three years of picking up Travis Crockett's drawings in the auditorium, Haynes finally approached him to render costume designs for the show.

Crockett, who had acted in shows for Haynes, got serious with his theatrical art. Crockett said he's learned a lot from his teacher's work ethic and how hard he works.

''The fact that we auditioned in May for a show next year lets us know we're not taking this lightly,'' Crockett said. ''That determination rubs off. There's no reason we can't do good at this school if we work together.''

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