On her first day back as Ms. Karen Kopriva, she wore a white skirt-set, gifted to her from a theater parent. She walked past the news trucks that lined every inch of McKinley Road; however, no one noticed her. 

She greeted every student in her classroom with a big smile — she recalls. “That was probably the first time that I had smiled that much in a decade.” 

After hearing whispers of students, she faced her English class for the first time out as a woman: “Let’s address the elephant in the room. I’m sure you all have noticed that there have been a few changes over the summer. I moved my desk over here,” she said looking back 24 years later. 

Students laughed and the “spell broke,” she says. That day, she made it very clear that she wouldn’t talk about her personal life but would be available to answer one-on-one questions outside of class. Kopriva has since gotten married and taken the name Topham.

In 1998, Lake Forest High School became the first school district in the nation to support a transgender teacher transition on the job. Topham, taught as an English teacher for 38 years, with 33 of those years spent in LFHS. 

“I don’t know why – and I’ve never known why – Lake Forest of all places decided to support my transition, but they did,” said Topham. 

New Hampshire-raised and a Northwestern alum, Topham said she knew she was transgender from an early age — though she repressed her gender identity as a young child living in the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

Topham decided to come out after battling years of depression and anxiety related to her internalized struggles. Transitioning became more than a mere decision: She credits it with saving her life. 

“I was at the point of suicide. If I had any other choice, I probably would have done something differently, but I didn’t have that choice. I realized that the only possibility was to transition,” Topham said. 

Though she initially expected to lose her teaching job, she says Marylin Howell, the principal at the time, and the rest of the administration fully supported her transition. They crafted a statement sent out to families over the summer, where Topham officially announced that she would be returning to LFHS as Karen Kopriva.

As the country’s first teacher to transition while employed at a school, Topham expected to face outrage from the community. However, she says her “transition actually, amazingly, stunningly, was fairly easy.” 

Three years after her own transition, her son, then a senior at Stevenson High School, came out as transgender. Like Topham’s experience at Lake Forest, much work had to be made beforehand.

Her son felt similar challenges in high school choir. Though he transitioned in the fall, he was forced to wear the women’s uniform until his spring concert when he could dress in attire that affirmed his gender identity. 

In wake of her coming out, Topham was approached by many local and national news outlets and shows, including Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer. 

However, Topham decided to prioritize the privacy of her family, and declined the press. Violence against the LGBTQ+ community was a concern of Topham’s, and she wanted to protect her three young children. Topham didn’t want to become a visible target in a time when “the word transgender itself was very new.”

Despite the support from administrators, Topham still faced many difficulties beyond media publicity. Parents pulled their kids from Topham’s class.

“I went from English classes of 27 to 13, but most who were opposed kept quiet about it,” Topham said.

She believes that negativity surrounding her identity was both due to the “conservative nature of Lake Forest,” as well as the fact that she was the first in United States history.

“People didn’t know anything about transgender people. There was no paper trail left for me, because it never had happened before,” said Topham. 

In addition to teaching English, Topham was passionate about theater and forensics. She directed about 37 plays in the span of 15 years, moderated for the International Thespian’s Society, and coached the speech team. 

Unfortunately, she lost her positions as a theater director a couple years after transitioning. Topham, now a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, was “devastated,” and believes she was removed because of the transphobia she faced. 

“I was getting there at 6 a.m., and getting home at 10 p.m., and I loved it. I was very upset, but there was nothing I could do about it,” said Topham. 

Her legacy reaches beyond the English and Theater department, as she was involved with LFHS Alliance, attending meetings regularly. Topham didn’t realize her personal impact on students until after she retired, as around 20 graduated students came out to her as transgender over the course of 24 years. 

Alliance has since evolved since Topham’s time; she recalls club posters torn down, the f-slur thrown around, and even how meetings were held in secret. Now, the club regularly hosts meetings open to all, where LGBTQ+ students and their allies can express their identity and community in a safe place. 

English teacher and Alliance advisor Mr. John Wanninger remembers how Topham’s “courage to be herself really helped open the minds of a lot of teachers, students, and really the community.”

LFHS undoubtedly became a more welcoming and inclusive environment through recognizing Topham’s transition. However, many feel that there’s a long way to go for the acceptance of transgender and non-binary students. 

Wanninger describes it as a “two-step forward, one-step back” process. One vocal way he thinks districts can represent the diversity and inclusion in the community is explicitly mentioning gender identity and sexual orientation in mission statements about anti-bullying and harrassment.

A non-binary student, under the condition of anonmity, agrees: “On the first day of school, I have a lot of teachers who will say they don’t condone bigotry and so on, but when will those statements actually follow through?” they said. 

Years after Topham’s retirement in 2016, LGBTQ+ students still face discrimination in schools across the nation. The age restrictions placed on LGBTQ+ books or erasure of pride flags have brought up discussions on how Lake Forest can become a more accepting place for Queer youth. 

Unlike Topham, many transgender educators have not been as supported in their identities. Marla Krolikowski was fired at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens after coming out as a transgender woman. 

“There are all these bills being passed and commercials that make transgender people seem like sexual predators, but in reality, we’re just trying to live our lives,” said Topham. 

Topham maintains that gender-inclusive bathrooms are a vital step in the process of creating a safer school environment for transgender students and staff. Currently, there are only a few gender-inclusive bathrooms here. Students and staff of all gender identities can use the bathrooms in the library or weight room, however, they aren’t labeled as gender-inclusive.

As an English teacher, Topham created a sense of inclusivity and representation to her classroom through the books she taught. However, she believes that her students also brought their own ideas of equality and acceptance to discussions as well. 

“Diversity itself should never be prohibited, I loved the conversations about diverse perspectives most of all,” said Topham.

Wanninger, who worked alongside Topham in the English Department, knows Topham as a teacher beyond her transition. “I don’t know if I’ve ever known a teacher more passionate about the writing workshop process than Topham,” said Wanninger. 

For Topham, she’s continued her life-long passion for writing outside of the classroom, writing three novels and half-way completing a memoir. Recently, she self-published The Cooper Boy, about a 16 year-old in New Hampshire who announces in a final exam that she’s transgender, who later becomes a political football found in the middle of divisive partisan exchanges. 

It’s been six years since Topham left LFHS, yet, she remains determined to continue to advocate for transgender people, especially youth. She wants the Lake Forest community to recognize the progressive history she made, especially in a “conservative town.” 

“I want Lake Forest to know I was there. I want them to know that there was a time at LFHS when a teacher transitioned from male to female, at the school, while teaching, and then taught for another 18 years,” said Topham. 

“The thing that had never happened before happened in Lake Forest of all places,” she added. “I think it’s an important thing for students to know. I don’t want that fact to vanish.”

Topham hopes her legacy as America’s first teacher to transition inspires others, particularly students, to live out their truths: “Who you are intrinsically is not a bad thing.”