By Renae Blunt, Trinity Christian Academy Board Member
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are kicking off our “What You Do Matters” staff highlights. This article is focused on Mr. Erik Cobb, our Upper Campus Security Director. He is a retired police officer who is now on staff with Trinity, and we are so thankful to have him on our team. To introduce you to Mr. Cobb, we sat down with him to explore why he enjoys our school so much, and why he loves serving our community.
Mr. Cobb, retired from the Nicholasville Police Department, has worked 21 years in law enforcement. He is married and has a 19-year-old attending Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) and a set of twins in the 8th grade at West Jessamine Middle School. When we asked why he became interested in law enforcement, his reply was certain: “9/11.” We all remember that day when America was hit with a terrorist attack. Mr. Cobb was working in a factory that closed, so he spent time contemplating what was next in his career path that could make a difference. That’s when he decided to enter the police academy at EKU.
EKU is very serious about their police academy recruits and graduates. Mr. Cobb said in police work if you fail an assignment, you are fired and sent home. In the academy, recruits are evaluated every day on written performance of work, as well as actual physical performance on tasks, scenarios, and real-life application. After his extensive preparations, Mr. Cobb became a Certified Police Officer and has worked in law enforcement for over 21 years.
He has experience in corrections, working “the beat,” as a 911 dispatcher, and he also has experience working for a local middle school. Here at Trinity, we get the benefit of all these experiences. He was also a firefighter in Wilmore for a period. Obviously, Mr. Cobb is not afraid of hard work.
What brought Mr. Cobb to Trinity? He tells the story that for 10 years he drove by the land at Cowen Campus and he knew that eventually our school would be built; he just didn’t know when. As he watched the construction progress on our building, he reached out to connections he had at Anchor Baptist. From there he got in touch with Trinity administration to interview for the job. He had several other opportunities, but he just knew that God was calling him to Trinity—and we are grateful to have him.
What does a typical day look like for Mr. Cobb? He walks at least six miles every day! While he could sit at a desk and watch security cameras all day, he tells us he is not made that way. He enjoys interacting with students on a regular basis as he monitors the school doors, security cameras, and student activity, all from our technology that is pushed to his phone.
In the academy, police are trained to notice even the smallest of details. For example, while students come in from outside activities, he hears the click of the door as it locks behind them. He is trained to pick up on things the average person may not notice. We are thankful for his training and we are blessed to have an officer that cares so much for our students. Trinity community, we are thankful for you, for your support in our school that allows us to spend valuable resources on our security technology and personnel.
Student safety and security are paramount to Trinity; we take these responsibilities very seriously. Given the presence of social media and the national 24-hour news cycle, we often hear about threats of violence in schools—actual violence, bullying, and other challenges that school administrators deal with every day. We encourage our students to report to the administration anything that concerns them. Thanks, Mr. Cobb, for keeping us safe and please know that, “What you do matters!”
Stay tuned for our next highlight where we will introduce our Lower Campus Resource Officer, Samantha Moore.
