The Rotary Spark Podcast
Welcome to our dedicated podcast for Rotary International's District 5750, designed to connect our members through the power of personal storytelling. Each episode celebrates the unique journeys of our fellow Rotarians, highlighting their individual experiences, motivations, and the profound impact of their service.
Join us as we dive into heartfelt discussions with Rotarians from all walks of life.
The Rotary Spark Podcast
#0007 - Dr. Rick Cobb
Dr. Rick Cobb, a seasoned educator with an inspiring 32-year journey, shares insights from his path into education, profoundly influenced by his mother's legacy as a special education teacher. Discover how a high school teacher's challenge set him on the path to become an English teacher and eventually the superintendent of the Mid-del School District. Dr. Rick Cobb opens up about the ambitious projects transforming his district, funded by a significant bond election, and discusses the critical focus on mental health and security enhancements necessary in today's educational environment. His belief in the power of community engagement shines through as he highlights the instrumental role of local organizations like the Midwest City Rotary Club in supporting schools and enriching student experiences.
Explore the vibrant community spirit fostered by the Midwest City Rotary Club, as we discuss their dynamic initiatives that go beyond traditional literacy projects to foster meaningful community service involvement. Learn how the Interact program empowers students to understand their roles within the broader community, bridging the gap between education and real-world impact. With a welcoming atmosphere and a diverse membership, the Rotary Club offers valuable opportunities for personal growth and community contribution. Tune in to hear stories of camaraderie and impactful events that showcase the essential role Rotarians play in enhancing both their communities and their own lives.
hank you for tuning in to the Rotary Spark podcast. I'm your host, Brian Traeger, and with me today is Dr. Rick Cobb. Thanks for joining us today
Dr. Rick Cobb:Thanks for having me here today, Brian.
Brian Triger:So, how's your day so far? (Dr. Rick Cobb talks about his day, and Brian asks Rick how he got into education for the first time).
Dr. Rick Cobb:Okay, well, I grew up in Norman. My mom was a teacher. She taught special education for 29 years and that had a pretty big influence on me. There's a smart aleck version of the story that's accurate, but probably not the whole story where a teacher my junior year of high school pulled me out in the hall and was yelling at me for my attitude and at some point in the lecture she said if you think you can do a better job, why don't you just try? And I said okay, and I did go on and major in English and become an English teacher.
Dr. Rick Cobb:That's not the whole thing. I had a lot of really good teachers growing up and I was already thinking about becoming a teacher when I had that lecture from my junior English teacher. And it turns out I saved all of my stuff from high school and I actually used some of her lessons when I was teaching high school. So I think that a lot of it for me is that I had really good teachers, but more than anything else, I saw the impact that my mom had on people as a teacher and I wanted to follow up with that.
Brian Triger:And how long have you been in education?
Dr. Rick Cobb:This is my 32nd year. I spent nine years in the classroom, went into administration, became a high school principal in a rural district and then worked my way back to the Oklahoma City Metro and up through the central office. And this is my 10th year as superintendent in Middell.
Brian Triger:What are some of the new projects that you guys are working on that you're excited about within the Middell School District?
Dr. Rick Cobb:Well, last year we passed a bond election that was almost half a billion dollars. So we have construction going on. We are adding on to our fine arts programs at our high schools. It's also going to allow us to close up our campuses and have just have a more secure campus environment, not as not as many entry points and exit points, and that will help help from a security standpoint. Projects going on over the district, all over the district. We're replacing Townsend elementary school building. We have a new design that we are replacing Townsend Elementary School building. We have a new design that we are about to break ground on to build a new Townsend Elementary. The district prior to me arriving built a couple of new elementary schools in the other part of the district but has not built one on the Dell City side, so this will be our first new elementary school in Del City in decades, and so that's something that's really exciting. All of the work that we're doing around modernization, school improvement, safety and security that comes from the bond is really exciting.
Dr. Rick Cobb:The bond also has technology and instructional budgets in it that are going to help us with instructional support. We serve a high-poverty community and so we always have extra challenges with trying to help our students be successful, and so just having those resources in place for many years to come, I think, are going to benefit our students years to come, I think, are going to benefit our students Outside of the bond. We are also able to increase our, I guess, the support that we have in place for students in terms of mental health and behavioral supports. In the years following the pandemic, the number of explosive types of behavior that we've seen in our schools has really increased in terms of the frequency and the magnitude, and so I don't have an explanation for all of that, and I know that Mid-Del is not unique in that either. Other districts are dealing with the same thing, but we're able to find some resources to put more mental health supports in place for our students as well. So those kinds of changes I feel like are going to benefit the community and the students altogether.
Brian Triger:That's fantastic. Before diving into your Rotary history out of curiosity, what are some of the ways? I know that Rotarians have already helped a variety of different school districts in different ways, but what are some opportunities out there? How can a group of 1,700 people, a mixture of business professionals and employees for various different organizations within Rotary, how can they support you more and support the public school system in Oklahoma in general?
Dr. Rick Cobb:Well, I think that schools need people who are curious enough to go into the buildings, block out the noise, the rhetoric that you hear about. You know what's wrong with public education. If you go into the school buildings as a volunteer just to help with awards programs or to help with tutoring, what you see is a bunch of dedicated professionals trying their hardest, you know, but we don't get to pick the students that come to us and you know, after the pandemic we've seen families that have kept their kids out of school for two years and they weren't in school somewhere else, and so we're getting a fifth grade age student who's, you know, hasn't been in school for two years and um, and providing the support of just being somebody who's willing to work with a child on on basic skills. There are a lot of volunteer opportunities in and around schools and if tutoring isn't something that would be your strength, necessarily there are booster clubs that support not just our athletic teams but band choir, drama.
Dr. Rick Cobb:You know FCCLA, Ag, every other student activity that's out there, every other student activity that's out there. You know Rotary, through its interact clubs, has a foothold in our high schools and I think that's really good. I think it's good to see students understand the concept of service before self before they get out of high school. And it's not the only service organization that we have. We have a lot of leadership groups, honor society, student council that really emphasize service and community engagement. So anybody who is a Rotarian, or even if you're listening and you're not a Rotarian, if you're involved in a community organization, there are probably ways that are already in place for that community organization to volunteer and spend time with students.
Brian Triger:I look forward to staying connected to the opportunities and pushing out the information in different ways to the district. Out of curiosity, Rick, tell us a little bit about how you discovered Rotary and how it continues to impact your personal and your professional life.
Dr. Rick Cobb:Well, on the first day that I was in this position, senator Jim Howell, who was a school board member at the time, came to work and scooped me up and drove me to Rotary and basically told me I needed to make that a part of my routine. And so I did, and so I joined Rotary nine years ago after attending a few meetings. And it's hard because our meetings are at noon on Mondays. It's on my calendar every Monday, as you know I don't. And it's hard because our meetings are at noon on Mondays. It's on my calendar every Monday. As you know, I don't make it every Monday because it's a great time for problems to arise in a school district.
Dr. Rick Cobb:So I try to come when I can and I enjoy the interaction with the Rotarians. You know I try to go to some of the fundraising events as well, when they're not in conflict with the times for school events, you know, and so you know my job has to take, you know, be my primary focus when it comes to my after hours time. But at the same time, being on the you know, on the event side where money is being raised helps me appreciate it more when the Midwest City Rotary Club shows up and provides tennis shoes for my kids in my schools. You know, knowing the work behind the philanthropy and the generosity to our students, I think is really important. And so then it helps me see other organizations in our community in a different way, because I know that they're not just showing up with whatever donation they have for kids. There's work behind that too.
Brian Triger:The SHU project is a great project that Midwest City Rotary Club puts on every year. I get to see that within our club. Are there any other projects within the club or on the district level that you're excited about?
Dr. Rick Cobb:Oh, you know I. Oh you know. The club has always had an emphasis on literacy. The dictionary project was always something that was well-received. We've gone away from that because all of our students have Chromebooks. They have a dictionary in their hands at all times. So it's not where the club, I think it, can best spend the money, but anytime you have an opportunity to connect with students and put books in their hands, I think that's good. I would also say that just in the last few years, the Middle City Rotary Club has really put an emphasis on interact, and it's a time commitment, more than probably it's a financial commitment, and it helps our students understand ways that the community and the elements in the community interact with each other. Not to make a pun on the play on the name there, but it's true, it's helping our students see that they are part of something bigger.
Dr. Rick Cobb:They're not just students at Midwest City High School, Carl Albert High School. They're part of a larger community and then they also see that Rotary is a bigger organization that extends beyond the Midwest City chapter. For some of our listeners out there.
Brian Triger:I know that a lot of us are aware of what Interact is, but maybe for prospective members or people that aren't Rotarians, tell us a little bit more about what Interact is.
Dr. Rick Cobb:Well, Interact is a high school chapter that's affiliated with a local Rotary organization.
Dr. Rick Cobb:So we have two high schools in Midwest City. We have three in Middell but two in Midwest City. So the Interact programs at Midwest City High School and Carl Lauer High School are affiliated with the Midwest City Rotary Club. It takes having a school sponsor, a teacher at the school who's willing to dedicate that time with the students, going to events, helping them get to activities. But it also takes that contact point on the club side and I think that we're fortunate to have that in place, but it's also pretty recent. So now that we have that in place, one of my goals is just to make sure that we can sustain that. But the best way to do that is to make sure that our students aren't just showing up for meetings and talking to each other, that they're going out and doing community service projects and that we are advertising that as much as possible.
Dr. Rick Cobb:You know, one thing that has changed in education over the 32 years that I've been in it is that we're constantly having to market ourselves and brand ourselves. And that's on a macro level with public education as an entity, it's on a smaller level with our school district or with a school, but even on a more micro level with an organization within a school. You know why is interact something that students want to be a part of? Well, they're going to have to show that, they're going to have to build the case for why other students want to join and interact. You know, having that community person and the school leader who are willing to take it on is one thing, but you have to make it something attractive that students want to join.
Brian Triger:That's great input from someone who's not necessarily on the inside of education. What would you say to any prospective or new Rotary member coming into the organization?
Dr. Rick Cobb:First of all, our club is just full of great people. When you walk into our Rotary meeting, I think you see a variety of just age groups there, and so the more you get to know people, you get to have a broader perspective of our community of Midwest City. And one of the things that I enjoy most at our meetings is when somebody who's been in the club for a long time or been a community leader for a long time tells us stories of old Midwest City, because I don't have that perspective. I've only been there for 10 years. I think that we're getting to be a younger club and that helps too, because a younger member of the business community or leader in some other realm wants to walk in and feel like that there's a place that they connect and then broaden out. So it starts with the people who are in the local Rotary Club and just being a great bunch of people.
Dr. Rick Cobb:Second, our programs are usually pretty compact, but our members tend to bring in a lot of really interesting speakers to talk to us about everything from state government to investments to really you name it, and I have found many of those programs to be really informative and a good use of my time. But then beyond that, I think that there's fellowship beyond just that weekly meeting, through events and through event planning. Sometimes event planning is more significant of a bonding experience than the event itself. I mean, you think about Thanksgiving coming up. How much time will you spend getting ready for the Thanksgiving meal and how quickly will it be devoured? So I think that our club specifically does a really good job of bringing people together on projects and events.
Brian Triger:I really like the point that you made about the camaraderie that's developed within event planning, because in my limited experience within Rotary really any event planning in general I found and continue to find that to be true. Well, thanks for coming, rick. I really appreciate it. We look forward to having you back in the future. Sure, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the listeners of the Rotary Spark podcast, amante Library, for letting us use the space to record and publish the audio and to ITSpark the individuals behind the scenes assisting with the development. I'd ask our listeners to give us feedback when you get a chance and also maybe click on the support link to assist with the sustainment and the growth of the podcast. Thanks for listening everyone, and have a great evening.
