The Redhound Way: Work Ethic in Action
- Corbin Independent Schools
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
Meet the Most Popular Person in the Building: the Head Custodian
Principal Evan Robinson shared this tribute to head custodian Scotty Powers at Corbin's District Day, as a real-life picture of what Work Ethic looks like at Corbin Middle School.
Every morning before the sun clears the hill on Ed McNeel Drive, before most students and teachers have hit snooze even once, Scotty Powers is already walking the halls of Corbin Middle School.
He's Corbin Middle School's head custodian, and Principal Evan Robinson says what Powers does goes well past turning on lights and checking that the building is sound. A clean, cared-for school sends its own message to the kids inside it.
As Robinson put it: "If our students think, man, my school is beautiful, they will also think, I want to keep it that way."
A few years ago, out of necessity after COVID, the school started something called the Cleaning Crew: a class where students work alongside Powers. Think office aide, but with a mop.
Robinson says the results caught the whole staff off guard. Students pick up trash around the building without being asked. They stay after class to help teachers reset their rooms. They ask to join the Cleaning Crew like it's the latest trend. "We have students who beg to clean up," Robinson said. "That's like my teenage daughter asking me not to give her money."
On student surveys, kids list Powers as the person in the building they connect with most. Former students come back just to find him. Robinson says walking the halls next to him feels like walking next to a celebrity.
That's Work Ethic at Corbin Middle School: Powers takes initiative before anyone else arrives; he's so dependable that the school built a class around him, and he strives for excellence in tasks most people never see. Robinson put it simply: "He doesn't simply show up, he takes pride in what others take for granted."
Silas Mahan was on the very first Cleaning Crew team Powers ever led. He came back to Corbin Middle School's tribute to describe what stuck with him. "He comes in every day. He's there early." Whether the task was cleaning windows or the bleachers, Mahan said it taught him something that followed him into football and even into chores at home: "You just show up every day and do what you're supposed to do."
Robinson says what makes Powers stand out isn't only the hours he logs. It's the attitude he brings to them. "If positivity is the great multiplier, Scott Powers is a factor with the greatest product."
This year, Corbin Middle School is asking the rest of the building to try to match it: to meet the daily grind the way Powers does, without waiting to be asked and without needing anyone to notice.
