Corbin Superintendent selected for Boy Scouts Visionary Award

Corbin School Superintendent Dave Cox has been selected for the 2017 Visionary Award. He will be presented the award and a special banquet at The Corbin Center June 29.

Corbin Schools Superintendent David Cox will be honored later this month as the seventh recipient of the annual Daniel Boone “Visionary” Award, given to those who embody the values of the Boy Scouts of America.

Cox has been named 2017 Visionary Award winner by the Mountain Laurel District of the Bluegrass Council of Boy Scouts. An award banquet to honor him will be held June 29 at The Corbin Center for Technology and Community Activities at 6:00 p.m.

“When I saw all the people that have been given this award, I was extremely humbled,” Cox said Tuesday. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be around some visionaries, but I don’t consider myself a visionary.”

Past recipients of the award include Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, KY Senate President Robert Stivers, Forcht Group of Kentucky CEO and Founder Terry Forcht, Corbin Industrial Development Director Bruce Carpenter, Congressional field representative Bob Mitchell, and former University of the Cumberlands President Jim Taylor.

Cox said former Corbin Schools Superintendent Ed McNeel has been his mentor over the years, and still provides guidance from time to time.

“Whenever we talk, the general conversation always comes back to school business. We could talk school all day long,” Cox said. “He loves this school district. He’s a good man. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Michael Sharpe, a local Market President for Forcht Bank and Chairman of the Daniel Boone Visionary Award Finance Committee, said Cox was selected as this year’s recipient because of his forward-thinking leadership, ability to build consensus, and prescience in regards to the facility needs of the school district.

“The Visionary Award is really about high performing people. It’s just incredible the things he’s done. He has a really good support system around him too.”
Sharpe said the Corbin school system’s continued academic rise played a big part in the decision to give Cox the award. Corbin is tops in the state in students who are “college or career ready” when they graduate, and is among the top 15 in average ACT scores.

He also pointed to an ongoing project to build a new middle school on property formerly occupied by St. Camillus Academy.

“That’s just an amazing project,” Sharpe said. “Each year when our committee talks about this, there’s always someone on the list that has a project going on at the time that is really important. Something that is making a big impact.”

“There’s a lot of people in our counties that are great leaders. Sometimes it comes down to who is the most newsworthy at the moment.”

Cox served as Corbin Middle School Principal and was an Assistant Superintendent with the school district before being promoted to Superintendent in 2015.

Anyone wishing to attend the ceremony is encouraged to reserve a table today. Guests may sponsor a table of eight people for $1,000 for Gold Level sponsors or $500 for Silver Level sponsors. Bronze Level Sponsors can reserve four seats for $250. An individual seat can be purchased for $75.

Checks can be made out to Boy Scouts of America. Please mail all RSVPs with check or pledge to:

Daniel Boone Visionary Award Dinner
C/O Mike Sharpe
Forcht Bank
100 First Financial Plaza
London, KY 40741

If you have questions, you may email: matthew.roberts@scouting.org.