Kam Valentine: More than Just an Officer

Isabella Eiler

Officer Kam Valentine is Sage Creek’s full-time Safety Resource Officer. He joined the team after working on the police force for 10 years.

Bella Niems, Staff Reporter
Sep 26, 2018

The sharp sound of a helicopter blade cutting the crisp air. The flying device lands with grace on a clean cut lawn, the most immaculate in America. The passenger of the plane courteously thanks the pilots. The door slides open and out steps the President of the United States, and as far as the pilot he so graciously thanked, his name, is: Kam Valentine.

Before joining the police force our campus officer was a Maintenance Controller and the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge (SNCOIC) on helicopter HMX-1, the helicopter that escorts the U.S. president. He was enlisted in the Marine Corps for a total of 10 years.

Valentine then decided to join the Carlsbad Police Force, where his job consisted of patrolling the Beat 1 district, the busiest downtown area in Carlsbad. 

After 10 years of being in the force, Valentine caught wind of the opportunity to be a full-time officer on a high school campus— our high school campus. He submitted an application and was then later chosen out of many other qualified candidates. 

Although, what makes him different, is his desire to help the youth. 

He is always available to talk in the office— room 3116— to speak with students about any problem or concern they have.

Valentine not only feels he has the duty to keep our campus and student body safe, but to be a counselor to students, and even an educator as well. He wants to adjust a students path before they make the wrong choice. 

Every morning, when the campus is silent and a crows call echoes through the academic mall, Valentine walks on. On an average day, he works a 10-hour shift. His day consists of a wide variety of duties which can include traffic control, illegal parking, absences and foot patrol.  

When he’s not patrolling the humble halls of Sage’s campus, supervisors keep a close eye on all areas of the premises. Valentine feels that working at Sage has increased his workload in the sense that he has to be on constant watch for any type of situation that could cause a potential issue. His goal is to stop those situations before they even occur.

Because of Valentine’s goal to keep our student body safe, he often works with his schedule to make sure he can be on patrol during large events. He attends athletic games that have a large following and school social events, such as our previous Back to School Dance. He even enlists the help of other school resource officers to maintain a tight patrol of the event’s area.

Valentine finally retires from his day of work when the majority of the students have left and the only sound dispersed through the hallways is the blowing of track whistles or the bouncing of tennis balls.

Isabella Eiler
Officer Valentine parks his police car in front of the Performing Art Center. He can be found walking around campus, driving his police car in the parking lot and in his office.

 

Despite his heavier workload, our new campus Police Officer seems to be adjusting to life at Sage Creek with ease.

Valentine says that he enjoys being around an environment with amazing students and great staff and that although he’s only been at Sage a few weeks, he believes we have a great campus and there are no changes he would like to implement.

Around campus, you can see Officer Valentine getting to know the Sage Creek students and staff. He greets many students that have morning off-roll, getting to know them as people instead of students.

Students and faculty seem to love the new addition and can’t help but smile when Officer Valentine greets them.

Editor’s note: The original version of this article stated that Kam Valentine was “a pilot in charge of flying the HMX-1.” He was not a pilot, but instead was a Maintenance Controller and the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge (SNCOIC) of aircraft phase maintenance for HMX-1. The article has been updated to reflect the correct information.