By Hannah Ellington, Editor-in-Chief

If you’ve ever gone to an athletic event, paid class dues or club dues, or gone to prom, finance officer Ron Cope is the one behind the scenes making sure all the receipts and calculations are correct. While students may not immediately recognize him, he is a huge part of the inner workings of First Flight High School.

“In the old days, they were called bookkeepers and now it’s a finance officer, which to me is one of the most important positions in the building,” Principal Tim Albert said. “One of the things as administrators, as principals especially, that we make sure that doesn’t get messed up is money, because there’s a lot of money coming and going and it goes in a lot of different directions.”

Albert stressed that a miscalculation here or there that could be anywhere from a dollar to $10,000 can mess things up, and that’s why Cope was named the Classified Employee of the Year for 2018-19.

“He knows his responsibilities and he takes them very seriously,” Albert said. “He’s just a really top-notch guy. He’s a very positive influence in this office area — his sense of humor and things like that make it light around here. He’s just a great person to have in this office and he’s very good at what he does. I’m very fortunate to have him as the financial officer.”

Cope spent most of his years working in television in both the Tidewater region as well as on the Outer Banks. However, when Cope began working for Dare County Schools in 2006, he started as the cost clerk in the bus garage. In 2010, he was transferred to FFHS.

“When I got to the school system, all the training in television prepared me for my job because in television you had to meet three deadlines a day and if you didn’t meet them, tough, because you were live on the air,” Cope said. “I’m a stickler for deadlines and organization, and then math just comes easy, so it was a good fit and a good change.”

Cope said it was a nice surprise when he found out he was the Classified Employee of the Year. (The FFHS Teacher of the Year will be announced in June.)

“It’s nice to be recognized and for people to say, ‘Thank you for doing your job,’ because you just do it because you love doing it,” Cope said. “I’ve always been behind the scenes and I like that.”

Cope works with everyone in the school, from faculty and staff as well as students, and keeps them up to par with what they can spend. He manages the money and tickets for all athletic events and all the the supplies for clubs, events like prom, and teachers. He also works closely with all the staff involved with graduation expenses.

While some people might not enjoy working with money every day, Cope feels differently.

“I like the challenge and I’m busy all the time — there’s never a dull moment. I’m constantly doing 20 million things at one time,” Cope said. “I like organizing and I like taking a mess and making something out of it. I can’t stand still. Wouldn’t you rather be busy than sitting here twiddling your thumbs? It makes the day go by so much faster.”

Despite the stress that can come with tracking every expense in the school, Cope loves what he does.

“You know the old saying, ‘If you love what you do then it’s not work,’ and I love what I do,” Cope said. “I love coming to work every day, I love the people I work with and we have fun. If you ever find a job like that, it’s worth it. Money is good, but it’s nice to have a job that you love and I’ve always had a job that I’ve loved doing because why would you do it otherwise?”

Senior Hannah Ellington can be reached at ellingtonha1214@daretolearn.org.