Community Builder: SRO bridges gap between students and community

PELION, S.C. (WIS) - School resource officer Odell Glenn has a different approach to education at Pelion Elementary School.

We caught up with our latest community builder as he addressed a class of fourth graders at the school.

The main message of his talk: “drugs have no place in school.”

Glenn works for the Pelion Police Department. He knows what it takes to keep the attention of elementary school aged children while delivering a strong message.

“Now a days with everything out there about the negativity surrounding police officers, here we try to do the best thing by getting really in touch with kids," Glenn said. "The kids see us in a different light, they see us as human.”

Adalin Causey, a fourth grade student at Pelion Elementary School, told us Glenn is, “always generous, and he always likes to help our community.”

Teachers say Glenn makes issues relatable for kids, bridging the gap between school and community.

“During homecoming week we had a decade each day and he not only dressed it, he brought each decade to life," Amanda Barefoot, a Pelion Elementary School Counselor, said. "In the morning car rider line he was playing music -- he had the speakers and the lights -- and just to see the parents’ and the kids’ faces when they turned that corner to come in the school that morning, that was a remarkable feeling.”

While educating young minds on the dangers of using drugs and the importance of making good and healthy choices, our cameras were rolling as Glenn found out he was named a WIS Community Builder.

“Something like this is so amazing because we do this job and I got in to this profession because I love helping people," Glenn said. "I love kids. When you are dealing with kids, I’m looking at the fact that I am helping them become great adults and I can look at them one day and say, I helped form this young man’s or woman’s personality.”

Glenn said his $1,000 prize money is going to an organization called Sole Stepping, that buys shoes and socks for needy kids in Pelion.

Community Builder is a partnership with Mungo Homes. To nominate someone special as our next community builder, click or tap here.

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