“The Good Lord,” Matt Hicks says, “put me in the right place at the right time. I love our kids, our school and I’d be happy being here for the rest of my career.”

Hicks is more than just the School Resource Officer (SRO) at Fort Loudoun Middle School, 1083 Mulberry St. in Loudon. The safety and security of students, faculty and everyone in the building is his primary function. But, as you’ll read, Hicks goes above and beyond and then some more in his role as an integral part of the school’s staff. Hicks is in his sixth year as a deputy for the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), and Sheriff Jimmy Davis has been busy presenting him awards for his “contributions to the Sheriff’s Office, to Fort Loudoun Middle School and to our local community.”

Matt Hicks

And yes, you read the deputy’s quote correctly: If left to him Hicks would remain an SRO at Fort Loudoun until he retires, and that’s still a way off for this 44-year-old native son.

Now, about those awards.

In April, the Sheriff honored Hicks with the coveted LCSO Award of Merit, only the second time this award has ever been presented. A few months before the school year ended, the school experienced a critical incident involving a student, a student Hicks knew well. That incident is part of the reason Hicks was nominated by LCSO Cpl. Cody Bengel for this prestigious award.

Hicks provided critical assistance to the LCSO detectives handling the investigation, sharing key information with them about the student and also helped at the school with its internal investigation and with the students following the incident.

At the same LCSO awards ceremony, Hicks was honored as the SRO Deputy of the Year and as SRO Deputy of the Month for March 2025. After joining LCSO in 2019, Hicks worked in the Detention Center for three years and was named the Corrections Deputy of the Year in 2020.

Here is what Bengel said of Hicks in his nomination: “Matt is an outstanding school resource officer, deputy and friend. He approaches each day with a genuine commitment to helping others and takes the time to build meaningful connections with the students at his school. He’s the kind of person who would give you his last dollar without hesitation and remains one of the most humble and selfless individuals I’ve had the privilege to know and work alongside.”

Hicks is a 2000 graduate of Loudon County High and says he spent a long time working to get hired by the sheriff’s office. While waiting, he worked jobs at the West Knox Utility District, framed houses with his stepdad and worked for Malibu Boats. Also, he married his high school sweetheart, Shelley, his wife of 25 years, and together they reared two sons – Hunter, 25, and Luke, 19. These days they are enjoying the fun of having two young grandsons. His stress relief is fishing, working to pull in lunkers at either Fort Loudoun Lake, Melton Hill Lake or Chickamauga Lake. Their sons are his fishing buddies and it’s strictly catch-and-release fishing, he says.

The National Association of School Resource Officers, on its website, writes about the roles of SROs: “… The goals of well-founded SRO programs include providing safe learning environments in our nation’s schools, providing valuable resources to school staff members, fostering positive relationships with youth, developing strategies to resolve problems affecting youth and protecting all students, so that they can reach their fullest potentials. We consider it a best practice to use a ‘triad concept’ to define the three main roles of school resource officers: educator (i.e. guest lecturer), informal counselor/mentor and law enforcement officer.”

Blake Harris is Fort Loudoun Middle’s principal. He was a classroom teacher for 12 years in the Loudon School District and has been in administration for six years. Lots of experience. He works with Hicks daily and his informed opinion is significant: “Matt is the best SRO I have ever known and worked with anywhere. We both came to Fort Loudoun in the middle of 2022. He’s very active in our school, beyond his SRO job. He’s on top of school safety issues, helps with our emergency operations plan and security assessments.

“He talks with our students constantly, works at our after-school events and fundraisers, plus athletic events and he’s constantly walking the halls and the outside of the school. He’s incredibly level-headed and calm when things become stressful.”

A few months ago on “Happy National SRO Appreciation Day,” the school posted on its Facebook page: “Deputy Hicks is our protector, friend and Jolly Rancher King. FLMS is blessed with the best. Thank you for all you do!” He’s the “Jolly Rancher King” because he always has Jolly Rancher hard candies in his pockets when the kids want to talk. “Jolly Ranchers, that’s my rapport builder. But a kid can’t be in trouble and get a Jolly Rancher!”

The obvious question for Hicks is why? Why he loves being an SRO and would love for that to be his forever job?  “I love interacting with the children. They seem to flock to me for some reason and they also do it at our church (Steekee Creek Baptist Church) too. I’ve always loved kids and the thought of being able to help a kid comes from a giant soft sport in my heart.”

Every morning when the cars, buses and students arrive, Hicks is at the front door to greet every student, every morning. “These middle school kids are ages 11 to 15 and these are tough years for them and sometimes they’ll break your heart with things they are dealing with at home,” he said. “Honestly, if I haven’t already, I try and build trust with them before even addressing the issue. I always try to share similar personal experiences with them and if I don’t have one, I let them know that and tell them I want to find a way to help them.”

Principal Harris knows that having an effective and special SRO makes a huge difference. “When a student is having problems in a class the teacher will sometimes ask Hicks to have a ‘timeout talk’ with the student and calm things down,” Harris said. “The kids feel safe with him, just talking about what’s going on. It takes a special SRO to do this.”

Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email him at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.

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