oteworthy
Kristin Cook ’06 Goes the Extra Mile to Protect the Children of WV BY LINDSEY BYARS
G
rowing up in Summers County, West Virginia, Kristin Cook knew she wanted to protect people. Today, she does, particularly children and victims of domestic abuse. Kristin Cook is the Prosecuting Attorney for Summers County, elected by the community she serves. As a child, however, protecting people looked a little different. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a cop,” Kristin remembers. Terrified of the risk associated with the career choice, it was Kristin’s mother that redirected her path.
“Mom was like, ‘Are you kidding me? That’s really dangerous! You shouldn’t be a cop.’ So she convinced me at a young age that I should be a lawyer because lawyers have more success with getting the bad guys. And I think that was her way to keep me safe.” Even if her only driving force was Kristin’s safety, her mother proved to be persuasive. If Kristin was going to affect change, she agreed with her mother, that being a lawyer should be her career goal. This focus on a law career didn’t waver as Kristin grew older. Her experiences only helped direct the type of law Kristin would practice. At Shady Spring High School, she took an environmental sciences class that sparked her interests. That, in addition to her father’s work as a
7
NOTEWORTHY CONCORD UNIVERSIT Y MAGAZINE
coal miner, inspired her to pursue a degree in environmental law. “You’re always going to have coal mines and you could probably make some big money if you represent the right people,” Kristin thought at the time. Her mother also worked for an engineering firm that did business with coal mines, which introduced her to cartography and GIS. If environmental law didn’t work out, Kristin decided she could fall back on map making and analysis. After graduation, Kristin came to Concord and double majored in Geography and Sociology, minoring in Legal Studies. Splitting time between her mother in Raleigh County and her father in Summers County, Athens was close enough to both.
