VALDOSTA — After seven years, Cobb Atkinson is leaving his position as headmaster at Valwood School.

Atkinson began his career as an educator at independent schools in 1990, though he has been a part of independent schools for much longer.

“This is all I’ve ever known. I was a lifer at a school in Macon, at an independent Presbyterian day school,” he said. “My father was the chair of the board; my uncle was the founding headmaster. It’s in my blood.”

But Atkinson’s career might have never happened if he had not stumbled into English classes at Emory University.

The courses, and those he took in philosophy, changed the course of his life.

“It took me a year and a half to realize I was in the wrong major,” Atkinson said.

He had entered college as a pre-med major but, as classes progressed, Atkinson began performing better in his English and philosophy courses than in his physics and biology courses.

“My father sat me down and said, ‘Son, I think you might have the wrong major,’” he said.

At Stratford Academy in Macon, Atkinson taught English to 75 juniors five periods a day. It was his first job after graduating with undergraduate degrees in English and philosophy from Emory University.

It was his first teaching job, aside from SCUBA diving instruction he had given at Emory University, he said.

“I got in the classroom and literally, immediately fell in love with teaching, I had one of those moments when you know that this is what you are supposed to do,” Atkinson said.

As a teacher, the independent-school setting appealed because of the latitude teachers have in the classroom.

“They can teach in the ways that they feel best. They have the opportunity to really come in and practice their craft in the way they think their craft should be practiced,” Atkinson said. “We don’t answer to the state. We are not beholden to CRCTs. We can test as we see fit. We can use test data as we see fit. We really are free to do it the way we think it should be done.”

Schools that are members of the National Association of Independent Schools have an incredibly impressive track record for results, he said.

“I think, in large part, that is driven by the freedom that we have, that independence that we have,” Atkinson said.

Public schools, he said, have a very different challenge, he said.

“It’s a daunting one. They have to educate, by law, everyone that walks in the door. We don’t have to do that and that is sort of a luxury that we have,” Atkinson said. “All the parents that are here have made a choice to be here. Some have made a significant sacrifice to be here, and we know involved parents drive student achievement.”

As an English teacher, Atkinson found that the easiest way to get a student to read was to find a book that engaged them.

When he began teaching at Stratford, he found that the English department had begun to move away from teaching the literary canon most schools follow.

“They had begun to choose texts that were, a) of quality and b) were texts that kids would connect with and genuinely love to read,” he said.

The reading lists, Atkinson said, he was taught to pick were designed to help students understand the power of a good book.

Atkinson worked at Stratford for 10 years and moved up the ranks, eventually becoming the school’s academic dean.

From there, Atkinson moved to New York to attend Columbia University and pursue a doctoral degree in education leadership.

During his time at Stratford, Atkinson earned master’s degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in education and the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in English literature.

He started his courses at Columbia in the fall of 2001 and had been hard at work on his doctorate for two years before getting a call about a possible headmaster’s position in Valdosta.

“So, I put my doctoral work on hold to come down here and pursue this job and be closer to family,” he said. “I always wanted to be a head of an independent school.”

Atkinson and his wife, Raegan, had just had their first child, Jamie, now 7, and wanted to bring him closer to his grandparents and other relatives.

The previous headmaster, Scott Wilson, was a friend, who told Atkinson that Valwood would be a good place for him to start his career.

The powers that be at Valwood School agreed and Atkinson was hired.

Valwood’s mission of excellence in academics, character and service really appealed to Atkinson, he said.

Academics are key, he said, but he also feels strongly about the other two elements. Building moral foundations for children and developing ways to teach them to be compassionate, generous people are just as important as academic subjects, he said.

The fact that Valwood School had also dedicated itself to building a campus that would provide a base for bright futures for students in years to come also appealed, he said.

“I was excited both by the campus and the potential I saw in the school to do really great things,” Atkinson said. “This was a school that had a very strong, passionate family surrounding it in parents, grandparents, alumni and community leaders and that is a great foundation to build on when you have that kind of support.”

Atkinson said independent schools appeal to him because of the way they focus on a mission and rally resources and efforts around that mission.

“I think that focus breeds a certain amount of energy and excitement and makes us more effective,” he said. “We are not trying to be all things to all people.”

The headmaster of an independent school is more akin to a chief executive officer than a principal or superintendent. Administrators in each building handle the duties that mirror those of a principal, he said.

Some of Atkinson’s duties are like that of a superintendent but they more closely relate to being the head of a non-profit organization, he said.

As headmaster, Atkinson oversees all operational issues relative to the school, facilities, finances, organization, mapping curriculum, strategic planning and other areas.

He also works closely with the volunteer board of trustees, he said.

“It’s a unique sort of job, a very rewarding job, a very challenging job,” Atkinson said. “I have to wear lots of different hats.”

While at Valwood, Atkinson has overseen the construction of the school’s art center, softball field, track and tennis courts.

“To have a hand in that, to rally a community, with donors and the board, it is very important,” Atkinson said.

One of the most rewarding experiences Atkinson has had at Valwood has been his time spent as a parent of a student.

Jamie finished first grade this year, he said.

“I’ve seen it four years prior to that, but seeing it in his life, as impressed as I was and as proud as I was prior to him coming, it tripled when I got that firsthand experience as to what this was all about,” Atkinson said.

He will start his duties as head of school at Westchester Country Day School in July. The school, a non-religious, non-sectarian, independent day school, is located in Highpoint, N.C.

The school is similar to Valwood, though slightly bigger, he said.

“When you have my job, there are a limited number of positions for people like me that run schools like this,” he said. “To find new challenges and move on and continue to grow, you really have to be willing to pick up and move and that time kind of came.”

The move may even prompt Atkinson to resume his work toward a doctoral degree. The school is about a half-hour away from Wake Forest, Atkinson said.

“I hope I never stop learning,” Atkinson said. “I’ve learned that the best position is to always be willing to learn no matter what the lessons of the day might bring.”

Children, he said, are wonderful in that way.

“Children always remind you that there is something you didn’t think of or didn’t know or need to know,” he said.

He has been out of formal education for seven years, the longest he has ever gone without learning at a higher level.

“I’ve always found the classroom very rewarding on both sides of the table,” he said. “I think all really good teachers love to continue learning.”

Atkinson has a great love for literature and like most avid readers finds it hard to pin down a favorite book.

“I usually find that the book I like the most is the one I’ve read last,” he said.

One of his first classes at Emory centered around Southern literature. Those writers and their works appealed to him and are some of the books he always goes back to over the years.

“They remind me of home in various ways, warm and friendly and dysfunctional,” he said.

Atkinson and Raegan are the parents of Jamie and Mallory, 3.