Alright everyone put your hands in the air if your first year in a new school was confusing and stressful. I am going to assume there are quite a few of hands in the air because whether you are an incoming freshman or a transfer student, those first few months are awkward, especially if you’ve come from a smaller school.

Everyone remembers the first time you were told about the rules regarding the drugs you were allowed to keep with you. As I said I came from a very small school out in the middle of nowhere, where the rules regarding everything were loosely defined. The first time I ever saw a drug dog was mid way through freshman year after I had transferred to Air Academy.

The officers came in and asked the entire class to leave our bags and stand out in the hallway while they worked the dogs. Lets just say I was very naive. At the time I had Ibuprofen in a small unmarked container in the front pocket of my bag, I was so worried that the drug dogs would pick up on it and I would get in trouble for having it. However, the dogs did not alert the handlers to my bag because they are not trained to find that.

I was relieved as they didn’t take me away, but watched as another kid was removed from the class. Now as a junior I know what the dogs look for and what they don’t but I would like to save other the worries and give you a link to a list that the drug dogs look for. The handlers and dogs look for schedule 2 narcotics as found on this list https://www.drugs.com/schedule-2-drugs.html . However, the drugs themselves are not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the men, women and dogs behind the operations.

Now I’m sure you’ve seen these people around Air Academy, I’m talking about our school’s security guards and the officers that visit our school. These people have made it their job to protect us while we spend our time furthering our education. As stated by Air Academy’s “The Role of Campus Security” the job description includes:

1.  Support staff and students.
2. Work to resolve verbal and physical disputes by providing and encouraging students with a safe environment.
3.  Supervise the campus interior and exterior buildings and structures.
4.  Supervise all parking and driving at AAHS.
5.  Assist the administration in the investigation of a variety of situations.
6.  Uphold all district and school code of conduct rules regarding student behavior.
7.  Help students with lockers, parking, and student parking pass issues and updating information.
8.  Provide students support when faced with harassment issues.
9.  Be visible to all staff, students, and parents for questions and/or concerns

The men we have serving as our security guards here at Air Academy are amazing people with big hearts who have told me they love their jobs. I recently spoke with the head guard Carlos Montoya. He told me a little bit about his job such as how many offenses they have here, what they do and whether or not he likes his job.

Mr. Montoya was easy to talk to and quick to respond with, “I love my job here because I like the kids and faculty I work with, and there is always something new happening.” When I asked him if he enjoyed his work he responded, “My job never becomes routine and that’s something I value.” Also, I asked him about how many drug related offenses our dear high school has on average and he responded with, “Very few,” and that he mostly had to deal with minor altercations because “Air Academy High School is like a mini community. Some days it’s runs smoothly, other days there are disagreements because you can’t predict people.” Yes, the security guards may have an easier job than the swat team but remember next time you see one, that they have to put up with 1,315 students daily, so smile and say “Hi.”