SECURITY GUARDS

A SECURITY GUARD’S MAIN GOAL?

TO GET KIDS TO CLASS

BY IKRAN ABDI & MANEEYA LEUNG BY IKRAN ABDI & MANEEYA LEUNG

Security guards DJ Brown and Craig Banham share why they took up the job and the importance of connecting with students.

“I was fighting inner demons,” DJ Brown said about his time at high school. He went through what he describes as a “rebellious” stage, was frustrated with the world and didn’t want to go to class. Then, he met the school’s security guard Q, short for Quinton.

“He kind of took me under his wing,” Brown said. Q would make a point to sit down and talk whenever he noticed Brown having a bad day. He led Brown in the right direction and gave him a supportive figure.

“Honestly, he helped me get through high school,” Brown said. “That’s what made me want to come back and do the exact same thing.”

Nowadays, Brown averages fifteen to twenty students per day who come up to him to tell him how they’re doing. He is a security guard at EPHS. While he sees his main goal as keeping students safe, he also thinks that security guards’ purpose is to help keep students on track.

Compared to a dean or a police officer, he finds himself more approachable. He’s not dressed up in police equipment, and he doesn’t have the same authority as a dean. He’s not trying to get students in trouble, he said. All he wants is to help students go to class.

Brown loves chatting with students and makes himself approachable to every conversation. His favorite part of being a security guard is seeing students grow up from freshman to senior year and seeing them succeed. He likes how many students feel comfortable going up to him to talk throughout the day, even if he’s never met them before.

“I’m here to be that shoulder to lean on when some kids are having a bad day,” Brown said. That morning, Brown had talked to a student who was having a rough day and needed some time to herself. He opened the South Commons Collab for her to rest.

The first time freshman Merin Jones met Brown, he brought Jones a Minute Maid drink from the vending machine. She found Brown easy to talk to and connect with.

She hadn’t heard many good words about security guards before then: “For me, being Black, hearing about security guards or police is never really good.” Jones heard about how they can make Black students feel uncomfortable. She said that sometimes it feels like security guards hang around places with more Black or Hispanic students.

Brown has heard many students come up to him upset about feeling like they’ve been picked out by security guards because of their race. He said that he doesn’t see that being a problem on the team and thinks that security guards are only trying to get students to class.

Jones believes that security guards can make students more comfortable by understanding their situation before being accusatory. She said that sometimes when students are walking to lunch or other reasonable desitnations, security guards shouldn’t be quick to assume they’re skipping class.

Security guard Craig Banham hasn’t heard of this concern, although he does acknowledge how it’s his first year on the job. Personally, he feels like he doesn’t pick on students based on race and hasn’t noticed the rest of the secuirty team doing any different. When he sees a student outside of class, Banham said he tries to ask them about their day and find common interests.

“After I’ve connected with them, they’ll tell me ‘I haven’t had my coffee.’ Or ‘my mom made me mad.’ Or ‘I don’t like that teacher.’ Or ‘I’m skipping because of this test’ or whatever it is,” he said. “We figure it out and get around it. Because the whole thing is for you guys to get that piece of paper.”

Banham’s first job was at the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention. He later on worked at Ramsey and Dakota county. At the job, he learned to work with kids who were struggling. Seeing kids in the juvenile system makes him want to keep other students out of the same position. “Once you get caught in the system, you don’t come back,” he said.

Banham is working on his masters in special education and also coaches the lacrosse teams with whom he hopes to win some championships. He would say his favorite part of being a security guard is “interacting with you guys and your energy.”

Even after getting to know Brown, could Jones’s perception of other security guards change? “Maybe? I mean, there’s always ways to change,” Jones answered. “I’ll never say there isn’t because I won’t just stick to that one mindset that security guards are bad.”