As they walk around the school and watch over the cameras, campus security officers are ready to monitor the halls and bathrooms, get a student from class, or even put their body on the line breaking up a fight. The six members of Loy Norrix’s campus security team are some of the most dedicated staff members. 

Security at Norrix can be a very serious task, but one officer balances this serious task with also being known as the nicest person at the school: Jacqueline Hampton. 

For those who do not know Hampton, she’s the woman who sits in the tower keeping track of who comes in and out of the school and constantly watches the security cameras. 

“She is just the sweetest lady,” said senior Austin Thomas. 

Hampton initially only took the job of campus security because it was what was available. After working this job now for 12 years, however, Hampton has truly grown to love it.  

According to Hampton, the best part of being a security guard is “seeing students who as a freshman would never talk, growing up and now every morning going out of their way to say ‘good morning.’”

Often, students meet Hampton when they are freshmen trying to learn the layout of a new school. Over the years, as students become more adapted to Norrix, they start coming to Hampton seeking friendly advice. 

“During my years at Norrix, Ms. Hampton has been very helpful to me when finding directions on where to go and dealing with different attendance issues,” said senior Rami Mograbi. 

Many different students have also gotten similar help from her. 

“Over the past four years, I have gotten to talk with her several times. I like how she always seems happy and in a good mood,” said senior Ethan Williams. 

Being a security guard at school is a lot more time consuming than it may seem. Most days, campus security officers will be at the school from 6:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. On days with sporting events after school, some campus security will be at the school from 6:30 a.m. all the way until 9 p.m. 

“Days with lots of fights usually make for a hectic day with lots of suspensions,” said Hampton. 

Student behavior around the school results in a more or less difficult day for campus security. Students around the school may see fights as being funny or entertaining, but campus security find these moments to be very stressful and annoying. 

“There was this one time where two girls got into a fight…and me and Mr. Williams [former campus security officer] had to break it up. During the fight, I was knocked over, but still got up to pull them apart and break up the fight,” said Hampton. 

When students are in heated situations like this, it is often challenging to pull them apart and break it up. Sometimes, in breaking up these fights or monitoring the halls, security guards can even save someone’s life.

“I remember the student was in the B-wing trying to impress a group of girls by jumping into the wall,” said Hampton.  “On his second jump, he cut open his neck and you could see him running down the hallway dripping blood. When he came across me, I was able to apply pressure to his wound and stop the bleeding until EMS could arrive.” 

According to Keegan Gallagher of Hackett Catholic Prep, some private schools like Hackett may have one to no campus security officers at all. While these schools may have less conflict then Norrix, the usage of security here is vastly important because of how a team can survey a school as big as this one. 

Even though campus security is faced with the hard and stressful job of keeping order, Hampton is able to get through her day maintaining a positive attitude and creating relationships with students.