Imagine you are walking past the H-portables as a zero-period student on a Monday morning, and all of a sudden, you smell bacon. Not the McDonald’s Bacon McMuffin that’s been sitting in the wrapper, but fresh, sizzling bacon. You look over to the portables and see the school’s security officers cooking up a storm with a full setup, pans, ingredients, a stove, and more. You jealously wonder, what are they doing?
At the start of the second semester, the campus security team decided to begin organizing monthly breakfast bondings, following the addition of two new security officers, Leo Marquez and Santiago Sotelo. They occur in the H-portables before the start of first period.
“The room’s a little bit small for us to kind of do a whole breakfast thing, so now, different ethnicities can bring different food, so it’s pretty great,” Security Officer Jonathan Reyes said.
Since officers are busy throughout the day protecting the campus and ensuring the safety of students, it’s difficult for them to bond closely with one another; however, the new tradition changes that.
“We each have an area on campus so there’s people on this half, people on that half and for the most part, we don’t usually get to kind of integrate during the day, so [the cookouts are] our little time for everybody to kind of mingle and get to know each other a little better,” Security Officer Alex Molina said.
The menu is decided by all the officers and varies each time. The officers have enjoyed a standard American breakfast meal in the past, and are looking forward to a Hispanic themed cookout for their next bonding which will include foods such as bolillos, chorizo, carnitas, and eggs.
Additionally, each officer contributes to the breakfast bonding either by bringing ingredients, equipment, or being in charge of the actual cooking.
“Right now, it’s Officer Marquez mainly cooking, so we’ll all bring something,” Reyes said. “It spreads out so we’re all contributing.”
The start of a monthly tradition for security officers has allowed the team to foster a closer relationship with each other, and better serve the campus.
“[The cookouts] put everybody in a better mood to start our day,” Molina said. “It’s a team building exercise that boosts morale and cohesion of the team, so it’s a good thing.”
The cookouts have also impacted officers personally by providing them an opportunity to create new friendships and connections with one another.
“You know people on a different level, “ Security Officer Jason Wiley said. “The most important thing is to see how people are outside of the work environment and to get to know people for who they are and see what their personality is really like besides work. We’re outside all day so it gives us an opportunity to connect with one another.”
