Every morning, Campus Monitor Brenda Strom stands at the doors of Thompson Valley High School to greet students and check their identification as they enter the building for the day. She considers herself to be doing two jobs at once.
While she plays a vital role in keeping the campus safe, she also serves as a reliable and predictable presence in the students’ days, ensuring they know she is always available if they need someone to turn to.
“My favorite thing about being a campus monitor is the students,” Brenda says. “I come to my job for them because I feel like if they have a familiar face and somebody they feel like they know every single day, they are going to want to come to school.”
Brenda Strom did not originally set out with a goal of being a campus monitor. Her first job in the school district was as a paraprofessional working with students in the intensive learning center room at Loveland High, a job she enjoyed for four years. When a position for a campus monitor opened up, Brenda had never really thought about working in campus security, but she decided on a whim to apply for the job.
“It was a new level of interaction with the students,” she recalls. “From being in the classroom to being in the halls, you tend to see more. Typically you can tell when a student walks in what kind of day they’re having.”
Brenda says she has a goal of making a personal connection with as many students as possible, starting with learning their names quickly.
“It’s important because I think if you learn kids’ names, they think that you care about them — and I genuinely do,” she says.
Once she has greeted all the students, the rest of Brenda’s days are unpredictable, depending on what is going on in the school. She will often walk around the grounds’ perimeter and go through the halls, keeping an eye on the campus.
She also tries to fit in several check-ins each day, catching up with students who might benefit from an adult they can trust and reminding them they have support at the school.
“We try to be out, we try to be visible,” she says. “The goal of a campus monitor is to make sure that the campus is safe. I used to say I’ve seen it all, I’ve heard it all. But every year you can find a new one that you’re like, ok. That’s why I do check-ins. They need to know they are cared about.”
Joe Vodjansky, TSD’s Director of Safety and Security, considers Brenda a tremendous asset to the TSD team.
“Brenda is consistently a leader on the Safety and Security Team,” Joe says. “Brenda is a true professional in the workplace, and Thompson School District is lucky to have her on the team!”
Brenda also considers herself lucky to be part of the safety crew at TVHS, which includes the school resource officer, two campus monitors, and the dean. Brenda says that the safety staff works very well together, which is important because some days, you have to expect the unexpected.
“My expectation is that people are going to have rough days. Students will too,” Brenda says. “I get in every day knowing that no day is the same for us – which is another thing I like about my job.”
However, Brenda finds that she can usually provide some predictability to students by being patient and straightforward.
“I’m pretty transparent with the kids,” she says. “I like to be honest with them. Some of them don’t want to be here any longer than they have to, but they still want to be treated with respect.”
Brenda says that sometimes it is the students who are hardest to connect with who end up making her job fulfilling. She recalls a student, now in their 20s, with whom she had to work very hard to get through.
“I stood outside with that kid every single day, and that was what they looked forward to,” she says. “Sometimes kids just need to have a break.”
And according to Brenda, that’s one important way to help keep our schools — and our students — safe.
“It’s important because I am a parent too; I am a mom,” Brenda says. “I want to feel like my children are safe going to school, and I also want that for other people.”