Mr. Harry is a security guard. He and the team of officers protect a whole school of students, teachers, and staff. While not securing the halls of Pace, Mr. Harry engineers music in his free time. He has worked at Pace for seven years and flourishes in his job.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
What is your job here at Pace? Could you describe what you do?
I’m a school safety agent slash youth officer. I basically prevent any illegal activities from going on and deal with any illegal activities happening. Secure the building as far as perimeter and make sure there’s no hazards.
What is your favorite and least favorite thing about working with students?
My favorite thing is learning new things from the youth and my least favorite is this generation’s sense of entitlement. Sometimes kids here always want it to go their way and if they don’t get their way they pout and this is high school it’s kind of immature.
Do you feel like you are acknowledged throughout the day?
I am very acknowledged. I will say that my presence is known. The Pace community gives me my flowers.
How important do you think your role is?
It’s a team effort, not just mine, I have my co-workers. The other agents here, and the Pace staff who I work with, Ms. Knight, Johnny, and Mr. Chong, we all work together to make sure things get accomplished.
How did you get this job? Was there a cool story behind it?
No, I just applied and had to have the credentials and took the test. Psych evaluation, go to the academy.
What was your experience in the Academy like?
It was like the military. Offer a little bit of college. You had to do law classes, police science, behavioral science. Then they had the rigorous gym thing. They’ll yell at you, berate you. I hated it but you had to endure it to get through it.
Was the degradation the worst part of the Academy for you?
For all of that I might as well just have stayed in school, if that was the case. I guess that was the worst part, the berating and the para-military stuff. I didn’t know that existed in there, I got through it.
What was your favorite part about the Academy?
You just get through it. I don’t recall anything favorite about it.
Do you have another dream job? What is it?
On the side I engineer music, I mix records. I do what I want to do, what I’ve always wanted to do.
Do you think that you can achieve a high status with this job?
There’s always room for growth. I am comfortable where I’m at, make good money.
What job did you have before this?
I’ve been doing this a long time. I didn’t have a job before this. This ain’t my first job at a school.
What influenced you to have this job?
Had to pay bills.
What was your high school experience like? How did that school compare to Pace?
My high school was very diverse. It was in Brooklyn. We had a lot of different nationalities, ethnic groups. Everyone got along. Believe it or not we had maybe one fight throughout the four years I was there. To this day everyone is still cool.
