We’ve Come a Long Way
And it’s the people who make the difference.
I was blessed to be able to work in God’s country again today and reminded of just how many wonderful people come forward to make our nation’s campuses safer. I guess everyone has their own definition of “God’s country, but for me it is best represented by place like where I keynoted today in South Dakota.
The South Dakota Department of Education has a slate of diverse presenters every day this week for their conference, and I was deeply impressed with the awesome people I had the privilege to meet. Whether I am in Florida, Maine, Texas, Montana, Minnesota, Hawaii, New York or Arizona, I run into some of the most amazing advocates for campus safety, and today was no exception.
A school staff member caught me at break to tell me of the amazing work of a school resource officer who was a participant in the session. She told me of an awesome human being who has had nothing short of a profound effect on the students in her school district, most especially high risk students who need help the most.
While the media so often focuses on the negatives relating to campus safety, I have to say I have seen so much improvement over the past 30 years in the field of campus safety. It is truly uplifting to meet so many stellar human beings in one room.
I am grateful for my chance to visit God’s country here in South Dakota and to meet so many people who represent the salt of the earth that make our nation so great.
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About the Author
Michael Dorn, Contributor
Michael Dorn serves as the Executive Director of Safe Havens International, a global non profit campus safety center. During his 30 year campus safety career, Michael has served as a university police officer, corporal, sergeant and lieutenant. He served as a school system police chief for ten years before being appointed the lead expert for the nation's largest state government K-20 school safety center. The author of 25 books on school safety, his work has taken him to Central America, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia, South Africa and the Middle East. Michael welcomes comments, questions or requests for clarification at [email protected]. Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety magazine.
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