Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Hosted by Sam Strasner, Director of Public Relations at Arkansas Tech University. Sam brings in a variety of guests to talk about what's going on around the Arkansas Tech campus and tell the incredible stories of our faculty, staff, students and alumni.
Welcome to Tell Us a Tech Story. Our guest is sergeant Krystle Manning from the Arkansas Tech University Department of Public Safety, where she specializes in training and community outreach among other duties as assigned. Sergeant Manning, thank you very much for being with us.
Speaker 2:I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:So tell us your tech story. How did you get here and why is this place special to you?
Speaker 2:My tech story started a long time ago when I decided to come to college here. And so I came here as a freshman right out of high school. Hated every second of it. I did not get involved. I did not do anything and I wasn't a very studious person.
Speaker 2:I didn't like to study, but I really needed to. And so I just wouldn't. And so that made my college experience very hard. And so I ended up dropping out. And I grew up in this town, for the most part since seventh grade.
Speaker 2:And so I knew tech was here, and all the things. My family owns a flower shop just down the road from ATU. And so we would come here often deliver flowers or do special events. And so I knew of Arkansas Tech. And so after I dropped out of college, I went and worked at the flower shop.
Speaker 2:And I worked there for a very long time. And then all of a sudden, one day decided I wanted to do a change in careers and law enforcement just kind of came up and it was something that I thought I might be good at. And so I started at the Pope County Detention Center and ended up moving up there pretty quickly. And then I decided that I wanted to come out onto the road and that's what we call it. And when I did, I thought about ATU because the police department here at ATU was known for training.
Speaker 2:We were known for doing lots of stuff with other departments. And so I thought that would be a really good place to get my foot in the door. So after the jail, I applied here at Public Safety and got the job. And I've been here seven years and I absolutely love my job. I do not dread coming to work most days.
Speaker 2:Everybody has grumpy days. But I love coming to work here because of the people I get to be around. And then 22, I'm telling how old I am, twenty two ish years later, I decided to go back to school. And so I'm currently, I think I will graduate, in May with my bachelor's then I'm going to go on to the master's program. So I've kind of came full circle.
Speaker 2:I learned how to be a student. And even as a staff member, I've learned how to be involved. And I think that's what I was missing when I came here the first time. So that's kind of my ATU story.
Speaker 1:And now working in the Arkansas Tech University Department of Public Safety, what are some of the major categories of services that Public Safety offers, some of which people may not be aware of?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so our most used services, we unlock doors if you've locked your keys in your car, we will come and unlock your vehicle for free. If you're on campus or very close to campus, we can't go all the way across town. And then if the battery is dead on your vehicle, we'll come and do a jumpstart. And then we will assist you in changing a tire. We like to use educational moments as much as we can.
Speaker 2:So we will help you and teach you how to change your tire as well. And then some of our other services, our officers do walk through through all of the buildings. There's a set number that they're required to do, but all of our officers go above and beyond on that because of the interaction we get with people. And so I think some of the cool aspects of our job are building those relationships. If you see us playing a game of pool or basketball, that's part of our job description is making those connections with students.
Speaker 2:And if you wanna feel really good about yourself, just challenge a P Safe officer to something because most of us are terrible at every sport, so you will win.
Speaker 1:As you go through conducting that community outreach part of your job, and you get a chance to interact with our students, what are some of the words that you would use to describe Arkansas Tech students?
Speaker 2:I think Arkansas Tech students are very resilient. And when we have to deal with a challenging situation, or a really, really bad day. There is such a cool aspect of our job that we get to see them be resilient and work through those situations, work through those difficulties and problems, and then come out better on the other end. We try to remind the students, especially the students that we work with that are having those, we call them educational moments where maybe they have gotten caught with something illegal or whatever. We try to help them understand that one bad day does not mean the rest of your life has to be bad.
Speaker 2:It's just a bad day. So let's bounce back from that. And so the word resilient comes to my mind. And then fun, our students are so fun. We have, some great times out there with our students.
Speaker 2:I think about the eclipse, when the eclipse happened and it was mostly just registered student organizations on campus. We had the most fun that whole month, because they were up for anything and we were too. And so it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:And one of the ways that you have fun is by creating some great social media content for our Department of Public Safety. You If could just tell us a little bit about how that got started and kind of what some of the goals of that are.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure how I got that job, but I like it and I rely heavily on other people to help me. So I will often go to the student union or some registered student organization and I'll be like, hey, can you help me because I'm old. And I need some ideas on our next videos. And so I work hand in hand really with Residence Life, they're marketing interns. And they have some great ideas that sometimes we use and sometimes I'm like, it would push us a little bit too far.
Speaker 2:But I heavily rely on them for our help in social media. Don't... One day I just kind of got handed that. But that's another part of my job I love. I have so much fun.
Speaker 2:We made one yesterday. We do a red hang tag giveaway every year on social media and it's always so much fun. Our officers, I usually have to pay them in seven brew or some sort of drink or energy drink or something. But they're all such great sports. They probably hate to see me coming, but it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. If you could just tell us a little bit about some of the ways you mentioned your experience of having been a student who stopped out and then came back later. And I'm just curious, your perspective on that being part of your story, especially now as someone who is actively involved in going to class yourself. How do you feel like that influences and maybe informs your ability to be able to interact with our students?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've used that several times like, Hey, I understand that you're having a really tough class. I'm in school as well. And so I understand those challenging times where you feel very overwhelmed. I'm working a full time job, I have a family at home. I have lots of things, other things I do outside of ATU.
Speaker 2:And then school on top of that, it makes it very stressful sometimes, but it is a really cool connection point that we can make. And then especially as a law enforcement officer, because a lot of times in lots of different places, we always ask a question, how many of you have been negatively affected by law enforcement officer in the past? And almost everyone's hand will go up and I tell them my hand would go up as well, I have as well. And... But what we want you to do with Public Safety is give us a chance because I do feel like our officers are different.
Speaker 2:We push community policing a lot, but going back to school, being a law enforcement officer, making those connection points could possibly help a student feel more comfortable coming to me if they are having those moments where they don't know if they can continue or they're just super stressed out. And so I think it's a really cool way that I can tie my job and my school and my work ethic all into the same thing.
Speaker 1:Another thing that you have in common with several of our students here at Arkansas Tech, especially I think about our women in STEM organization. That's a group of our students who are going into what predominantly some male oriented fields. Public Safety, I would say is predominantly and police work is predominantly a male oriented field. What has that been like for you to be able to, as you've made that transition from working in a florist business to being a public safety officer, How have you been able to make that transition and maybe how has that informed your life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went from a predominant female field to a predominant male field. I have five brothers though. And I'm the oldest and I'm the only girl. So I I feel like a lot of these guys are my brothers. But going from from those, I really really want every woman, especially every woman that is walking into a predominantly male field to understand that they need to show confidence in their job abilities.
Speaker 2:And they don't need to let the gender disparities overrule them because it can get very challenging when you're trying to do something and there's all men and they're all showing their muscles, no offense, but they know who I'm talking to. But when they're kind of showing off in that very masculine and you're like, well, I'm just the only girl. I have been the only female at so many trainings. But I just walk in that room like I own the place. Because if I showed something negative or that's only going to create thoughts in my mind that are...
Speaker 2:They're not going be helpful. And so I try to help female students on this campus as well, staff and faculty as well, like understand that you can be a woman, you can be confident and you can do almost anything that a boy can do.
Speaker 1:Our mission statement at Arkansas Tech drives everything that we do. How do you feel like the Arkansas Tech Department of Campus Safety helps Arkansas Tech be able to live up to its mission statement?
Speaker 2:The majority of our mission statement is focused around safety and well-being and feeling like you have a safe campus community to come to and to be at. And that is one thing that we have put a lot of emphasis on with our office is making sure that every student, faculty, staff, or visitor feels safe and secure on this campus. And so we do that in a variety of ways. Part of our mission statement is also collaborating with programming. And we do a whole lot of programming and we go to a whole lot of programming.
Speaker 2:So community policing has been something that we do and we do well. And that's because we teach our officers that every person on this campus is important. And you need to make sure everyone feels safe. And so we do self defense and personal safety programming, and that helps. That is predominantly female driven.
Speaker 2:We do a very large one for Women's Week, which is so fun. So we do that personal safety, we make sure that they feel safe walking around on campus and we inform them of all the different things that we do offer. One thing we do offer, I'll mention, are a safety escort. And so if a student, It happens a lot during finals week. They may be in the library at 4AM and they don't feel comfortable walking all the way to Baswell because it's all the way across campus.
Speaker 2:It's late, our campus is very well lit and we make sure... We look at the lights once a month to make sure every light pole is working. But if they don't feel safe, they can call our office. And if the officer is available, they will come pick them up and drive them over to Baswell. It's just one more way that we make sure that everyone feels comfortable.
Speaker 2:We also do... So we do self defense, we do lots of programming with technology, making sure that they feel safe and how to be safe on technology. It's something that's kind of popped up in the last couple of years. So we want to push out safe initiatives for that. Domestic violence and dating violence, we do a lot of programming with our Title Nine office here.
Speaker 2:So just we're involved in everything. My favorite event on this campus is the International Student Festival that they have, at the Bell Tower. It is the best food you will ever eat. And so you'll see our officers out there because I spread the word about that one. So fun.
Speaker 2:But we also try to make those connections with our international students because they have a different view of law enforcement in their countries than we have in America. And so it's really, really neat to see them open up to us. And I think that's all puts back into our mission statement of making sure that everyone no matter where you're from, no matter what you're doing, feel safe and secure here.
Speaker 1:When you consider it in sum, what is it about this work at Arkansas Tech and our Department of Public Safety that brings you joy and fulfillment?
Speaker 2:Like I said, I love most days that I come to work. But every single day is different. And that's what... If you ask our officers what makes your job interesting or whatever, we could tell you stories. Always get like, what's the craziest call you've been to on campus?
Speaker 2:I could sit and tell you lots of stories. But those interactions on a day to day basis with faculty staff, we had an officer, he does not work here anymore. But he had his own personal candy drawer in health and wellness. And so he would go in there and just visit their office and get some candy out in the middle of the day and have a chat with them. But every single day is different, but it's the same work.
Speaker 2:We still have the same mission, we still have the same goals, but every day is different. I learned how to play Foursquare a couple of years ago by some freshmen. They asked me, I was just walking around one day and they were like, Do you know how to play Foursquare? And I was like, no. And, they're like, you want to learn?
Speaker 2:And so I learned how to play Foursquare and now they're RAs. And that was a really cool transition to watch them go from freshmen. I played some Foursquare with them to now we're working together, on specific things. I haven't mentioned this yet, and I'm surprised you haven't brought it up. But on this campus, I'm known as officer mom and or sergeant mom.
Speaker 2:And if you walk across campus with me, you'll hear someone call out mom. The reason I love that, it got started about five years ago. The student that started that goes to my church now, and still calls me mom and has met my entire family like it's been this whole thing. But the reason I love that is because a student would feel more comfortable talking to someone that they have a connection with. And so a lot of times if I'm dealing with a student that is having a really bad day or something like that, I can be like, hey, I'm Sergeant Manning, but lots of people call me officer mom.
Speaker 2:So if you want to call me mom while you're here, I got you. And it opens up this whole door of, comfortability. And so they feel comfortable talking to me or they'll call our office, is Sergeant Manning there? I'm sorry, I just want to talk to her. And I don't say that to gloat about anything.
Speaker 2:I try to emphasize that with all of our officers. We had some governor school, I was speaking to their student staff, was training them. And they were like, is officer Heathco working here still? And I said, yeah, he is. And he was like, man, I love that dude.
Speaker 2:That made me feel so good. It made me feel like a proud mom. Because I want our officers to make sure that everybody feels comfortable. And so that was just one way that we could open the door. And you asked me why I loved my job, I could go on forever.
Speaker 2:Meeting the faculty and staff, the people, the connections that I've been able to make here, I absolutely love my family. My dad is a diehard ATU basketball fan. We come to every game, if I'm not working, we're there as a family and most of our family comes to those basketball games. And we have so much fun, but it is so neat. Like just walking around and introducing people that I have connections with here to my family is really cool.
Speaker 2:And so it's just, I don't know, I could go on forever, but I love it here.
Speaker 1:Well, Krystle, thank you very much for spending this time with us and thank you very much for telling us your tech story.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1:That is Sergeant Krystle Manning of the Arkansas Tech University Department of Public Safety. Until next time. So long, everybody.