It’s eight a.m. on a weekday, and bleary-eyed North Atlanta students are shuffling into school like zombies, but their Student Resource Officers, Kyle Stephen and Jeanelle Nicolas, are already wide awake. These vigilant officers keep the school safe, and their job affords them a perspective unlike anyone else’s.
SROs are NAHS’ guardians of the gateways. Officer Stephen takes the front, where the drivers and car-riders pour in, and Officer Nicolas takes the back, where the buses drop off. After they are done shepherding the last stragglers through the metal detectors, the officers patrol the school, looking to respond to any criminal behavior they observe or health crises that may occur. With the assistance of more than 400 security cameras, and Jermaine “Coach” Stephens reviewing the footage in his office, they see all. “We can pretty much track you as soon as you pull into the parking deck,” said Officer Stephen.
Stephen and Nicolas know North Atlanta inside out, as well as the comings and goings of everyone in it, but few students actually know how the officers themselves arrived at NAHS.
Officer Nicolas stumbled upon her life’s work quite by accident. Born and raised in New York, Nicolas attended the NYPD Academy. She entered the intensive, sixth month officer training program on a whim, citing how she was bored and it was free. One thing led to another, and Nicolas found herself surviving the academy and joining law enforcement. “This is where God needed me to be,” she said.
Drawn to the excitement of the profession, Officer Stephen (and that’s Steph-en, like Stephen Curry) became an officer because he knew it would keep him busy. “There’s never really a typical day,” he said, “there’s always something different.”
On a day-to-day basis, Stephen and Nicolas observe NAHS students engage in a variety of activities, but their favorite to behold is student growth. Over the years, they have watched thousands of high schoolers develop and progress. “I love graduation because kids that I’ve seen for the past four years are entering adulthood,” said Stephen.
Stephen and Nicolas are first-responders, police officers, quiet observers, parents, friends, and protectors. They notice the little things, like the individuals walking through the metal detectors and the nose-pickers in the elevators, but they also have a vision of the long-term, seeing teens’ lives unfold before the students themselves do. From their unique vantage point, Stephen and Nicolas watch as millions of little steps- out of the car, off the bus, across the threshold, to the table, through the metal detector, into the halls- become a proud strut across the stage floor and one big step into the next phase of life.
