CLEVELAND, Ohio — Safety is a priority for Security Officer Brandon Kidd.
“Essentially, we act as a first responder for any calls that get put in,” Kidd said.
He helps protect Case Western Reserve University, patrolling the campus as a security guard.
When he’s not on duty, he takes classes at the college. The security guard’s studies make him the division’s first employee to enroll in undergraduate courses at Case Western Reserve University. It’s an accolade that Kidd considers a wild achievement.
“I originally never thought of this as a possibility for me,” Kidd said. “Not that [it] was too out of my league. I just, you always think of Case as a top-notch school.”
The security guard-turned-student already has an associate degree, but said he wanted to go back to school to study psychology.
“After graduation, I do wish to become a cop, go through the police academy, everything like that,” he said. “So, psychology I chose based on helping people with mental illness while in the field there.”
The student said he hopes to learn deescalation tactics in classes that he gets for free because of his full-time employee status.
“You know, you hear all the time students struggle to pay off college after fully graduating,” he said. “So, of course, any free college is great.”
He added that he’s planning to graduate at his pace.
“Well, I did start with part-time school,” he said. “I’m only doing seven credit hours right now because one credit, or one class, I’m taking is four credits. So full-time work, so I get my full-time employee benefits and part-time school, so I can easily balance that time at home.”
