As students sat down to eat their lunch at Goddard Middle School (GMS), excitement quickly built as Officer Ryan Lamar introduced “New Officer Trivia.” This fun activity offered students the opportunity to guess the answers to questions about their district's newest police officers. Over the three lunch periods on Tuesday, August 19th and Wednesday, August 20th, Officer Lamar hosted an engaging trivia session to introduce students to Officers Justin Malcom and Wyatt Pulver, USD 265's two newest team members. From 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. each day, the cafeteria transformed into a competitive, engaging environment where students discovered everything from the officers' academy graduation class details to their favorite foods and colors.
"As the kids guess, they get to know these officers. Lamar is all about making those connections, and it’s amazing - seeing how much impact these positive encounters can create for our school and student population," explained Lisa Hogarth, Principal at GMS. The trivia format proved both successful and entertaining, with every lunch table full of students offering different guesses to the multiple-choice questions. The promise of candy for correct answers added an extra layer of motivation, but the real prize was the opportunity for students to see the human side of law enforcement and build meaningful connections with the officers who serve their schools.
This initiative aligns with USD 265's Strategic Plan commitment to recruiting, developing, and retaining world-class staff members throughout the district. Officer Lamar, who was recently honored with the Kansas Juvenile Officers Association's prestigious 'SRO of the Year' award and who calls GMS his home base, emphasized the collaborative nature of their work, "Even though we're assigned to specific schools, we are a team and we do all serve in various locations and get to wear a lot of different hats. Recognition and trust is really important, because students are going to be naturally curious about what we do. So making those connections early and often is imperative - and it's enjoyable getting to build relationships and build up the school community."
The trivia sessions also reflected the district's dedication to providing a safe, caring, and connected learning environment to educate the whole child. Officer Wyatt Pulver, one of the new officers, who is housed out of Eisenhower High School (EHS), shared his perspective on the proactive approach that school resource officers bring to education, "A little trust can go a long way, and you're never really able to quantify the impact that a positive influence like an SRO can have. People that are in this role, are here to help - so any time we can collectively humanize the badge, we will. All I can control is having a positive attitude and doing my best to cultivate a safe environment where students can thrive."
The impact of these relationship-building efforts was evident in the students' enthusiastic participation and positive feedback. Darrian Post, an 8th grader at GMS, captured the sentiment perfectly, "It helps that they have such a good attitude about things. They make our schools more safe, and I think it's pretty cool that they get to be integrated with all the students. Getting to do things like this (trivia) make it fun, too!"
Officer Pulver noted the unique opportunity that school-based policing provides. "In a typical police officer's day, they're reacting to situations or circumstances. Instead of being reactive, we get the amazing opportunity to be proactive and try to prevent things before they even have a chance to happen...you can't beat that. It's really important to me, what we're doing here." Through creative activities like “New Officer Trivia,” the USD 265 Police Department continues to foster trust, build connections to create safe and supportive environments where all students can succeed.