La Verne squad raises campus' safety
Campus Times
March 5, 1999
Todd Allen, Nadia Velasquez and Danny Khano are the newest members
of the Campus Safety and Transportation Department. Allen began working
in November, and Khano joined the department in January. Velasquez, a former
housekeeper for the University of La Verne, joined the department only three
weeks ago. When Khano was asked how he felt about working with a female
security guard he responded, "I'm all for it! It's a new experience
for me."
Campus Safety and Public Transportation's staff has grown from only
four officers to seven with the addition of three new officers within the
last couple of months.
Their faces are the ones that pass students daily around campus on their
carts with friendly smiles and conversation.
Danny Khano is a 21-year-old La Verne resident who has been a member
of the team for close to two months -- one month and three weeks to be exact.
He has lived in La Verne since he was 11 and is a 1996 Bonita High School
graduate.
Before his family moved to La Verne it lived in Sassyria, which is in,
what Khano calls, the "O.G. Middle East."
Sassyria, which is presently part of Iraq, Kuwait and Lebanon, is very
different from the United States and La Verne.
Khano said the largest difference is that there is more freedom here
in the United States.
Khano said in the United States, "you get to do what you want to
do, not what the government wants you to do," he said.
Khano aspires to go into law enforcement and has served as a police
explorer for the La Verne Police Department for two years.
He has passed his first required test for entrance in to the police
academy. He still has to complete the second written test and should find
out in August whether he was accepted into the police academy.
Khano is also active in his church, where he serves as a deacon. A deacon
assists the priest in services such as weddings, Sunday services and funerals.
"You can't clap with one hand," is how Khano describes his
position as deacon.
Pomona resident Todd Allen has also joined the campus safety staff,
but he is not here to prepare for his career in a hands on sense, but rather
he is here for what is called tuition remission, which will allow him to
get his education.
Tuition remission allows an employee of ULV to attend the University
without paying tuition. It also allows the employee's spouse and children
to take advantage of tuition remission as well, as long as that employee
is employed at the University.
Allen plans to enroll in the fall semester and major in business administration.
He chose this because with a degree in business administration one can work
in many different fields. It is a very diverse degree, with many different
uses.
"People don't want to take you seriously without an education.
I envy people who went to school right out of high school," said Allen.
Nadia Velasquez, a 21-year-old resident of Pomona, is also working for
the University, bringing campus safety a total of seven officers to take
advantage of the tuition remission.
She aspires to begin her enrollment next fall as well and hopes to begin
her career in law enforcement.
"Ever since I was a kid, I liked cops," said Velasquez.
"I just like being in a uniform, and I went on a ride along. I
like dealing with people and crime," she said.
On top of her responsibilities as a campus safety officer, Velasquez
also has two young sons, Mario, 3, and Jesse, 4, for whom she is also responsible.
Being a parent of two small children, working full time and planning
to go back to school is difficult and requires hard work and determination.
"I am going to have a career so they can say, 'My mother did it,
so can I,'"she said of how she plans to teach her children about the
importance of an education.
"I am a young mother, so I will be growing with them and I want
to give them an example that if you try, you get what you want."
She and her fiancé, Jesus Miron, a construction worker, have
been together for six years and plan to be married in June 2000.
Velasquez said the transitions made in her recent decisions have been
made easier because of her fiancé.
He supports her plans to work for campus safety and her plans to continue
with school.
