Around the clock with Emily Manigo

Upper+School+Security+and+Traffic+Director%2C+Emily+Manigo%2C+starts+her+day+early+to+prepare+the+school+for+the+influx+of+students+and+faculty.

Priscilla Pan

Upper School Security and Traffic Director, Emily Manigo, starts her day early to prepare the school for the influx of students and faculty.

Upper School Security and Traffic Director, Emily Manigo, starts her day bright and early arriving at the Upper School at 6 a.m. to unlock the campus for both students and faculty. Around 7 a.m., she heads to the front to start her daily traffic.

Manigo advises all students to always look both ways when you cross an area to make sure nothing is coming from either side. Additionally, Manigo hopes for all drivers including student drivers to be cautious of their speed while entering in the morning.

“Dont come in real fast or real slow cause either way it messes up traffic,” Manigo said. “You have to have a good flow.”

Once the clock turns 8:10 a.m., Manigo takes a little break and then returns to the kiosk at the front of the school for the majority of her day.There she keeps a watchful eye of everyone entering and exiting the campus.

“I make sure that no one who comes on campus isn’t someone that shouldn’t be,” Manigo said.

Manigo takes her one hour lunch break at 11 a.m. and returns to the kiosk at 12 p.m. so the other officer can take their lunch as well.

For the rest of the day, Manigo and other officers switch off tasks every half an hour. One roams the campus to make sure that the campus is safe, while the other watches the traffic coming in and out of the school, making sure that people check in at the main office if needed.

As the days ends, Manigo makes her final round of walking through the school at 2:15 till the end of school.

On days of early dismissal, Manigo heads to the back loading zone near the kitchen to work the traffic there. She ensures that all cars park instead of blocking the area where the bus parks for campus shuttles or athletic games.

Besides her work, Manigo just really enjoys getting to see everyone’s faces either at the beginning of the day or at the end.

“I do communicate with students [and] parents,” Manigo said. “I’m a people person and I love talking with people.”

Manigo finally ends her at day at 3 p.m.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on Oct. 17, 2014.