A 5-year-old boy paid a fitting tribute to his school security guard by dressing up just like him on the “Dress as up as your favorite person day.”
Kindergartener, Easton Blocker, sees Officer Jeffery Cross, who works as a security guard at the Bobby G. Lester Elementary School as a hero and a best friend.
“From day one, he has always had a fascination with Officer Cross,” Easton’s mother Lauryn said. She made Easton his own shirt which read “junior security” so he could dress up just like his hero and show him his appreciation. “That shirt is probably going to stick with him forever. It means a lot to him,” she added.
Cross said his relationship with the students is very dear to him and he tells them that he’s there to protect the school from bad people. “It makes me appreciate my job more,” he said. “They had questions about why I was armed and I was just telling them, ‘I’m armed to protect them from someone bad who would come and hurt them.'”
Easton took Cross’s words to heard and always reminds his mother that he’s in good hands. “He tells me every day; ‘Officer Cross keeps us safe from the bad guys, mommy,'” she said. “It’s reassuring. … The love that that child has for him is overwhelming.”
Cross said that seeing Easton’s enthusiasm and getting daily hugs from him are the most important highlights of his day. “Just for the fact that he shows his appreciation and he hugs me every day when he sees me every morning. It really makes my day,” he said.
Bobby G. Lester Elementary School is reportedly in the first year of having armed officers patrol the grounds in the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District. This is also the first district in the state to have an officer in every school. What an amazing Easton Blocker has of paying homage to his favorite security guard at school. Let us keep our school security guards in prayers as they go above and beyond to protect the future of this country.