The new school year at Stamford High School brought many changes in the building, from the new building becoming the freshman building to the new friendly faces in the halls. Along with all the new teachers we got this school year at SHS we also have new security guards joining the Black Knight team. Among the new security is Mike Loughran, a retired sergeant from the Stamford Police Department. Loughran technically joined the school’s security team last school year, but was only here for the last three weeks of school, so this year will be his first officially working at SHS.

I recently had the chance to sit down with Loughran and learned some interesting facts about him. Surprisingly Loughran has never worked as a school security guard before, so SHS is his first official security job. Although he’s never been a school security guard, he has had a variety of interesting jobs.

After graduating high school, Loughran started off his career by joining the Marine Corps for three years. Shortly after the Marine Corps he became a police officer while attending college at night to further his education. Loughran eventually got promoted to a sergeant position with the Stamford Police Department. He was a sergeant for 22 years from 1984 to 2006. After retiring in 2008, Lougharn worked as a deputy super at the Bridgeport Juvenile Detention Center.

Going from jobs that require so much discipline and a firm hand to a job where all you really need is patience is a huge mind set change. When asked how he feels about the change of job setting Lougharn said, “Going from dealing with criminals to working with young adults is such a different role, but personally it’s just about treating everyone with respect regardless of age, gender and race. It feels really good to be a part of a team here at the school.” Aside from being a part of the team, Lougharn really enjoys all the energy and positive atmosphere in the school, and working with kids.

So whenever you find yourself on the first floor in the front of the building say hi to Mike. He doesn’t bite, trust me!