It requires many different roles and positions to keep a campus running.

Now campus supervisor Helen Jarrett has had experience in many of these roles, including being a school dance chaperone, a substitute teacher, a food coordinator for campus events, a club advisor for Bombay in the Bay, a LINK Crew director and most recently, campus supervisor, one of the biggest roles she has had to take on. 

Jarrett’s great interest in school activities stems from her being a parent in the community as well. Her daughter, senior Alena Jarrett, has allowed her to become more involved in campus life and know more students. 

Though she admits that the role of campus supervisor seems unexpected for her to take on, as it requires disciplinary action, Jarrett said that principal Greg Louie thought it would be a good transition because many students already know her, a sentiment her co-supervisor Mark Hernandez agrees with. 

“It’s a good thing that she knows the kids and the school, and she knows a lot of the policies, so she is picking up really quick,” Hernandez said. “It’s great having her; she’s a good addition to the staff here.”

This new transition has presented some challenges for Jarrett because students traditionally see her in a substitute teacher role rather than a disciplinary one, and she herself finds disciplining students to be very tough. 

She is careful and cautious about what words to use and how to approach a situation because she does not want students leaving her thinking that they are bad people. 

“I don’t want anyone to ever feel like they’re a bad person because they made a bad choice or bad decision in that moment,” Jarrett said. “I just want them to learn from their mistakes and know that life goes on and not to dwell on it. All I want to do is hug everyone, and I can’t do that.”

Despite this challenge, Jarrett enjoys her new role on campus as she likes seeing students in their different functions. She finds that they enable her to build trust between herself and students. 

“It’s a busy, stressful world and I know everyone knows me for being very goofy and smiley,” Jarrett said. “It sounds super cheesy, but I really just want to be the reason that someone’s day isn’t so bad.”

Jarrett hopes that students know that for whatever reason, they can come to her to talk or to be cheered up. She does not like seeing everyone so stressed, and she finds that her job as campus supervisor is a good role to be able to make days easier for students.

Hernandez believes that Jarrett’s care for students is what makes her so fit for the job. 

“She brings knowledge — if a student needs something she knows exactly how to help them with whatever they need help with and help them feel better at the end of the day,” Hernandez said. “That’s something you can’t teach and that’s probably the best thing about her.” 

While Jarrett is still a substitute teacher, she would help fill in anywhere from the classrooms or the office. Currently, she is even filling in for Anna Ybarra as the Activities Office secretary as Ybarra is out on a medical leave.  Jarrett credits this to her inclination to want to help fix everything.

“I think I’m the walking version of a jack-of-all-trades,” Jarrett said. “If there’s a void somewhere and I can help, I just fill in where everyone needs.” 

Although she has had experience in many roles, Jarrett does not have a favorite. 

She says that regardless of the role that she is in, she is still walking around on campus and being herself. 

“I think every role is fun,” Jarrett said. “I just tend to be very much in the moment of whatever role I’m in and I’ll still be crazy — me.”