On her first days walking the halls of Shepard High School, Officer Ashley Vinson couldn’t help but think back to her own high school years. At York High in Elmhurst, she looked up to her school resource officers.
Now, more than a decade later, she is filling that role for a new generation.
Vinson, a Palos Heights police officer, began her special assignment as the new School Resource Officer in early August at Shepard, located at 13049 S. Ridgeland Ave. in Palos Heights.
A School Resource Officer is a law enforcement officer who is specially trained to work in a school environment. They are assigned to a school by a law enforcement agency and work collaboratively with the school to create a safe and positive learning environment.
Vinson said the chance to mentor and protect students is the job she has been working toward since college.
“This is actually my dream job,” Vinson said. “When I was in high school, I had such a great relationship with my two School Resource Officers. They made a lasting impression on me, and I want to do the same for students here.”
Vinson, 36, joined the Palos Heights Police Department after earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal social justice from Lewis University in Romeoville in 2010. She is now pursuing a master’s degree in school social work through Aurora University and expects to graduate in 2027.
Though new to the school, Vinson is no stranger to service. At the police department, she serves on the crisis intervention and community relations teams, is a certified car seat technician, and trains new recruits as a field training officer. She still pulls patrol shifts on her days away from Shepard.
The School Resource Officer position, she said, gives her a different kind of chance to connect.
“I love working with the students,” Vinson said. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, but I’m already excited about building relationships with both the staff and the students.”
Her goal, she added, is to be the kind of steady presence that makes young people feel safe and supported.
“I just hope I can leave the same kind of impact on them that my School Resource Officers had on me,” she said.