What is your name and position? My name is Rich Callaghan and I am a cafeteria security guard.
What does your job entail? How long have you worked here? Ten years. Basically, our job is to make sure that all the kids come to school safely, and once they’re in school, we make sure that they are able to stay in a safe environment. It’s all about safety. Just make sure the kids are safe, coming to school, staying at school, going home, and they’re safe [the whole] time. I work only two days a week, part-time, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work in the lunchroom.
How do you connect with your co-workers? We have a really good relationship. All the guys that work here… we’re all older. Some of us are retired policemen, firefighters, [or] Chicago city workers. We all grew up basically in the same generation [too], which makes communicating and making connections pretty easy.
What do you enjoy about your work in or out of school? I’ve met a lot of great kids [as a hockey coach]. Some of our kids—I’ve had their fathers, then I had their sons, and now I got their grandkids—got three generations. We had a couple kids come back with the Stanley Cup in Glenview and all sorts of kids that have gone on to college to play hockey. That’s really rewarding and fun.
How did you end up with this job? I was teaching hockey in Glenview, which is what I’ve done for many, many years. I used to coach the son of the security director here, Al Lopez; he’s the top security director for the district. Al was just retiring as the deputy chief for the Skokie Police Department, and I was just retiring from [the] Morton Grove Police [Department]. He had asked me, “If you’re looking for any kind of side work…why don’t you come over and help out with security [at District 219]?” I said, “You know Al, I’m really better with little kids because I coach two-year-olds up to ten-year-olds; not really high school kids.” But he said, “Why don’t you come over and try for a couple of weeks, and if you don’t like it, you can just quit.” That was 10 years ago, and I’m still here.
What did you do in the Marines? I went into the Marine Corps right after high school. I went to boot camp down in San Diego, California. After that, I went to an infantry training school in Camp Pendleton, California. I was attached to a special weapons platoon and I handled mortars, machine guns, and cordless rifles. Then I had the opportunity to go to Fort Benning, Georgia, where I was a paratrooper. I trained with all the green barret guys, the special forces, paramedics, Air Force, rangers, and Navy SEALs, and we all learned how to jump out of airplanes. I got about 10 jumps in to qualify, then when my time came up to reenlist, I decided not to. So I got out of the Marines and came back home to Chicago.
How are you social in your job? I like talking to the kids. I learn a lot of new things from them, and I hope they learn a couple new things from me too, ’cause I’m kind of old, and I’ve been through a lot of things and have some experience with life. Hopefully I’m able to pass along some wisdom to them as they’re growing up. [I want] to guide them, do the right things, and try to [make] a good life from that.
What has Niles North done for you? It helps me stay young, because as a 69-year-old guy, it’s important to keep in touch with the youth. Just hanging around high school kids, it keeps you [up on] all the things that are going on in the world, and they help me with my phone—my technology that I don’t understand. It’s interesting to listen to them, their goals in life, what they want to do, and stuff like that. If you want to stay young, you gotta hang with the young guys.
What do you like to do after school? I spend a lot of time in the Weight Room weightlifting and working out. I spend a lot of time coaching hockey, which I’ve done for the past 50 years. I’ve done it since high school.
What is the biggest thing you have crossed off your bucket list? Well, I went to college—after the Marine Corps, I got my degree in financial accounting. I always wanted to be financially independent and wealthy. So, I worked hard at saving money and learning how to invest it. I was lucky enough to listen to the right people, and if I was able to achieve my financial goal of becoming independent and wealthy, more beyond my imagination, I wouldn’t have to work anymore if I didn’t want to. I could do whatever I wanted; I could travel wherever I wanted. I’m not a big guy on materialistic things. Money represents more freedom to do what you want to do. That was the one goal that I had when I was a kid.
