Yuma police officer, school honored

Working as a school resource officer at Centennial Middle School, Alan Ienn has seen the students grow up to be successful high schoolers - and has a small part to do with it. That's what has kept the Yuma Police officer at the school for the past five years, he said.

Ienn has dealt with - and even arrested - youths who were troubled but are now playing varsity sports or involved in band "and have managed to work their way out of the ... disruptive behavior," he said.

"It's a great feeling to know that you've done a small part in these kids' life as far as setting them on the right road," he said.

Ienn was honored along with Centennial Middle School for their efforts in school safety education in Phoenix last weekend.

Ienn was selected from more than 300 officers as the Law Related Education Officer of the Year at a luncheon hosted by the Arizona Foundation of Legal Services and Education.

"It's just a great honor to be selected officer of the year ... that's quite a big honor as far as I'm concerned and did not expect it, that's for sure. It was quite a shock," he said.

Centennial was recognized as a model school safety site after being judged in areas of law-related education, officer involvement in the program, school safety resource and other site aspects. In qualifying the "model sites," each area is judged on a scale of 1 to 4 with 4 being the highest score. Centennial scored a 3.75 overall.

Ienn spends 200 hours a year in classrooms teaching lessons on life choices, internet safety and computers and sexual harassment, he said.

"It's just a great feeling to know you've made a relationship with these kids on a positive note, and it's a small part of their life but a lot of it makes a difference down the road," Ienn said.

Ienn's work through programs on campus involving staff, teachers and students makes a "true difference," and is what has made Centennial a model site, said Paula Milner, Centennial Middle School principal.

"We definitely appreciate his presence on our campus, we're very proud of him for winning the award and we're also equally proud of our entire staff for receiving the model site award. It shows just good collaboration, good cooperation and teamwork on our campus," Milner.

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William Roller can be reached at wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858. Juana Gyek can be reached at jgyek@yumasun.com or 539-6872.