{"id":3682,"date":"2016-12-09T22:30:31","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T22:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/?p=3682"},"modified":"2018-10-11T16:56:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T16:56:42","slug":"meet-fieldston-security-guard-priscilla-brito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/2016\/12\/meet-fieldston-security-guard-priscilla-brito\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Fieldston Security Guard Priscilla Brito"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was pouring rain on the morning of Friday, October 21st, when I walked down to meet Priscilla Brito at the security post at the Upper School. Brito, who has been a security guard at the Fieldston campus for nearly four years, was standing in the rain, greeting drivers and directing cars without a hat or an umbrella. She was soaked by the time she got back to the security hut to meet me for our interview. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brito gave me a big smile, and before I could ask my first question, she let me know how much she loves Fieldston. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets very busy, and hectic, but I love what I do \u2013\u2013 it\u2019s killer, though, as you can see,\u201d Brito told me as she hopped out of her post into the storm as a new car pulled up to the arch. <\/span><\/p>\n

Before working at Fieldston, Brito ran her own daycare center, God\u2019s Creation, in Kissimmee, Florida. But when the market crashed in 2008, she lost her business and decided to come back to New York. Born and raised on 238th street, Fieldston was very close to home. \u201cI grew up here,\u201d said Brito, laughing. \u201cThis neighborhood is part of me.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Two years ago, Priscilla Brito was assigned to the post in front of the main office on the Fieldston Upper School Campus. Before that she worked for security in the Lower School, but, Brito explained she, \u201cgot a little bored.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Upper School Campus you have to be on your tippy toes all day. You\u2019re very busy \u2013\u2013 interacting with people, signing people in and out, logging in names \u2013 there are a whole bunch of things it entails,\u201d said Brito. At the Upper School, Brito\u2019s job is security and administration, patrolling visitors and communicating with the staff in the main office. \u201cI like working at the Upper School, and they saw I did a good job, so I\u2019ve been here ever since,\u201d said Brito.<\/span><\/p>\n

A typical day as a Fieldston security guard begins at 7:30am and goes until 4pm. Brito oversees all the arrivals, logging them into the security records, and welcomes faculty, parents, students and prospective students. During the summer, she works from 8am to 3pm, and on some weekends throughout the year, she works overtime. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot, but it\u2019s fun. I love it,\u201d Brito told me. She gets two 15 minute breaks during the day, and a 30 minute lunch break. \u201cI usually eat at Fieldston \u2013\u2013 the food is delicious,\u201d Brito said smiling. \u201cBut sometimes I take my car to Salvatore\u2019s Pizza; I love it there, too.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Love was a dominant theme in our conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love working at Fieldston because the people are very amicable, courteous, kind and helpful,\u201d Brito told me. \u201cI just love the way I feel here \u2013\u2013 it\u2019s very welcoming.\u201d Despite this love for her work at Fieldston, Brito envisions one day starting her own business again. \u201cI\u2019ve had managing experience since 2001. I have an associate\u2019s degree, but I want to get a bachelor\u2019s degree. I\u2019m here temporarily, but I\u2019m here because I really like it,\u201d Brito stated. \u201cBut there is nothing better than being your own boss.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

When asked if there was anything Brito did not like about Fieldston, she said, \u201cWell, to be honest with you, the pay could be a little better, but that\u2019s not on Fieldston, that\u2019s on Mulligan.\u201d Mulligan is the security corporation that employs the guards at Fieldston. Mulligan pays the guards, and Fieldston pays Mulligan. <\/span><\/p>\n

Brito\u2019s job has given her an interesting view of the Fieldston community. When I asked for her perspective, Brito said, \u201cNot everything is very ethical. I\u2019ve confronted some situations that do not seem to fit with the school\u2019s mission.\u201d When pushed for details, Brito smiled but refused to tattle. \u00a0Instead, she emphasized the things she admires about Fieldston. \u201cFor the most part, parents are very united,\u201d she said. \u201cI like the way that parents become a part of their children\u2019s educational life. They are very, very involved, and I love that. Not all parents do that for their kids \u2013\u2013 it is truly amazing. Whenever there is some sort of special event, whether it is a game, a dance, a concert, anything, the parents are always there.\u201d Brito also commended the Fieldston teachers\u2019 and students\u2019 continuous hard work and dedication. \u201cUnity brings power, and education is power,\u201d Brito said. \u201cThe Fieldston community seems to have a real understanding of that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was pouring rain on the morning of Friday, October 21st, when I walked down to meet Priscilla Brito at the security post at the Upper School. Brito, who has been a security guard at the Fieldston campus for nearly four years, was standing in the rain, greeting drivers and directing cars without a hat or an umbrella. She was soaked by the time she got back to the security hut to meet me for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":3683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[],"coauthors":[266],"class_list":["post-3682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Security-Guard-Option-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3684,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions\/3684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}