15,000 lollipops. That is how many lollipops Fred Smith estimated he has given out during his career at Woodland Regional High School.  With a steady pace  of repurchasing during the school year, he estimated that he spends around $300 on lollipops per year.

Fred Smith is a security guard at Woodland Regional High School who has been working at the school since 2006. As a security guard, his job description requires him to keep students in class and to help everyone follow the rules of the school.

What is not part of his job description is giving the students a special treat. However, Mr. Smith hands out lollipops to students that he sees walking in the hall.

“ I usually try to pick students at random, there is no particular criteria for a student to get a lollipop,” said Smith.

This begs the question: “ Why would a school security guard give lollipops to students?”

To which Smith happily replied, “To put a smile on somebody’s face,” said Smith.

He can think of no reward better than to see the face of a student light up when given a lollipop.

Not only do the students benefit from Mr. Smith, he benefits from them as well.

“Everyday when I go home, I go home happy,” said Smith.

Interview

How long have you been working at Woodland?

-8 Years

Where did you work before this?

-I worked for 43 years in manufacturing

What inspired you to start giving out lollipops to students in the hallways?

-I just enjoy putting a smile on somebody’s face. I just started by thinking let me buy lollipops for the kids. I was in Costco with my wife one day and I said you know, let me buy these. And I have been doing it ever since.

Does the school fund the lollipops?

– No, and last year I passed out 2,700 lollipops

How much a year do you think you spend on buying lollipops?

– About $300

What makes a student deserving of a lollipop?

– 99.9% of the students, are just good students.  I just pick them at random: I don’t have any criteria for giving out lollipops. I just try to give lollipops to ones that I didn’t give lollipops to for a while or ones that I never gave lollipops to. But I do get a lot of requests everyday.

How long have you been giving out the lollipops?

– I would say 6 years, I can’t count how many that is. It’s probably about, 15,000 lollipops since I’ve been here.

Why do you buy the Blow Pop brand?

-Because every student told me those are the ones they like the best. So that’s what you like that’s what I buy.