In high school, there’s often nothing more meaningful than the bond between a resource officer and the students they serve to protect. On Friday, April 28 Sergeant Michelle Widelski from the Michigan City Police Department proved that the love between her and her Michigan City High School (MCHS) students runs deep when she revealed her new student-designed police car. The unveiling of the car showed that Widelski is more than just a resource officer--she’s a mentor and a friend.
Widelski has been the resource officer at MCHS for just under a year now, but it’s been her favorite position by far. She was a school resource officer 16 years ago for a couple of different high schools and absolutely loved it.
When she recently made the decision to retire within the next couple of years, she knew she had to reprise her resource officer role. MCHS was the perfect fit.
“My favorite job in the police department has been working with the kids. I just had to do it one last time before the end of my career,” said Widelski.
Widelski has enjoyed every single second of working at MCHS; so much so that she wanted to take her school spirit to the next level.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of other school resource officers have their police cars specially designed to represent their schools, and I really wanted to do that for Michigan City High School. So, I reached out to the school’s art teacher to see if the students would like to design me an MCHS-themed car, and her students were immediately on board and super excited,” said Widelski.
To get the funding they needed to decorate Widelski’s police car, MCHS reached out to the Unity Foundation, which offers many grants to local causes that better the community. The Unity Foundation felt that strengthening the bond between Widelski and her students through the car wrap was a wonderful idea, and offered the art department a grant through the Jerry Peters Memorial Fund.
The donation was very fitting as Peters was an English teacher at Rogers High School, who loved giving back to his students and was always looking for ways to help them better connect with their community members.
“This is very special. The Jerry Peters Memorial Fund was meant to enhance the Michigan City community and bring his purpose in life to fruition. Jerry was a school teacher, so it’s awesome to know that he’s still contributing to the things he loved: the community and its students,” said Jamie Miller, Unity Foundation development officer.
After receiving the funding, the students got to work, creating a fun MCHS-themed design like no other. When Widelski unveiled her car and saw her newly designed ride, she was beyond thrilled.
“This is super great. I’m really proud of this and the artwork the students did. I can’t wait to drive it down the road and represent the school and have everybody know who I am,” said Widelski.
Widelski let the art students take turns climbing into her police car and took tons of pictures with them. It was a very powerful bonding moment between her and the students that she’ll never forget.
The students certainly won’t be forgetting the occasion anytime soon either. Each of them was so proud to see their hard work come to life and bring Widelski joy. Widelski’s choice to let the students design her car helped her and the students grow closer, as well as gave the students an opportunity to grow as young professionals.
“It was really fun getting to work on this. It’ll be neat getting to see something we’ve created for our resource officer every single day. I feel like working on this project has helped all of us become a bit more well-rounded and given us confidence in what we do,” said Senior Kyla Mashburn.
All in all, it’s easy to say that Widelski could not be more committed to her role as MCHS’ resource officer. She bonds with her students on a meaningful level and is always looking for opportunities to help them grow into the wonderful young adults she knows they are. So, when you see her riding around in her newly decorated ride remember that the car is more than just a beautiful piece of art--it’s a symbol of her school pride.
To learn more about the Michigan City Police Department, visit https://www.emichigancity.com/160/Police.