Power Play

When we were little, there wasn't much opportunity to stand out and be important. There was always someone older, or bigger to boss you around. As we got older, we got the opportunity to make our own power grabs. 

Any job in grammar school that took you out of your classroom was important, but the jobs that also gave you power over other people were even better. For these reasons, the most coveted school job was that of patrol boy. Patrol boys had the responsibility of keeping you safe on your travels and got several benefits for their services.  Not only did they get to leave school a little bit early, they also had the power to tell on you if you were caught being a jerk on their watch. An orange belt could transform any kid into a neighborhood rock star, and they knew it. 

The girl equivalent of patrol boy was door monitor. Every morning students would arrive to school early and stand in line waiting for the doors to open. It was a situation ripe for cliques and line jumping, a virtual training ground for Black Friday sales or maybe playoff ticket release day. The people responsible for maintaining order outside were the very popular door  girls. Most days the girls didnt have much to do, so they spent their time gossiping and copying each others homework. Their real power was that they had the ability to let anyone into school early. Sometimes it was a student or parent who had an appointment, and sometimes it was one of their friends. On really bad weather days it was to your advantage to be friends with a door girl because you got to come in out of the wind/rain/snow that was so common during a Chicago winter. Not quite as cool as the cheerleaders, these girls had power and they knew it. 

No way near as glamorous but still important were the milk kids. These kids were responsible for making sure each classroom had the right amount of chocolate and white  milk for their lunch periods. Every day, they got to leave the classroom to fill the milk crate for their assigned classroom, so they got a little midmorning break. Milk kids didn't have any real power, but they did get to wander around the halls unsupervised for a bit. They were lucky, and they knew it.

One very important job happened just once a year, but it involved both getting out of class AND secrecy. Our school, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, observed the holiday of St. Nicholas day. Traditionally, children would put their shoes in front of the fireplace or front door on December 5th in the hopes that they had been good all year and St. Nicholas would leave them candy. Our school would let the first graders put their shoes outside their classroom, while their teacher told them the story of St. Nicholas.

During this time, some lucky older kids got picked to help fill the first grade shoes. They had to be very secretive, like Santa, and when they were  done, got to hide and hear the oohs and ahhs of the little kids finding their gifts. Everyone agreed that this was the best job ever. These kids had the power to make magic and everyone knew it.