Left to right) Deb Rooney, Bradford Heights Elementary School Advisor; Andi Hardin, Bradford Heights Elementary School 2025 AAA Outstanding School Safety Patrol Award Recipient; Jana Tidwell, Manager, Public and Government Affairs, AAA Mid-Atlantic.
AAA announced that Andi Hardin, a fifth grader at Bradford Heights Elementary School (Chester County), is this year’s Outstanding School Safety Patroller in the Philadelphia 5-county region. Like thousands of her peers across the country, Hardin has remained committed to keeping her fellow students safe and being a positive and recognized leader in her school community. That commitment shown by Hardin and the Bradford Heights Elementary School is part of the more than 100-year legacy of the AAA School Safety program.
Bradford Heights Elementary School fifth grade teachers say that Hardin’s leadership style is “kind and caring, but with a strong sense of what’s right and wrong. She does everything with a positive attitude.”
Safety patrols play an important role in ensuring the safety and security of the people and property in their area of responsibility. It takes dedication, attention to detail, and a willingness to go the extra mile to be an effective safety patrol officer.
It’s the exemplary leadership of students like Hardin and countless others that have made the legacy program so impactful for over a century. Created to make school children safer while walking to school, the program has grown-up and matured with the times while remaining steadfast to its mission to provide a safer environment and leadership opportunities for millions of schoolchildren. The training that patrollers receive instills safety sense beyond street crossings, including bus and car drop-offs, monitoring hallway congestion, and teaching patrollers invaluable leadership skills.
“School Safety Patrollers continue to rise to the opportunities set before them; they continue to meet the challenge of keeping students safe,” said AAA Public Affairs Manager, Jana Tidwell. “Their actions save lives. Patrollers serve as role models across the county.”
The leadership values and safety awareness have inspired many alumnus patrollers to pursue admirable careers, including Presidents of the United States, astronauts, governors, Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, Olympic medalists, and authors, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney. Many patrollers now serve as educators, executives, and community leaders.
For more than 100 years, interest in and excitement for the program has spread around the world. The AAA model has been adopted in at least 30 other countries, including England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Since 1920, AAA provides various equipment and education materials to patrollers, including reflective belts, patrol badges and training resources.
