Six hundred and forty members of Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets will be trading in their khakis, boots and camo for collared shirts and security jackets when they head to Reliant Stadium in Houston on Sunday for Super Bowl XXXVIII
As the New England Patriots take on the Carolina Panthers, 300 cadets will be working security and 340 will be selling programs in the stadium.
“The company that provides security at the Super Bowl is employing 2,200 people,” said Jonathan Platt, a senior political science major. “This same company (Contemporary Services Corporation Inc.) employs security at Kyle field so they asked the Corps of Cadets to help.”
Tim Shanks, a junior kinesiology major, said anyone in the Corps could volunteer to work. The volunteers were then divided between security and program sales.
“The cadets working security will be working the gates, searching people and manning the metal detectors,” Platt said.
The Corps will also be providing security inside the stadium.All of the security volunteers had to undergo vigorous training and background checks to be eligible to work at the Super Bowl.
“We attended two five-hour training sessions,” said Shanks, who will be working security at the game.
Shanks said at the first session they filled out paperwork, watched videos and had fingerprints taken.
U.S. Secret Service and the Houston Police Department members were on hand for the second session. They taught volunteers how to search spectators, pat people down and put them through the metal detectors.
“Training was fun,” said Tyler Langford, a sophomore agriculture life sciences major. “It was interesting to learn from the Secret Service. They showed us how small weapons are concealed and what to do in worst-case scenarios.”
Cadets selling programs for Facility Merchandising Inc. had to undergo background checks but did not receive any formal training, said Chris Krueger, Corps operations officer and a senior mechanical engineering major.
Payment from CSC is based on hours and manpower, while the payment from FMI is based on commission, said Justin Woods, senior communications major and public relations officer for the Corps. How the money is spent will be decided at a later date by the chain of command, starting with the Corps Commander Will McAdams.
Krueger said since Super Bowl tickets are so expensive, that most of the cadets attending will never get to experience something similar.
“We get in for free, and although we are there to work, we still get to share in it,” Krueger said.
Cadets involved said they are excited about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of participating in a Super Bowl.
“This is a great opportunity for us to represent Texas A&M as cadets at such a large event,” Woods said.