Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium hosted this year’s Super Bowl. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Still.

Jonathan Still and Jessica Lewandowski worked security at an event few Americans have the opportunity to attend last Sunday.

“I walked in, I turned, I looked up at the big screen and life slowed down,” Still said. “I scanned across this huge screen, and I said to myself, ‘I’m at the Super Bowl.”

Still, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Lewandowski, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, were two of three Marquette students who went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, last weekend to work security for the 2018 Super Bowl.

In the months leading up to the big game, S.A.F.E. Management, the organization that managed security for the Super Bowl, reached out to several Midwest student organizations to recruit for the event. In addition to Marquette’s Criminology and Law Society, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ Air Force ROTC program was invited.

“While our cadets were offered the opportunity work security for the Super Bowl, training requirements and other time conflicts drove them not to support the event,” Capt. Daniel Hatzung, a recruiting officer for the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities AFROTC, said.

A few days before Thanksgiving break, an email was sent to members of the Criminology and Law Society looking for applicants to work security for the Super Bowl. Still and Lewandowski decided they couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

“I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Still said. “It’s pretty cool, and not many people get to do this.”

Lewandowski and Still had security experience prior to the Super Bowl. Lewandowski worked as a security guard in her hometown, and Still worked security for football games at the University of Wisconsin-Madison through Army ROTC.

“It was really cool to see the football experience we don’t have here at Marquette, but there’s nothing like the Super Bowl,” Still said.

After being hired, Still and Lewandowski went through more than 11 hours of online and in-person training.

“The online training was information that everyone in a security job should know, and the in-person training was a lot more hands-on,” Lewandowski said. “They brought a metal detector and a wand to show people exactly how to use them.”

Still and Lewandowski boarded a bus in Milwaukee at around 2 a.m. Feb. 4 and left for Minneapolis.

Upon arrival, they checked in and received a last-minute briefing on their tasks for the day. While they worked various roles throughout the day, they primarily worked near a bag check watching for fans unlawfully climbing over fences.

During the last quarter, however, they moved onto the field with about 80 security employees. Their job was to keep photographers and reporters off the field until two minutes after the game had ended. Still said that while he knew he had a job to do, he couldn’t help but watch some of the game.

“Obviously, I was trying to make sure I was doing my job; but I’m a football fan, too,” he said.

As the final seconds ran off the clock, Still said he watched as Eagles players and fans alike celebrated their first Super Bowl victory.

“During the trophy ceremony, I looked back and saw the Vince Lombardi trophy being raised,” Still said. “(I saw) the relief and the happy tears in the Eagles fans’ eyes.”