The bell rings after lunch, you watch your food trash tumble down the trash can, you on your way down the hall you spot something in the corner eye, a mustache! You fully turn your head to meet his welcoming smile, a man in a police uniform stands tall, his eyes meeting yours.

Some NHS students may have noticed this new face around the school in uniform, Jason Shonkwiler is the school’s new student resource officer. His wife, Alania Shonkwiler, is the school’s internship coordinator. 

Jason Shonkwiler grew up in Noblesville and moved to Wisconsin when he was young. After high school, he also enlisted in the army after college. Shonkweiler spent 10 years managing Target, joined the Army for 6 years after 9/11, spent a year in combat. He came to a Pepsi plant in Central Indiana, then went back to Target in Indiana after doing that for a while, and then he worked for Amazon. When asked if 9/11 was a major reason for him to go into the military, saying “it was the force to give it reason. What I mean by that is I’d always looked at going into the force, and going into the military growing up but the fact that we had an actual act of war gave it reason for it. …Y’know, I just figured, Grandfather was in war in the Philippines, and here I was not doing anything.”  

“When on the battlefield, you discover who you really are,” Shonkwiler said. “The big, tough guy: when the bullets start flying, he breaks down and starts crying like a baby. The small guy who couldn’t walk straight when marching…he knows what he’s doing and gets the job done.” 

Being a police officer wasn’t Shonkwiler’s original career intention after the military. “No, I wanted to do professional football. Got close,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you join the police force because you wanna help people; you want to make a difference.” 

How does Officer Shonkwiler rate his iconic mustache from one to ten? He simply said “Swanson,” referring to Park & Recreation’s whiskered macho man. But besides that slick ‘stache, what does Shonkwiler want the students of Noblesville High School to say about him?

“I’d hope for them just to say, ‘he’s a cool dude.’ y’know,” he said, with a warm smile on his face. “Like, ‘I can go up to him when there’s something wrong.’ I think that’s what any good person would say. Maybe you guys won’t remember me, but maybe 15 years down the line you’ll say ‘Oh yeah, I remember that dude. He helped me out.’”