Gardner Academy's first student safety patrol took their posts at intersections near the Illinois Avenue campus on Oct. 29.

Ten fourth- and fifth-graders donned high-visibility neon-green vests and took turns using long-handled STOP signs to help other students safely cross the street.

"There is an adult crossing guard at each corner, but they take care of traffic only," Gardner Academy Assistant Principal Karen Linville stressed. The students are responsible for waving the other children across when all traffic has come to a stop.

"I feel like a cop," said fifth-grader Isaac Brown after he and others were trained by a representative of the San Jose Police Department's (SJPD) School Safety Unit. The SJPD recruited and put the students through a two-day training course. Silicon Valley Auto Dealers provided vests, signs and rain gear, and AAA sponsored the patrol.

Normally, there are four safety patrol officers posted at the intersections of Illinois Avenue and W. Virginia Street and Willis and Brown avenues. The fourth- and fifth-grade safety patrol officers need to be in uniform and at their posts by 7:30 a.m. every school day.

Fifth-grader Jennifer Rodriguez said it's hard to get up so early, "but it's worth it."

When school lets out at 2 p.m., the students return to their posts to assist students across the street.

Gardner Academy's first group of safety patrol officers is comprised of Isaac Brown, Luis Duran, Freddy Magana, Julianna Romero, Paola Alcantar, Ivan Zamora, Yosselin Guzman, Cesar Garcia, Jennifer Rodriguez and Atziri Ortiz-Guardad.

The program could have accommodated 15 to 20 students, but only 10 applied when the program was announced in the fall.

"I'd love to have 20," Linville said, "and since the safety patrol began, I've had other kids sign up."

Linville said that the duty roster would change monthly, so no particular student has to be out there every morning.

Linville also said that the safety patrol wasn't created in response to any traffic safety issues or to replace the duties of the adult crossing guards, but to "create a sense of responsibility and community service and give the students something to look forward to."

Only fourth- and fifth-students were permitted to apply for the position, and it required a teacher recommendation and parental permission.

The students' duties also go beyond escorting their classmates across busy intersections. They have been given the authority to report to school officials those students who don't follow safety patrol officers' directions.

So far, no one's been reported, Brown said.

To any third-graders who may want to eventually become a member of the few, the proud and the early-rising, fifth-grader Freddy Magana advises, "Do it! It's a lot of fun."