On Feb. 28, State High resource officer John Aston officially retired after 7 years of service at the school. With Aston departing, it left a spot open for Matt Hertlein to fill the role.
Hertlein, a Pennsylvania native, graduated from West Branch Area High School and continued in his studies at Lock Haven University. He graduated from Lock Haven with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice. Officer Hertlein used that degree to work as a Corrections Officer at the Centre County Correctional Facility, as a case manager at The Geo Group immigration detention center, and as a Juvenile Probation Officer for Centre County.
“I became a police officer, only three years ago. I decided like this is where I knew I ultimately wanted. It just happened quicker than expected. Like, I didn’t think I’d only be here three years in…I would prefer, almost, if I could have had five years on the street, just for the experience part, and then kind of bring more here,” Hertlein said.
As a police officer, it’s easy to be feared and be viewed as intimidating and scary. However, Officer Hertlein looks to push past that and connect with the students and staff at this school.
“Just because we wear this uniform, it doesn’t make us any different. I have a 14 and a 12 year old boy. I’ve coached sports as long as they could walk. So I’m a huge sports guy, but overall, generally, I just like to meet new people, and I love to help kids out in any way,” Hertlein said.
With Officer Hertlein being around the school for a few weeks now, he’s been able to connect with a few staff members. One in particular being Brett Wilson, the Associate Principal at State High.
“It’s great having him here. He had worked within the school as a juvenile probation officer before, so I had known him from beforehand, and just seeing his personality and just kind of the way that he understands kids, understand schools, understands that sort of thing, so I think he has the perfect personality to be able to come in and be an SRO,” Wilson said.
Wilson also went on to describe what his time here has been like so far and discussed how well he’s been at taking in all the information that he’s been thrown and just diving into the role and taking it all in.
He also spoke on the “team atmosphere” the administration and staff have here and how he already has been able to join into that and get acclimated to the relatively new environment.
“It’ll be a process for him to get comfortable and for everyone to get comfortable with him. But I think by the end of this year, you’ll see kind of a really good situation from both sides,” Wilson stated on the relationship between Officer Hertlein and students.
Having a great soul in Officer Aston leave is always a bittersweet situation, but State High is in great hands with Officer Herlein filling that spot. If you spot Officer Hertlein in the hallway, make sure to say hi; he would love to have conversations with students and staff. As he stated before, he just likes to meet new people.
