As Gaggle’s Safety Team Manager, Alex Beck is on the front line of student safety every day. Alex first joined the company as a Safety Representative in 2013, reviewing concerning items flagged by our machine learning technology and contacting districts when necessary to alert them of students in crisis. He now oversees this essential team, helping school districts across the country save student lives.
Alex also plays an integral role in creating our annual Through the Gaggle Lens: The State of Student Safety report. This year especially, his insights helped highlight the changes in behaviors and trends his team discovered after schools closed in response to the pandemic. “We saw the impact the pandemic had on students firsthand,” said Alex. “The increase in incidents involving violence at home once students weren’t spending time in a school building was very concerning. I’m glad Gaggle was able to intervene and help out so many students who were dealing with potentially dangerous situations.”
Start date: August 5, 2013
We asked Alex five questions to get to know a little more about him and his time with Gaggle. Here’s what he had to say:
What are three words to describe Gaggle?
What drew you to Gaggle?
The ad! I had just finished college and wasn’t in a field of any sort. After graduation, I was looking at open ads in the Bloomington area—it’s a sea of big corporations. I saw this tech company saving lives, and that was such an intriguing idea to me. I remember thinking I could definitely enjoy working there and would be proud to tell people I worked there. It was perfect timing.
What have you gained from working at Gaggle?
A job and career that I can be really proud of, as well as a level of job satisfaction a lot of people aren’t lucky enough to have. For me personally, I feel like I spend so much time talking about Gaggle and how great it is—a lot of people don’t get that from their job. It’s great to be able to tell someone I love my job and genuinely mean it.
What is your proudest moment at Gaggle?
My proudest moment was when a district partner, who was also an emergency contact, came to the holiday party to discuss how Gaggle helped save a student’s life in his district. Hearing firsthand about the call someone on my team made that helped save a student’s life was powerful. We know it happens, but hearing about it directly from the emergency contact was something else. The amount of pride I felt hearing him tell the company about the impact my team had on that student’s life—that will be hard to beat.
What is your favorite memory at Gaggle?
Speaking of holiday parties, my favorite memory is from my very first one after being with Gaggle for a few months. It was really my first experience with Gaggle beyond my normal shift. I remember coming in the door and Jeff immediately got me to play a game with him. He spent time talking to me so he could learn more about me. As a brand-new employee, having that experience where the CEO truly wanted to get to know me confirmed that I made the right decision by joining Gaggle.
Here at Gaggle, we have an amazing team of human Safety Experts on the front line helping identify students in crisis and quickly communicating these concerning situations to our district partners. Alex and his team are our shining stars when it comes to supporting the students we serve.