Helping students doesn’t end for school resource officers after the final bell rings at the end of the school year.

“What do you want, honey?” Zanesville High School Resource Officer Tom Landerman said to a student that walked up to his cruiser Tuesday.

“Mountain Dew,” the girl responded.

“One dollar,” Landerman said jokingly as he reached into a cooler in the back of his cruiser and pulled out a can of soda. “I’m just kidding, have fun.”

Once a month throughout the summer, three officers with the Zanesville Police Department who operate as School Resource Officers during the academic year drive to each park where inner-city students receive free lunches and bring the children cans of soda and, sometimes, popsicles.

Four years ago when Landerman started as an SRO, he was looking for a way to stay connected with students over the summer months. At his own expense, he began purchasing cases of soda and showing up to parks around the time students were brought their lunches.

This summer, officers Mike Choma and Kenny Gray, resource officers at Zane Grey Elementary and Intermediate Schools and John McIntire Elementary School respectively, chipped in to help Landerman purchase and deliver cans of soda each month.

A rising sophomore at Zanesville High School who was waiting for lunch at Fair Oaks Park Tuesday said he likes Landerman because he’s the nicest police officer he has met, and added that Landerman treats students “like his family.”

While each of the three resource officers are assigned to different positions with the Zanesville Police Department during the summer, they attempt to stay connected with students while they’re not in school.

“They’re all excited to see me,” Landerman said of the students he runs into over the summer. “It doesn’t matter where I’m at in town.”

Monday evening, Landerman said he went to Dairy Queen with his wife and their three granddaughters. As soon as he arrived, he was greeted by current and former students.

“The drive thru was just loaded. It was busy. It’s summertime at Dairy Queen, and they like stopped, and I said, ‘ hey you guys you’ve gotta keep serving,’” Landerman said through chuckles.

The day before, two of Landerman’s sons, who are in the military, were in-town visiting, and the group went to Cedar Point. Nearly three hours away from Zanesville High School, Landerman was approached by an excited group of students he knew from school.

“We’re walking back in (to the park) and I’m not looking and I hear these kids screaming, ‘Oh my god,’ here come like seven, eight kids running over ‘Landerman, Landerman,’” he said.

Prior to his position as an SRO, Landerman said he was much more reserved when it came to interacting with the community. Today, he said he’s honored to make such a positive impact on the young members of the community he interacts with.

At Zanesville High School’s graduation, Landerman saw the first class of students that began high school when he started as an SRO four years ago graduate. Every graduate that walked across the stage stopped to hug him after receiving their diploma. Of those graduates, 58 wrote Landerman letters thanking him for the impact he had on them.

“It feels good,” Landerman said.

• Also read: School Resource Officers going beyond safety in Muskingum County