Christopher Reeve once said, “A hero is an ordinary individual doing extraordinary things.”

Andy Huisenga is that hero not just in society, but on the Moorpark College campus. Being a veteran of the Iraqi war, and working for the Los Angeles Police Department, Andy epitomizes everything that a police officer should be, and the role model that he should serve as.

Born on April 7, 1977, Andy was raised at Moorpark and still lives here to this day. He attended Moorpark High School, and then went to Moorpark College for two years to play baseball. After his two years, he transferred to California Lutheran University to play baseball and also to become a physical education coach. However, midway through school, Andy went to the Army.

“I kind of just went to Cal Lutheran to play baseball,” said Andy. “I went there and it just wasn’t a good fit for me, so rather than wasting even more money and keep racking up debt, I decided to drop out and join the army.”

Andy served in the United States Army as military police for two years. He started off stationed at places in Texas and Missouri, but was eventually deployed to Iraq.

Andy recalls that his transition from military life to civilian life was easier for him than most people coming back, and that he appreciated the little things here at home a lot more.

“Well first, you have to transition to the life over there,” said Andy. “It’s obviously a lot different than here in the United States. We take things for granted like going to a sink and brushing our teeth, you can’t even put toilet paper down a toilet because their plumbing is not good enough.”

After his two years, Andy decided against trying to become a P.E. coach like he originally planned and ventured toward a career in public service.

For a period of time Andy tried to be a firefighter, but eventually found his niche in law enforcement as he was hired by the Los Angeles General Service Police Department. He worked there for two years.

“We were a separate department,” Andy said about the department. “We responded to calls for service within the city of LA for everything owned by the city. So any city building, city hall, any city park, any city beach, that was our jurisdiction.”

Andy’s wife Krystal Huisenga had started dating him right after he came back from Iraq, and was not too thrilled with attempting to raise a family and have her husband working long hours at LAPD each day.

“I didn’t care for him to be in LA too much to be honest,” said Krystal. “I felt that he went through enough when he was overseas and now that he was stateside he needed a break from it. The hours were long and depending on what time his shift ended he was spending up to another two hours driving.”

Andy decided to lateral out of the LAPD to come work where he is now, the Ventura County Community College District Police Department. He has been working at Moorpark College since he was hired in 2006.

“I was skeptical at first because it was really slow for a college police department,” said Huisenga about the college. “But then I thought about the value of it for my family life, and it was totally worth it.”

Huisenga’s wife has relished in the fact that her husband is now working in a much safer place than before. Over the last eight years of working here, they have three kids, with their most recent being born on Feb. 24 of this year.

“Being at Moorpark has made all the difference in the world especially in regards to raising a family,” said Krystal. “His commute is short, stress is minimal, we can see him at work and if there was an emergency he is minutes away.”

Although he is a police officer, Huisenga acts as a mentor to police cadets who work at campus police, and also as a friend for students and staff to talk to.

“There’s times where we have negative contact with students because we have to do our jobs,” said Huisenga. “I always strive to have a positive impact on people’s lives in general.”

Police Cadet and 19-year-old natural science major Mike Maldonado has felt the impact that Huisenga has given him since he has been working at campus police.

“Andy has supported me throughout my employment,” said Maldonado. “His positive attitude and good sense of humor make him very pleasurable to be around.”

Even his boss, Lt. Greg Beckley has enjoyed working with Huisenga for the last four years since he has been working at the Moorpark campus.

“Andy is a great person to be around,” said Beckley. “In this line of work you must have the ability to remove the stressful issues of the workplace out of your personal life. Andy enjoys life with his wonderful family, and he’s got a great sense of humor.”

In fact, just this past year, Beckley was instrumental in sending Huisenga to Field Training Officer school. Huisenga is now a field training officer, which means that any new officers the VCCCDPD hires, Huisenga will work with them for a period of time to help them adjust to being an officer on a college campus

Many students and staff on campus are able to identify Huisenga on campus as one of the nicer officers to talk to and be around because he is the type of person who always strives to help people out when they need it.

“I truly try to treat everyone the same,” said Huisenga. “Whether you’re a freshman right out of high school, or a 26-year-old freshman who came back from the Army, or an athlete, I try to treat everyone the same.”