After High School I went to college for one semester before deciding to join the ARMY.  I completed my obligation and when I returned home I started working and put school out of my mind.  I was hired as a police officer and with the schedule of a police officer I felt like completing school was an impossibility.  It always troubled me that I had this incomplete portion of my life.  I felt this most heavily when filling out applications or surveys requesting my education history.  Most forms only had a place to check for High School Diploma or an Associate’s Degree.  There usually wasn’t a place to indicate I possessed some college experience.

My wife is a college graduate and we planned on beginning a family and it wasn’t long after I started my Fall Semester in 2009, we discovered we were going to have a baby.  I received a setback two months later.  While trying to serve a warrant, two officers and I were ambushed.  I lost a friend during this encounter and was shot twice myself.  I missed three classes and returned a week after the shooting more determined than ever to finish.           

I learned to always finish what you start and never give up.  I’m now glad that I will be able to able to provide my daughter with a positive example concerning commitment to education.