Daniel

Daniel R. Hines
Mr. Fipps
English 101
4 December 2015

My name is Daniel Ray Hines Jr. I am eighteen years old. I am a senior at

Perquimans county high school. When I get out of high school I will be trying to become
a police officer. A lot of people ask me Daniel why do you want to become a cop. The
reason I want to become a cop is that all my life I have want to be in something that dealt
with law.
When I was little I did not want to be what all the other kids wanted to be. I did
not want to be a cop, a firefighter, or an astronaut. I wanted to be a lawyer. Which is kind
of weird since now I want to become a police officer. Since I can remember people have
been telling me you will switch your career goal to something else before you graduate
high school. I did not let that get in the way of my dream. I kept getting closer and closer
to high school and nothing had changed.
Then when I got to high school I started pushing harder to become a lawyer. It
sounded fun and it felt right. Then I became a sophomore and moved to Perquimans
County. I soon met a girl named Joyce Spitler and she got me to join a club called Teen
Court. I already new what this club was about. I figure I should join it to see how a it
would feel to be a pretend lawyer. The lady that ran the club was named Mrs. Harris she
took it the next level. She allowed us to have the full experience by letting us students run

the show. We chose everything by ourselves. All she help with was enforcing it and
giving us our cases so she was pretty much our boss.
In this club allowed the student to be lawyer for kids that have got in trouble in
school. We made cases for the student that were in trouble could either be prosecuting
and get the maximum sentence, or we could be on defense and get them the minimum
sentence. I realized I loved the part where I got to speak my case but did not like planning
the case. Not to sound lazy I just realized what my strengths and weaknesses where
before I set out on a career that calls for so much schooling.
I started thinking what other jobs can I do where I will be able to put criminals
away but have more field time. That's when I decide I wanted to become a police officer.
It just seems like the perfect fit for me. I can help people who are a passion of mine and
at the same time I can put criminals behind bar where they cannot hurt anyone any more.
Like my youth pastor said if you find a job that you love doing you will never work a
day in your life and that is what I am trying to do by becoming a police officer. The only
thing with trying to become a police officer there are a lot of requirements. According to
(Attorney General Roy Cooper) Every law enforcement officer employed by an agency in
North Carolina shall:
be
be
be

a citizen of the United States

at least 20 years of age
a high school graduate or have passed the General Educational Development
Test indicating high school equivalency
be of good moral character
Have successfully completed Basic Law Enforcement Training and passed the
BLET state exam.
satisfactorily complete the employing agency's in-service firearms training
program
not have committed or been convicted of:
o a felony; or

Daniel
o

a crime for which the punishment could have been imprisonment for
more than two years; or

a crime or unlawful act defined as a "Class B misdemeanor" within

the five-year period prior to the date of application for employment;
or

four or more crimes or unlawful acts defined as "Class B

misdemeanors" regardless of the date of conviction; or

four or more crimes or unlawful acts defined as "Class A

misdemeanors" except the applicant may be employed if the last
conviction occurred more than two years prior to the date of
application for employment.

have

been fingerprinted and a search made of local, state, and national files to
disclose any criminal record.
have been examined and certified by a licensed physician or surgeon to meet
physical requirements necessary to properly fulfill the officer's particular
responsibilities and shall have produced a negative result on a drug screen.
have been administered a psychological screening examination by a clinical
psychologist or psychiatrist licensed to practice in North Carolina or by a
clinical psychologist or psychiatrist authorized to practice in accordance with
the rules and regulations of the United States Armed Forces within one year
prior to employment by the employing agency to determine the officer's mental
and emotional suitability to properly fulfill the responsibilities of the position.
have been interviewed personally by the Department head or a representative to
determine such things as the applicant's appearance, demeanor, attitude, and
ability to communicate.
notify the Standards Division of all criminal offenses which the officer is arrested
for or charged with, pleads no contest to, pleads guilty to or is found guilty of.
This shall include all criminal offenses except minor traffic offenses and shall
specifically include any offense of Driving Under The Influence (DUI) or
Driving While Impaired (DWI). A minor traffic offense is defined as an offense
where the maximum punishment allowable by law is 60 days or less.
In the end you have to find something you love do not something someone else want
you to do. So that is what I going to do I am go to follow my bliss.

My freshman year I really did not know what I wanted to do I joked around I did
not know what school I wanted to go to I did not even know what a GPA was. It stayed
that way for a while. At the end of my sophomore year I met someone who knew all of
their plans where they wanted to go to school what they wanted to be and even there
GPA. She started helping me decide what I wanted to do and where I want to go. At first I
wanted to do the same thing she wanted to do and become a lawyer. Then after being in
that club for a while i decided that was not the job for me. I began trying to find another
career field i would like be in. I just kept changing my mind over and over again. I
thought maybe a mechanic, welder, electrician or even a construction worker but none of
those felt right to me. I kept looking and looking but I could not find anything at all so I
thought I might as well give up and I did. It did not matter I was just going to finish high
school and go to work for my dad. That was my last option I did not know what to do.
Then i started thinking on the lines of a lawyer and that when I really started thinking
about becoming a cop. At this point I realized there was not much time left I needed to
find out what school I was going to go to. It was going to be Duke, NC. State, ECU, or
UNC Chapel hill. I started talking to my dad about where I wanted to go and he told me I
probably would not be able to because he did not have enough money to put me through
a four year institute because he has to put three other kids through college. I thought to
myself all right I will take the ACT and SAT and pass them with flying colors. That was
just a dream though I took the act and when I got my score back it was an average score
and the schools I wanted to go to did not want a average student. That when I realized I
was going to be going to a two-year community college.

Daniel

I started looking at colleges that were in Raleigh because I was told that if you go to a
police department that was big enough you could get them pay for your BLET (Basic
Law Enforcement Training) training course. That when my plan for college started to
come together. I started looking at all my options and I found one that stood out to me.
That college is called Wake Technical Community College. According to (Wikipedia)
Wake Technical Community College (Wake Tech) is an accredited, two year, community
college offering associate's degrees, technical certification, and non credit courses. This
community college will offer me a lot of opportunity to get a job outside of school since
Its main campus is located eight miles south of Raleigh, North Carolina with four other
campuses nearby(wikipedia). That is only the beginning of countless opportunity this
school has to offer.
Wake Technical Community College according to (wikipedia) is the largest
community college in North Carolina. According to(International Students Office) new
students applying to Wake Technical Community College have six requirements the first
requirement is A completed Wake Tech International Student Application form
submitted by the application deadline. Please provide complete information. Incomplete
forms will result in delays in reviewing applications; the second requirement is US
$40.00 non-refundable application fee payable to Wake Technical Community College in
the form of a cashier's; the third requirement is Completion of secondary education
(equivalent to high school education in the U.S.). Provide complete official academic
records in English from secondary and post-secondary schools. Records should include
courses taken, grades received, and degrees or certificates earned; the fourth requirement
is Documentation of adequate financial support. Affidavit of Financial Support all

applicants must submit a notarized Affidavit of Financial Support. It must also be

accompanied by an original letter from the applicant's bank or financial institution
verifying the availability of funds to support a full-time student and any accompanying
dependents each year of study. An I-20 form will not issued until all financial
documentation is received and approved; the fifth requirement is Report of Medical
History and Immunization Record signed by a practicing physician is required. A TB test
is required within the last 12 months. If the TB test result is positive, the chest x-ray
result within the last 12 months is required. (Please note: The TB test result and chest xray result require a date.) The approved Wake Tech medical form for use is included in
the International Application Package; the sixth and final requirement is A completed I-20
Mailing Options Form. You must complete this form to indicate to the International
Student Office how you would like to receive your I-20. The I-20 will not be mailed to
you unless the I-20 Mailing Options Form is completed and submitted to the International
Student Office.
According to (Financial Aid Office) on average for a in-state student the tuition
will cost about $1650, books and supplies will be roughly $1500, room and board
roughly cost $9531, transportation will cost about $2997, personal items will run about
$1494, and the total cost of attendance will cost about $17172 for students that do not
live with the parents of family. This average cost will apply to me and that will be one
semester, but that is just an average estimation. I will be attending Wake Technical
Community College to get a Criminal Justice Technology Associate of Applied Science
degree. This degree according to (criminal Justice Technology) could possibly transfer
over to a few four-year colleges or universities. The best part is that the professors

Daniel

teaching the courses i will be taking to get my degree are over all great professors.
According to (Ratemyprofessor.com) John Annis is overall a great teacher to have he uses
personal experience in law enforcement to help you in his class and is a easy A. Amin
Asfari is overall a great teacher as well but he is a stricter teacher and does not just hand
out As he make you work for them. Al Berry Jr. Is also a fair teacher he is an easy A and
he tries to make his class fun. Janie Slaughter is the head of the department she is not the
easiest teacher but she teaches what you need to know. After all that has been said about
Wake Technical Community College I am Glad to say i have been accepted and that is
where I will be attending college at. The schedule I will be trying to have for the first
semester will be on Monday intro to criminal justice for 3 hours at 10am in the morning
to pm in the afternoon and then go straight to the second class biology which will be from
2pm to 5 pm Than after that class lets out I will be going to work. Tuesday I will be
having and early class for 8am to 11am which will be criminology try to be able to go to
work till around 7pm and then go back to school and to take my criminal law class from
730pm to 1030pm. Wednesday I will start my community policing at 12 oclock to 3
o'clock and then go to church that night. Thursday will be a light day I will wake up
around 730 am and go to work until 4 pm and have writing and inquiry at 6 pm to 9 pm.
Friday will be somewhat of a lazy day because of a very smart man so Friday will just be
a work day. That will be how I am attempting to have my schedule for the first semester
of Wake Technical Community College.
Since the beginning of my senior year we have been working on our senior
project it is not you normal senior project thank to Mr. Fipps, but it has been one of my
favorite group project I have had in my whole four years of high school. This project was

a project based on a television show called Road Trip Nation. Which allowed young
adults that have not really decided what they want to do for the rest of their lives. So they
get to go on a road trip and have discussion with people that have found their bliss. To
help either push them towards theirs bliss or to help find the path they want to go down to
get to their bliss.
I got to have the chance to have the experience of going around with a group of
people that I really did not know that well, and talk to multiple people about how they got
to where they are now. We separately had to set up three interviews with people we really
did not know and we had to write a set a question that would be asked to the people we
were interviewing. We had to first look up the people we want to interview and learn a
little about them before we even meet them. We did not always get to interview all of the
people we tried to set an interview up with. Like in my case I try to set up one with
Congressman Butterfield and never even got to talk to him. I could was only able to get
ahold of his secretary which tried to help me get the interview set up but in the end it was
not possible for us to do. That was the first interview I tried to set up so it did put a
damper on my spirit. Then my next interview I tried to set up was with someone I knew a
little bit better, so I felt more confident. It was with Kim Tyson, I set it up and got to
interview her. My favorite part of her interview is when she said someday I love my
jobs some day I don't like my job and then other days I wonder why Im even here. The
reason why this was my favorite part of the interview was because if you have her as a
math teacher you can see that she loves teaching it to the students and loves to see the
light in there eyes when they actually learn it. Then there was the interview with my
pastor and it was kind of a straight forwards he talk a lot about God and how God set out

Daniel

his path for him. The quote we got from him was to determine what your strengths and
weaknesses are this quote really speaks to me because it is what led me to becoming a
cop instead of a lawyer. The last interview I set up was with someone I did not know at
all and that was the Sheriff in Edenton North Carolina. It was really interesting to hear
what he had to say about how he became a cop, and how he didn't even attend college but
still managed to become sheriff. The funny part was we he said that he immediately said
but that does not me youll shouldn't go because it took me a while to get to where I am
and I had to bust my butt to get hear. The quote that he gave us was to find something
that you love to do because you will be doing it for the next 40 years. That was all of the
interviews I had to get but I did get I another one and it just did not turn out like I was
hoping it would, so we decided not to even use it. Then we did run into a few challenges
with that a lot of the time the interview did not take place at the school so we did have to
drive and meet the person we were interviewing. That made it more fun because it
allowed us to realize that we are now senior, and we have grown up enough mentally and
physically that we were trusted to leave off of school campus and come back when we
were supposed to. The best part about this road trip was that I got to be in a group of
people that I really did not know and we became great friends. It was not always easy
though a lot of the times we disagreed but we ended up finding a solution to the problem
and overcoming them. We asked in all of our interviews what would be some advice you
would give us for trying to follow our bliss. So my advice to anyone who reads this is to
strive for what you really want to do and what you love to do. Don't listen to anyone that
says you can't do it. Just let them be your drive to prove them wrong and accomplish your
goals and most importantly follow your BLISS.

Works Cited
Wikipedia Wake Technical Community College The first page and was accessed
December 2015 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Technical_Community_College
Wake Technical Community College International student office first page and
accessed December 1 2015
http://www.waketech.edu/student-services/internationalstudents-office/admission-requirements
Wake Technical Community College Finial Aid Office first page accessed November 22
2015 https://secure.waketech.edu/eaglesnest/forms/files/CostOfAttendance2015-16.pdf
North Carolina Department of Justice the first page of law enforcement certification
accessed wed. December 2 2015 http://www.ncdoj.gov/getdoc/8968a4e9-0068-4f92bee4-05326923a18c/Law-Enforcement-Certification--Applicants.aspx
Rate my Professor accessed November 2 2015
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1489473
Wake Technical Community College Criminal Justice Technology accessed November 5
2015
http://www.waketech.edu/programs-courses/credit/criminal-justice