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A portion of Jamie's winning essay:
My six-year old self knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I remember it as clear as can be: my dad was flipping channels on the t.v. and I was sitting on the floor reading a book for school, when I heard the familiar sound of police sirens and my interest was immediately piqued. The moment I turned my attention to the television I was hooked. At the end of the 23 minutes left in the show I beamed at my father with all the pride and determination I had and said, "That's what I'm going to do, Daddy!" to which he replied, "Are you sure you don't want to be a teacher? It's really dangerous to be a cop." I shook my head to his answer and went about reading my book. The next day my father bought me a chalk board in order to "set me on the safe and narrow path" of becoming a teacher. It was a futile attempt. For the next 12 years you would find me in front of the television every Saturday night at 8pm watching the same show that ignited my passion for the law. Having this deep love of law enforcement was difficult while growing up in the neighborhood I grew up in. I lived on the East Side of San Jose, CA, where drugs, gangs, and illegal activity was the norm, in a little tract area called "the Maze". The Maze is one of those neighborhoods that is blocked it by four major roads and consists of about five-thousand people living in approximately a two square-mile radius. We called it the Maze because once you're in it, you couldn't find your way out (which was also symbolic of the people who lived there). It wasn't unusual to see the police helicopter, or "ghetto bird" as we nick-named it, flying overhead attempting to track down the various criminals that evaded them by running into my neighborhood. Regularly I would hear people run over the top of my house, or across the fence that was next to my bedroom window. Once, a man actually fell off the fence and into my window, which is why I never kept my windows opened as a child. While the people around me grew to hate the police for coming into our neighborhood, I took every opportunity I could to be a part of it. I would watch out my front window when the police would come to investigate, I learned to have "street-eyes" at the age of eight in order to spot where the crimes were committed in case the police ever asked me (which they never did), and I learned that my dad was right, being a police officer was a dangerous job. I knew that our streets were dangerous, that my neighborhood wasn't safe, but I also knew that every time I saw a black and white vehicle roll by I would feel a little safer. And I knew I was going to be that person for someone someday. I left the Maze when I was nineteen years old to go to college in Indiana. I went as far away as I financially could in order to not end up spending the rest of my life in the Maze. It's been five years since I've left and I haven't finished my degree. This isn't for lack of trying, but lack of resources. I worked sixty hours a week to get the money to go to college and I went full-time when I could. I didn't get any assistance from my parents because they didn't support me studying in the criminal justice field, and I was too proud to apply for scholarships or ask for financial aid. That "one semester off to save up" turned into too many semesters off and I didn't go back. I'm ready to now. I'm ready to admit that I need financial help to realize my goals and to make the difference I know I can make. I'm already working in the law enforcement field as a patrol officer for Georgetown University in Washington, DC. I moved to DC this fall in order to jump start my law enforcement career. DC offers so many opportunities and I realize that I will be able to take full advantage of them with a degree after my name. Prior to moving to DC I was working in the Department of Corrections for the State of Indiana as a corrections officer. I worked in a prison for juvenile males and I saw so many that came from the same type of place I came from. These boys feel like they never had a chance to succeed in anything. They never had a passion for anything that they could set their eyes on. I was lucky that I did. I go back every now and then to the Maze and see the same faces doing the same things they were doing when I was young. Nothing has changed in the neighborhood I grew up in, and I don't believe that anything ever will. I'm the only one out of the kids I grew up with that left, the only one who made it out of the Maze. I'm the only one that wanted to go to college, and I did, but I want to finish. I need to in order to make the difference in society I know I can make. My specific goals within law enforcement is to join a police force. I believe I will be joining the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC. I've always had a great passion and interest in the "special victims" side of the police department and hope to make my place in this area. I would ultimately like to serve in the unit that deals with sexual/child abuse and victims and on the task force to combat child-predators. I can think of no other area of law enforcement that can be as difficult and as rewarding as this specialty is. I've been asked quite a few times over the years why I chose to be in law enforcement, why I choose to be a police officer. I always smile and kind of laugh because anyone who asks why you "choose" law enforcement doesn't realize it's not a choice, it's something that chose you. And if you're lucky enough, you have the opportunity, ability, and resources to accept it
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