I became an officer just over eight years ago. I have been on a journey to be better for the community and for myself. I have dedicated my education to furthering my knowledge of the crime of driving while intoxicated. In the police academy, you get the basic standardized field sobriety testing. From there, I have spent time furthering my knowledge on working with driving while intoxicated traffic stops and motor vehicle crashes. Some call it motor vehicle accidents, but when someone has made the decision to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, that is no accident. In recent years, substance abuse has risen and more people in communities are getting hurt or killed from these crashes. This passion was pushed forward from the work I have done,where I asked to be sent to Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement. In this class, I began to understand the brain,the downside effects of drugs, the Melaby effect on the brain, and a few other things. I brought this knowledge back and began to work with it. I worked many driving while intoxicated drug traffic stops. Now you may think that this would really be driving under the influence, but in Arkansas, that would only be for someone under the legal age of 21. Legislature, am I right? With the driving while intoxicated drug, you have to work harder to gather the evidence. Drugs do not show up on a breath test. That is where the assistance of the ARIDE program helps to prove how you gathered the evidence thus far. Then you talk about other forms of sample testing from the subject. Well, after learning all this and where it leads, I still furthered my education. I attended Drug Recognition Expert school. In this class, you take the small amount of information you previously learned and multiply it. You learn the steps of the evaluation, what is needed in each step, and how to observe this information to form your opinion. But, it is not that simple. You learn about the seven drug categories, how they effect the body from the subjects mannerisms, and the physiological effects that you can not see and complete testing for. You learn about drug combinations, poly-drug, and poly-category. Those two are not the same. You have to understand what you are looking for, what is psychoactive at all points of the evaluation. All that said, that was only a trip for the iceberg of the course and rigorous education and training for the Drug Recognition Expert Program. Then I decided I wanted to further this knowledge. I became a Standardized Field Sobriety Instructor. With this training I get to travel to the academies and teach potential new officers for their career. I have been working on the next step for me, which would be a Drug Recognition Expert Instructor. This takes a lot more work than I have already completed. I am currently working on getting a Criminology degree from my local community college. I love to learn and advance in things I love.

Being a good law enforcement officer means to me that you treat everyone fair. Even when the person you are having to fight with was in a domestic incident and they don't want to go to jail. Or the person who came out of their home and pointed a gun at you because you got a call they were shooting. Even after highly intense situations, you still have to ensure that the person is treated fairly. It also means to me that upholding the law and protecting life and property. I am a law enforcement officer in the community in which I work. I feel as if I am a good law enforcement officer. I speak to everyone the same, and I treat no one differently from the next. One thing I like to do at work is listen to an audiobook, training information, or a lecture for class and drive around. While I am doing this, I like to make sure that there isn't anyone trying to break into anything or steal anything that isn't bolted down. Another thing I have created a small passion for, other than education, is working on driving while intoxicated stops. This could be someone intoxicated by alcohol or a substance. Last year, I had the pleasure of attending the very stressful class of Drug Recognition Expert. During this course, you quickly learn the drug matrix, the seven drug categories that make up the drug matrix, and its effects on the human body. Then, there is learning what drugs fall under what category, the general indicators of the substance, and the downside effect. The downside effect can throw you off, and you need to understand what you are looking at and what you are looking for. I have also had the pleasure of becoming a Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor. This position allows me to teach new officers the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and how to administer them properly to subjects they come in contact with. I have had two classes thus far for new officers and a refresher class. I have another class that I am going to teach in two weeks, and I have two of my rookies in the class. I also had the pleasure of attending field training officers, so I have also taught seven new officers how to be good officers. I find this to be rewarding, and useful to my community.

Hello, I would like that thank you for the opportunity to apply for your scholarship. I would like to begin by introducing myself. I am Miranda Wilson, I am in my sophomore year of college at Arkansas Northeastern College. My major is Criminal Justice. I work at a police department as a police officer and I work night shift. I have six years of experience as a police officer and I was a dispatcher for a year before going to the police academy. I became an officer because I wanted to help people in any way that I could. When I began my career in dispatch, that was when I knew I wanted to do more. Then the opportunity had come for me to attend the police academy. I attended the academy and it was not the easiest road along the way. Since becoming an officer I have had the privilege of doing a variety of things. I was the first female officer in two different departments. I have written search warrants, conducted investigations, and been a part of major cases and crimes. I then moved to another department where I have had many opportunities arise to be involved. When I started at the new department, I was able to work undercover for a case because no one knew my face yet. I then got to take time and work on my personal growth. I became a member of the Special Response Team, and have participated in several operations. I completed many trainings to help myself become a better officer and then later to become a field training officer. At the time that I wrote this essay, I had three rookies that I had begun to mold to be the officers they would become, and I am due for one more before the end of the year. I then was able to attend Advance Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) with this training I was able to learn more to help ensure the roadways become safer in my city. I then had the pleasure and stressful class that I ended at the end of September, Drug Recognition Expert. I am still working on the things required to complete the program. This class takes a considerable amount of learning and quickly. The easiest way to explain the amount of information is equivalent to a semester of college jammed into the class. This is only a small amount of things I have been able to do since I began my career and I have many more milestones in the works. Again, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to apply for your scholarship.

Hello, my name is Miranda Wilson; as someone who is a lifelong fan of Harry Potter, I found this essay to be a little fun. As someone who has read the books and watched the movies, currently reading The Cursed Child, in my free time, I have not always known what Hogwarts house I belong to. But my inspiration led me to my house, Ravenclaw. Why Ravenclaw you may ask, well, it began with a best friend's mother. She was a Ravenclaw, we will call her Kellie. Kellie was always trying to learn something new. Kellie was always researching, which for her job at the time was needed, she's a nurse. Well, every time I would come over I noticed even as I was in my early twenties Kellie was always busy on her computer. Kellie took it everywhere with her and still raised three girls and kept a grandchild from time to time. I saw Kellie as someone I wanted to be, and still do. But little did I know Kellie was in school. Kellie was going for her Master's Degree, she's in her 50s. Kellie was not only doing research for her job, doing her job, but was also going to school and being a fantastic mother. When Kellie graduated she began to teach nursing at a college. What I saw in Kellie brought something out that was deep down inside me. Once I decided what I wanted to do with my life, law enforcement, I went for it. I was a little late on going to the academy, you can go as young as 21, but I decided at 24 to go. Now part of the reason I now see that as a benefit is I had experienced things in my life in those three years that most people at that age didn't understand. No matter my circumstances, I always wanted to be better. I did just that, I got a student loan to pay for the academy. So I had class from 8-5, lived an hour away and still worked every day after class and on Saturdays, and let's not forget studying after class as well. So my only free day was Sunday which was spent doing laundry, sleeping and studying. My normal day was a minimum of eighteen hours. I graduated from the police academy and found a job, moved to the department where I am now, where they like to see people be educated. Which has landed me here. Why tell you all that? It is to explain this, I currently work as a patrol officer, full-time, night shift, covering shifts, working overtime and whether that be at ballgames or security with companies through the police department. I'm also a student. Which my job there is always something new to learn, new ways to navigate things, and ways to show my knowledge. Oh, I almost forgot, I have also recently gone to a class called Drug Recognition Expert within the last month on top of all of the other things I currently do. I always strive to what new things can I learn and how can I use them in my day-to-day life. This is also for my free time, what is something that I can do that benefits the next goal, the next idea or the next step? Thank you for your time.