1. For a long time I felt lost. But I met a girl who later became my wife.

2. My wife and her family introduced me to the LDS church when we were dating. I grew a testimony in the church. I had faith in God but I didn’t feel that the Catholic church was correct. This made for a huge positive change in my life.

3. My wife and I helped each other through a lot. We got married when we were 18 and I got a job with Arizona Tile. I even went back to school to get my GED. I realized that I needed to work hard in order to gain what I wanted and we are not entitled to anything in this life. The next 6 years of my life were dedicated to Arizona Tile and my family. I was hired on as a janitor and worked my way to Customer Service Supervisor and Assistant Warehouse Manager. At the same time, my wife and I were also raising 3 children. I started working for the company in Anaheim and a few years later my wife and I decided to move to Utah. I was able to arrange a transfer with my company and that’s how we started our life in Clearfield Utah.

4. When the recession hit in 2008 I was laid off by the company. The company that I had devoted 6 years to let me go as soon as they could. My wife was also pregnant with our 4 th child. Once again my family was in a stressful situation.

5. I struggled finding employment. Not much work out there for someone who’s education level doesn’t go past a GED. I couldn’t provide. I talked to my church leaders about my situation and the ward stepped up and helped me and my family out a great deal. It really made me appreciate the community that we lived in.

6. A few of the jobs that I did find were dispatching for police fire and medical. This brought back my desire to get into law enforcement. A feeling that had been dormant since I was 6 years old.

7. I also got the desire to expand my education. I wanted to set my self apart from the crowd as much as possible. So I enrolled in my 1 st semester of college at Salt Lake Community College. This makes me the first in my family to go to college.

8. I also decided to sponsor myself through the police academy at Weber State. It has been hard to take online classes and go full time in the academy. Not to mention my part time job. But it’s worth it. I am improving myself to be the best officer that I can be. I want to protect my family and the community that has given so much to us.

9. I am inline to graduate from the academy on May 18 th. So far I have acquired 2 certifications. I am able to be a corrections officer if there is an opening anywhere. But my goal is to get my law enforcement officer certification.

10. Getting certified to this point hasn’t been easy. It’s been a few months of learning Utah law and hard physical training. But the reward is great.

11. In the future I see myself employed by a police agency, working my way up to sergeant. I eventually hope to end up in Clearfield as an officer. I love this city. I went through a lot here and I love the community.