I feel it is safe to say the final week was as stressful as the first week.
Not only did we have to spend a day in the courthouse for a mock trial and get drilled on the stand, we had our POST test scheduled, we had family and friends coming in town, and we were graduating!
The day at the courthouse was a blast, but the line of the day came when the entire class of 41 was getting a tour of the courthouse and while we were standing along the side of the hallway in single file in our agency uniforms to let people pass, a civilian walked by and said, "are ALL of you in trouble?"
He was joking, but his wife said, "they look awesome." I happened to be standing toward the end of the line and she was right. We looked awesome.
Once we finished our mock courtroom day, we started turning in our Academy items.
Each day we each got a bit more anxious.
Test day finally arrived. We couldn't think straight from the time we arrived that morning at 7am until we began the test! This test was what we had been studying our tails off for weeks and weeks!
We all finished the test, but the results aren't known until later.
The rest of the day we were to run Lookout Mountain as a team but we all knew the run would be more fun if we knew our test results!
Finally, as we were all stretching for our run, the results were in...we all passed!
Talk about a feeling of relief like none of us have ever felt. We were all so excited for each other we hugged, laughed, cheered, high fived. The enthusiasm was not as much because we all passed as much as it was those being the words that meant...you did it!
All that was going through our heads...we did it!
I have never been so excited to run up a mountain in my life. It is tradition for academies to finish at the top of Lookout Mountain, and we did.
Now that the test was over, and the run was almost finished, we all could focus on graduation and getting our friends and families where they needed to be for the ceremony.
Some days we felt like we were never going to graduate. Some days seemed to take FOREVER to finish, some weeks took an eternity to get through, but sitting on the stage during graduation I remember thinking, "it seems like we just started."
There we were...the final week of the first ever Combined Regional Academy. Everything seemed surreal. On Monday we would not be in the classroom together. The fact that everything we have been learning is now real. No more role players. No more climate control environment. No more 10 minute breaks every hour on the hour.
Sitting as a class one last time at graduation watching each other get our badges was exciting and emotional at the same time. We were so proud of each other it was as if we were at each other's graduation ceremony as an outsider looking in, until your name was called! Then the, "this is really happening," and the, "whatever you do, don't trip," starts going through your head.
The ceremony with my classmates was an event and moment I will cherish forever.
To the first ever Jeffco/Lakewood Combined Regional Academy...we did it. Congratulations and best of luck to all of you.
To those of you who are considering law enforcement as a career...it takes discipline, commitment, sacrifices, integrity. You can do it, just like we did it.
