Columbia Central High School graduate Brandon Stanfill is among 21 top students who will receive $1,000 college scholarships to encourage their pursuit of law enforcement/public safety careers by the professional public safety officers of the Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP).

Stanfill graduated with a 3.12 GPA and is attending APCO Institute Online University to complete certification courses for Emergency Fire Dispatcher, Emergency Police Dispatcher and Emergency Medical Dispatcher. He is a 9‐1‐1 Telecommunicator with City of Spring Hills Emergency Communications Department and former Mount Pleasant Volunteer Firefighter and Mount Pleasant Police/Fire Dispatcher.

“It has been my dream to do this (dispatcher) job and at the age of 21 become a police officer in the State of Tennessee,” wrote Stanfill in his scholarship application. “Since the age of five years old, I have wanted to become a public servant, when I saw my uncle graduate Tennessee Law Enforcement Academy. My way in high school of helping serve was in the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) unit at Columbia Central High School for all four years of my high school career.”

Stanfill served on NJROTC Color Guard and Athletic Team, and was Drill Team Commander. He received several NJROTC awards including Academic Excellence, Outstanding Cadet, Special Commendation, and Military Order of the World awards. He was Columbia Police Department Law Enforcement Explorer Assistant Chief for Post 786 and was a Maury Regional Medical Center EMS Explorer with Post 595.

“It has been a dream of mine to help people and it always will be,” Stanfill wrote in his scholarship application. “Also, I am a Volunteer Firefighter for the City of Mount Pleasant. When I am not working and I’m not resting, I am at our fire station helping out the Fire Department.”

“Mr. Stanfill has devoted his time to several community events like Shop with a Cop, Police Memorial Week, and National Day Out Against Crime to name a few in his many years of service,” wrote Alex MacPherson, Explorer Advisor Post 786 Advisor, in a letter of recommendation. “During his five years of service with our organization, he has shown outstanding leadership and impeccable character.”

Other scholarship winners include: Lena Illig of Alaska; Jared Ardon and Karen Alvarado of California; Anna Sippel of Colorado; Mark Wright of Maryland; Alexander Gordon of Massachusetts; Bradley Duck, Jr., Cory Ellis, Janice Gilger, Sean Herp, Matthew Poublon, Meleigha Schimmoller and Megan Stacey of Michigan; Riley Verbrugge of Minnesota; Benjamin Reed of Montana; Jordan Chaulk and Kayla Mancusi of New York; Cody Schaeffer of Pennsylvania; Tiffany Denton of Tennessee; and Daisey Fuentes‐Martinez of Texas.

In its tenth year, LEEP has awarded some $123,000 in Dream scholarships to students showing a demonstrated interest in public service/law enforcement careers. The non‐profit public safety group’s scholarship program is made possible by a growing list of national supporters.

Visit www.leepusa.com for more information about LEEP programs.