Sheriff Encourages VGCC Students
Vance County Sheriff Peter White was the guest speaker at the 2007-2008 kick-off event for Vance-Granville Community College’s Male Mentoring Program on Oct. 24 at the college’s main campus.
The “Men-on-a-Mission” Male Mentoring Program, also called M2, is designed to assist first-year ethnically diverse students in acquiring the confidence, resources and skills needed to succeed academically and socially at Vance-Granville. The program places emphasis on academic success and also addresses retention and transitional issues that impact college student development. Mentors are carefully chosen through an application process and are paired with incoming diverse male students who have agreed to participate as mentees. Mentors advise, direct and counsel each student to develop his own abilities, set goals and progress toward those goals.
After remarks from VGCC Director of Counseling Daniel Alvarado, Vice President of Student Affairs Gene Purvis and President Randy Parker, Sheriff White told the students who have joined the M2 program, “You can never complete a journey without first starting. You all have started a journey and I know you can finish it.” White said that he knew that because he is a product of VGCC. “Now I have studied at Duke, N.C. State, as well as Virginia Union, but it all started right here on this campus,” he said.
White recalled that he studied Criminal Justice at VGCC in order to prepare for his own mission — a law enforcement career. He began that career as a police officer in Stovall and later in Oxford. “I stayed [in Oxford] a little over three years and decided that I wanted to be a State Trooper,” the sheriff said. He talked with a few people, most of whom gave him “reason upon reason why they believed I shouldn’t or couldn’t do what I wanted to do.” Then, White encountered representatives of the N.C. State Highway Patrol at a “Career Day” event at VGCC. Three months later, he was hired and began training. “The training was tough, but I was a ‘Man on a Mission,’” White said. “Through hard work and commitment, I was able to perform my job and exceed the expectations of not only the nay-sayers but many others.”
A 24-year career in the Highway Patrol followed, including five years serving on the Governor’s executive protection detail. White retired with the rank of Major in 2005 and was elected sheriff in Nov. 2006.
“It all started here at VGCC, because, just like you, I was a man on a mission,” White concluded. “And you too can realize your dream. Your mission can be accomplished.”
For more information on M2, call VGCC at (252) 738-3234.
Above: Vance County Sheriff Peter White (standing) speaks to participants in Vance-Granville Community College’s “Men-on-a-Mission” Male Mentoring Program during the program’s 2007-08 kick-off event on Oct. 24. (VGCC photo)
