VGCC Graduates 25 Law Enforcement Cadets in School’s 95th BLET Class
Twenty-five cadets graduated on Dec. 18, 2012 from the Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) course at Vance-Granville Community College, in a ceremony held in the Civic Center on Main Campus. After passing the state certification exam, all are authorized to work in any law enforcement agency in North Carolina.
Graduates of VGCC’s 95th BLET class included Christopher Brandon Strickland of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office; Aston Donomic Mitchell and Jonathan Glen Thomas, both of the Henderson Police Department; Brittany Renee Ausley of the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles; Jason Woodward Howard, David Matthew Langdon, Elliot Kevin McDowell, Jason Bryant Murvine, Katherine Leigh Scheip and Ian Jacob Wilms, all of N.C. Parks & Recreation; Bennie Perry III of the Oxford Police Department; Roy Matthews Tuck and James Leroy Watson, both of the Roxboro Police Department; Reece Daniel Wilkerson of the Vance County Sheriff’s Office; Anthony Lee Davis, Brandon Maurice Davis and Sherese LaShonda Hicks, all of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office; Ryan Lance Blackwell, Sandy Hargrove Cowan, Tyler Paul Duke, Tristan Scott Hardiman, Michael Lawrence Hawley, William H. Headen, Bianca Christine Oser, and Jonathan Andrew Payne.
Tony Pendergrass, the VGCC coordinator of law enforcement training, praised the class for completing 624 hours of grueling training over 16 weeks. He noted that this was one of the largest graduating classes for the program in many years. Pendergrass also thanked the 48 instructors who helped train the class, the local sheriffs, chiefs of police and administrators who support the program, and the families and friends who supported and encouraged the students.
BLET students selected Aaron Woodlief, a North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement officer and a part-time instructor for the VGCC program, to be their guest speaker. Woodlief himself graduated from the BLET program in 2006. “As an alumnus of the Vance-Granville BLET program, I take a special interest in the cadets, and as an ALE agent, my life may depend on them, since I have the unique opportunity to work in all of their jurisdictions,” Woodlief said. He congratulated the graduates on becoming part of the law enforcement “family” and entering “the most challenging career society has to offer.” Cadet Michael Hawley, the class leader, spoke on behalf of his fellow graduates. He thanked Pendergrass and all the program’s instructors. He also reported some statistics that described the experience of completing the course. “We have read 2,500 pages of text, we have taken 37 tests, we have done 69,120 push-ups and sit-ups, and we have taken 536 ten-minute breaks,” Hawley said to laughter. “But the most important number is one — we are one brotherhood, one family.”
Woodlief formally presented certificates to the graduates. Pendergrass handed out awards to the top students in the class in three categories. Watson won the “Top Gun” Award for having the highest accuracy score in weapons firing. Howard took home the Academic Achievement Award for having the top grade average in the written tests each cadet must pass. Murvine earned the Physical Training Award for scoring highest in the various fitness tests the cadets undergo. For more information on the BLET program , contact Tony Pendergrass at pendergrass@vgcc.edu .
Above: On front row, from left, VGCC law enforcement training coordinator Tony Pendergrass with Basic Law Enforcement Training Class 95 graduates Sandy Hargrove Cowan, Brittany Renee Ausley, Bianca Christine Oser, Sherese LaShonda Hicks, Jason Woodward Howard, and Roy Matthews Tuck; second row, from left, Bennie Perry III, Tristan Scott Hardiman, Anthony Lee Davis, David Matthew Langdon, James Leroy Watson, and Katherine Leigh Scheip; third row, from left, Christopher Brandon Strickland, Jonathan Andrew Payne, Jonathan Glen Thomas, Tyler Paul Duke, Ryan Lance Blackwell, and Jason Bryant Murvine; fourth (top) row, from left, Brandon Maurice Davis, Reece Daniel Wilkerson, William H. Headen, Michael Lawrence Hawley, Aston Donomic Mitchell, Elliot Kevin McDowell, and Ian Jacob Wilms. (VGCC Photo)
