Anonymous "Reach Out for Advice"

United States Marshals Service Special Operations Group, 2001 - Current
Iraq, Federal Support of Iraq Courts and Saddam Hussein Trial, March - October, 2006
Deputy United States Marshal, 1998 - Current
Police Officer, 1995-1998
Iraq Desert Storm, January - June, 1991
Warrant Officer in Army Reserve, 1990 - Current
North Dakota State University, '94

One thing I’ve noticed about the world we live in is that it is filled with mediocrity.  If you haven’t yet noticed this yourself, you soon will.  Many of you are studying Criminal Justice and will go on to work in the Law Enforcement field. It’s a profession filled with dedicated, selfless, hard-working, people. But, like much of the rest of our society, it’s also filled with mediocrity.  To most people, even in the Law Enforcement profession, average is good enough.

You, as a member of the IUP Baseball team, are already achieving well beyond your peers.  Less than 20 percent of Americans pursue a bachelor’s degree. Approximately 6 percent of high school baseball players go on to play NCAA baseball.  The fact that you are a college baseball player puts you in an elite group of over-achievers.

It would be easy to get done with your afternoon class, take a nap, hang out with your girlfriend, play Playstation, maybe get your studying done, stay up late, sleep in, skip class, and be average.  You could probably do all of that and still graduate.  However, that’s not the road you’ve chosen. You have made a commitment to work hard, be accountable, practice, lift, run, AND get to class and get good grades. 

OK, so you’re a hard-working student-athlete, living on a nice college campus playing baseball. Does that have any relationship to the real world of Probation, Corrections, or Law Enforcement? It absolutely does.  Some police officers have adopted the term “one percenter”.  This originated with Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs referring to those members who lived on the extreme criminal edge.  In the police world, it refers to those officers who go above and beyond what is expected. They are the officers who are proactive on patrol, follow up on seemingly hopeless investigations, and relentlessly pursue fugitives.  They are the officers who ‘catch breaks’ and ‘get lucky’ because they create their own luck by working harder and being more persistent, perceptive, and aggressive than their colleagues.  These are the same basic traits that drive you to commit to all of the hard work that being an NCAA student-athlete requires.

By what you’ve accomplished already in your educational and athletic careers, you’ve shown that you have that desire to be the best. Continue on with that same dedication into your professional careers and you’ll soon see that success and rewards will closely follow.