19 Cadets Graduate in Highway Patrol Ceremony

Nineteen State Highway Patrol cadets, who endured 15 weeks of what Colonel Bill Grey called the toughest law enforcement training in the country, became state troopers today during a graduation ceremony in Cary.

Colonel Grey recognized the families who supported and  sacrificed along with the cadets for 15 weeks . Grey told the cadets to keep those family members close, "and always remember the toughest part is not being a state trooper ----- the toughest part is waiting on you to come home safely.

"It goes without saying that as a state trooper you will face many challenges and dangers that will test your courage," Grey continued. "As we all know and see almost daily, the world can be a very dangerous place where bad things happen. Being a state trooper will require that you have the courage to run towards danger while others are running away; the courage to risk your own life to protect others and the courage to always stand up and do what’s right; whether its popular or not."

Fst. Sgt. M.S. Whaley, the commandant for the 137th Basic Highway Patrol School, said to the more than 600 people attending the ceremony, "Approximately 15 weeks ago, on a very hot, humid day in May, I stood in front of 29 students who reported to our campus to become North Carolina state troopers. Of those 29 people, 19 lived up to the challenge of entrusting us with their time and energy to make the mark."

To the graduating class, Whaley said, "You reported on your first day of this journey with much anxiety and uncertainty, yet with a clear charge and expectation of excellence.  Although each of you came here with distinct individuality, you have truly grown into a family with a mission greater than yourself:  The duty and the ability to serve your fellow man. Be confident and proud that you are joining a family and a team that is filled with some of the finest and most courageous people in the world."

Courage, confidence and compassion are the three attributes that Colonel Grey said will make the cadets excellent state troopers.  He said compassion is the single most important quality which includeds sympathy for others and a desire to help.

"This is a tough job with at times heartbreaking situations and compassion is required," Grey said.  "For it is these qualities that will enable you, in spite of the dangers, to protect and rescue others; that will compel you to stop on the side of a busy interstate in the blazing heat, freezing cold or pouring rain to help a stranded motorist; that empower you to stop and arrest an impaired driver at 3 in the morning so that the impaired driver and others eventually make it home safely. Be confident in the fact that you are the best trained, best prepared, law enforcement officers in the country."

Chief Operating Officer Lorrie Dollar addressed the assembly and said that the level of commitment and dedication state troopers have every day, saving peoples' lives on duty and off, makes them heros in her eyes. She told the cadets that being a state trooper is a great privilege, and with that comes a great responsibility.

"Always strive to do what's right," Dollar said.  "You will encounter good and evil througout the course of your employment and your lives.  Let the good direct your course."

Colonel Grey quoted the Irish statesman, Edmund Burke: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

"However, I do not worry about evil prevailing…because it is the good men and women of this world, like those that serve on the North Carolina Highway Patrol, who hold evil at bay and keep our citizens safe,' Grey said.

The following is a list of the graduates: