Pieces of a Puzzle

Our students’ stories are powerful because they’reoften about realization: a long-held or new dream being fulfilled. They take a chance on themselves and work towards their goals.

Like Mike Boylston, who just finished his program at Spokane Community College in Criminal Justice. He’s had many careers in his life, but he’s excited about this next one. He’s a veteran (Marine Corp), he’s worked in law enforcement before, and he was a firefighter/EMT. Now, he’s on his way to being a Crime Scene Investigator.

“I like to solve puzzles,” Mike explained. “My work will be about solving something.”

He’ll go on scene, secure it, and collect evidence for the forensic team. He likes being a part of the process, working with a team, which is evident in his past careers.

He really enjoyed his program at SCC, especially working with the great instructors. He mentioned so many by name, sharing the impact each had on his education. Buthe also mentioned working with students, especially in his time with the veteran’s office on campus.

“There is a real community of veterans and current militaryon campus. Sometimes it’s not just the veterans, but theirfamilies. There’s a sense of bonding there,” Mike said.

In fact, it was there that he learned about the Fette Fund for veterans. When Mike was starting to worryabout how he’d finish paying for school, Deana Sleep,the program coordinator for the Military/VeteransOne-Stop center, told him about the Fette Fund andthe scholarship opportunities at the Foundation. Mikeapplied and was awarded the funding he needed tofinish school without concern.

He was excited to finish his program, even gettinghis family involved with his studies and sharing the opportunities at CCS with his stepson. Now that he’s completed his associate’s, he’s working on transferringto EWU for his bachelor’s in Criminal Justice.

“This was just a small step,” Mike said. A piece of the puzzle, if you will. And the bigger picture will show Mikein his new career, his dream realized.