blacksuccess OOPS DADE COUNTY IS WHAT I MEANT TO TYPE ! REPRESENTING ALL THE WAY UP HERE IN SOUSE KAKILACKI - May 13, 2011 add/view comments (0)

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My name is Jerrell Cleveland Jr.; I am a 42 year old married African-American male with one 10 year old son. I am presently a senior at Claflin University maintaining a 3.9 GPA and I am on schedule to graduate with honors on May 12, 2012 with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology/Criminal Justice. As far as I can remember, I have always had a huge interest in law as well as in the criminal justice system. There were times as far back in my elementary school days, I found myself advocating for and defending some of my peers, especially when they would not speak up for themselves. I believe that we all should be fair, firm and consistent in all of our dealings as it relates to peoples rights and I want to do my share in contributing to such.
Although, I've had this tremendous interest in law and the criminal justice system, I have had to overcome a few obstacles to get where I am today, some that I may have contributed to myself. I had to first acknowledge the contributing factors that I created, such as some decisions that were made that were not well thought out before doing so, like dropping out of high school and waiting five years before obtaining my GED and learning how to pick and choose what battles to fight. I am very thankful for those life lessons because I would not be where I am now without them. Once I obtained my GED, I began to build on my passion and started a career in corrections for approximately 7 years and then law enforcement for approximately 8 years. Being entrusted with such an enormous responsibility and having such great respect for the law; I wanted to make sure that when I took away an individuals freedom and placed them under arrest, that I followed every letter of the law and did not violate their Constitutional Rights at anytime. Therefore, I have always made sure as an officer to keep abreast of all of the laws that may change during the course of a year as well as continuous reading of statutes and legal case laws that may have pertained to cases I was involved in.
As an officer, I may not have always been the most popular guy amongst my peers, partially because I do not believe in taking short cuts when it pertains to a persons Constitutional Rights, nor have I ever stood by and watched silently when an officer might have been close to stepping outside of the boundaries of the law when carrying out their duties. We too as officers have to abide by the law and are sworn to uphold the United States Constitution while doing so. The ethics and morals instilled in me as a child, would not allow me to do anything less than what is right, even if it's not the most popular thing amongst my peers. My experiences in law enforcement led me to start my private investigative and security firm in Miami, Florida, which eventually led to me leaving law enforcement in 2006 after approximately 14 plus years of service. After a few years, business became very slow for a while causing great financial difficulty, thus eventually causing me to re-evaluate my goals and plot new courses of actions to take in order to achieve them.
My family and I relocated to Orangeburg, South Carolina in 2007 for a fresh start and to help my parents after being involved in a major accident here that rendered my mother to be disabled. In the fall of 2009, I started my freshman year with just 22 credits mostly from the police academy in Florida and I have not looked back since. I have remained on the President's List with the highest honors since day one, a 2011 member of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges, a lifetime Presidential member of the Claflin University Chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success, as well as a member of the National Criminal Justice Society SIGMA PHI ALPHA FIU Chapter. I certainly feel that Claflin along with my life and work experiences has definitely prepared me for leadership and service in this multicultural, global and technological society in which we live today. I plan to further expand my knowledge as well as my passion for the law by pursuing my degree in law in the fall of 2012 and hope to be a well sculptured attorney practicing both criminal and civil law in the state of Florida and South Carolina within the next 3 years. I know that without struggles there is no success and I used a very simple formula to keep me afloat during my journey; and that was to never give up + dedication + determination + resilience + careful planning - self pity = SUCCESS! Finally, I hope to use my experiences as well as my success to motivate our youth and anyone else that can use the motivation in both the public speaking capacity and with my book that I intend to write and publish titled "From a GED to a Juris Doctorate Degree."

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