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QCC Police Academy Students Give Back to the College Community

November 2018
  • Police Academy students make donation to the QCC Food Pantry
    QCC's Police Academy students make a group donation to the QCC Food Pantry.

As the only community college in Massachusetts running its own police academy, QCC’s 50 inaugural police academy students are already making an impression on the Commonwealth. The students recently made an impact at the college with a group donation to QCC’s Food Pantry. The idea was presented to them by Program Coordinator Detective Sergeant Joseph Cecchi, who said  the idea was met with great enthusiasm by the students. The college opened the QCC Food Pantry in July to address food insecurities on campus after studies showed there was a extensive need.

“I have known Bonnie Coleman (Phi Theta Kappa Advisor) and Ashley Forhan (Phi Theta Kappa Student and Food Pantry Manager) for many years now. They discussed the need for support pertaining to the QCC Food Pantry. I offered the idea of having the QCC Police Academy recruits donate on a voluntary basis. The Massachusetts Police Training Committee and police academies across the state encourage student officers to give back to the community,” Sgt. Cecchi said.

Graduates of the QCC Police Academy are eligible to be hired by municipal police in a part-time reserve/intermittent capacity and will exercise police powers as a police officer. Giving back to the communities they may serve one day is an important part of police work, noted Sgt. Cecchi. At the academy, the student officers are learning that one of the foundational principles of the policing profession is to foster trust and build strong relationships in the communities they will one day serve, through positive interactions.

“The generosity of the police academy was absolutely breathtaking. To see my fellow students come together to donate to the food pantry was something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Words cannot describe the happiness that I felt in my heart after receiving this incredible donation,” said QCC Food Pantry Manager Ashley Forhan.

Those interested in making a donation can email the QCC Food Pantry at foodpantry [at] qcc.mass.edu.

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