Credit Richmond's Brayden Alexander for some quick, on-the-job thinking for helping smooth the way to his career aspirations.
The 19-year-old McMath grad was stocking shelves in the soft drink aisle of his Seafair neighbourhood Safeway, where he’s worked for close to three years, when he noticed a contest ad label on a bottle of Dr. Pepper.
It was for a “One-of-a-Kind” Canadians who could receive a $20,000 grant if the one-minute video they produced and submitted explained why and how they wanted to pursue further education was chosen by a judging panel. There were a total of five winners chosen from across the country.
Alexander took up the challenge and had a friend shoot the footage of him driving around Richmond explaining how he’d like to continue his pursuit of becoming a police officer.
“I essentially remade an episode of the TV show Cops, starring me,” he said, adding he talked to the camera about using the money for completing his degree in criminology at KPU in Richmond.
“And once that was completed I could move forward in policing,” added Alexander, who has, since last June been volunteering as an auxiliary member of the Richmond RCMP.
“I thought it would be fun to enter. I never thought I’d actually win. But I did.”
Alexander said he has, as long as he can remember, had career aspirations in law enforcement.
“I’ve wanted to pursue policing for a while because I like helping people. And that’s one of the best jobs you can have to do that,” he said.
“Winning $20,000 to go towards tuition is pretty awesome.,” he said. “It was hard to believe, at first. Now I don’t have to worry about the money when I’m going to school.”
