Maize senior awarded Cadet of the Year
February 2, 2018
Senior Bailey Plume was awarded the Sedgwick County Sheriff Office’s Cadet of the Year award. Plume received the award after being nominated by her deputy, Jamie Converse.
“She believed I put in the most time into the unit,” Plume said “I participated in the parade, the home show and other volunteer activities … [She] just thought I was a good role model and deserved the award.”
On top of taking the Law Enforcement classes offered at Maize, Plume has also been part of the Sedgwick County Cadet Unit starting her freshman year of high school.
Law and Fire Science teacher Johnny Yelverton said Plume has improved greatly and has a knack for being in law enforcement.
“Bailey has the ethics and character to serve her community with distinction,” Yelverton said. “I feel that this is the first of many awards for this young woman.”
Plume said she’s also applying for a job at the Sedgwick County Jail.
“I plan on being [at the jail] until I’m about 21,” Plume said. “[Then] entering the police academy, [and] working my way up to a homicide detective.”
Plume said she hopes to be a homicide detective in Colorado, and then move on to work as a park ranger in South Dakota.
“I’m a huge fan of national parks and state parks,” Plume said. “I really believe that they need to be protected and I really like law enforcement. So I really thought you know why not.”
Recently, there have been some stories of troubling events for police officers and law enforcement. Plume says one of the things she’s most scared of in this line of duty is being the cop on the news that everyone hates.
“The big thing [I worry about] is probably that I do my job correctly,” she said. “That when there’s a situation where I need to make a tough choice that I don’t freeze up and over think it or end up making the wrong choice .”
Yelverton said he feels Plume can handle herself as a police officer on the streets but still has to learn from experiences on the job.
“Bailey learns well from constructive criticism,” Yelverton said. “If you don’t give her feedback on her work she will ask for it … Bailey will grow into a mentor for others that have the same mission as she does.”
Plume said she’s wanted to be a police officer since she was in the 8th grade, and winning the award gave her a confidence boost.
“It shows that this really is a passion [for me],” Plume said. “Because I haven’t gotten many other awards in many other subjects. It just showed me that I am really passionate and I want to continue.”
