My Story

I was born in Gambia and I stayed there for 12 years of my life. I migrated to the USA to
be closer to my mom as well as, have a better opportunity and further my education. I came to
the USA in 2010 and through the nine years that I have been here, I have had a lot of wonderful
experiences and opportunities to adapt within my new culture. In Fall 2016, I came to URI
because it was both far enough but close enough from my house in Rhode Island therefore
allowing me the chance to drive back and see my family whenever. One thing that drew my
attention to the university was the diversity on campus. Another reason I came here is because
of the Talent Development Program. The Talent Development program welcomed me into their
family and helped me continue to pursue my dreams and goals in life. I started off URI as a
Kinesiology major but I switched to CCJ early on due to a change in interest towards crime and
law. My advisors helped me with the transition and so far, switching majors has been the best
decision I ever made. One advisor who has been really supportive through my journey in the
CCJ program has been Dr. Rolle. She has been there since I made the switch to the CCJ major
and all of my other professors have made my experiences within the major a great learning
environment. I also heard about the internship through my advisors as well as communication
with Christiana who is in charge of running the internship programs with public safety. I also
discussed doing the internship with Officer Paul Hanrahan who has also been really supportive
since before the process of applying for the internship. While I am here, Officer Paul has been
guiding me through the entire process and has been a great teacher and mentor to look up to.
For the internship, I respond to calls for various services with the police and accompany the
police officers on traffic stops. I have also had the chance to perform routine security checks
around campus and conduct crime trend case studies. The last big project I have been given
the chance to take part in is assessing the blue lights around campus. I checked for phone
performance assistance and surveillance equipment readiness. The last task in which I have
been able to aid in is working with the police dogs during my internship. I got to help whenever
Erika had the chance to take me along or was training the dog on campus and our schedules
aligned with one another. I both observe and jump in to help in the trainings for explosives. I
have also trained with the K9 dog on building searches, sniffing objects and other patrol
routines. The third dog I worked with is also an explosive dog in training. This dog is similar to
Erika’s dog and is a very fast learner and understand commands well. Overall, my experience
since moving to the United States has been positive. Through various interactions with different
individuals I have not only learned new things but figured out which path I want to take in life.