Lackawanna College Police Academy Director Dan Duffy started a new tradition at Friday night's graduation ceremony, one that will honor law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty - starting with a state trooper killed while serving a warrant more than 30 years ago.
"We're going to recognize Trooper Joseph Welsch, who was killed in the line of duty in 1977," Mr. Duffy announced in front of graduates as their family and friends looked on in the Mellow Theater.
Class 200 Hazleton and Class 201 Scranton accepted decorative banners embroidered with Trooper Welsch's name and were asked by Mr. Duffy to carry his memory with them throughout their law enforcement careers.
Trooper Welsch's family also awarded Class 201 Scranton President Joseph McCullon a bullet-resistant vest to protect him, helping to ensure his safe return to loved ones at the end of every shift as a future police officer.
In his address to his fellow graduates, Mr. McCullon stressed that message of safety and working together, recalling the group's last physical education test, in which some cadets sacrificed their own running times to finish the test together in a pack.
"In the end, we all passed and passed as a team, and that's what mattered," Mr. McCullon said.
Class 200 Hazleton President Tina Sullivan thanked her family and others' supportive families, including her two young daughters, who practiced their alphabet flash cards while she studied her law enforcement ones.
She commended her fellow graduates on following through and completing their law enforcement endeavors.
"Class 200, may courage, strength and honor lead you down your chosen path," Ms. Sullivan, of Pottsville, said.
Ms. Sullivan won both the Driver and High Scholastic awards for her class, and Devon St. Clair of Danville won the Firearms Award. Jason Gilbert of Scranton claimed the Driver, Firearms and High Scholastic awards for Class 201 Scranton.
Graduates from Class 200 Hazleton include: Ms. Sullivan, Mr. St. Clair and Gerald Heck of Mountaintop.
Graduates from Class 201 Scranton include: Bobby Joe Bendersky of Carbondale; Christian Daletto of Lake Twp.; Mr. Gilbert; Matthew Granick of Union Dale; Mr. McCullon; Robert Shupp of Inkerman; Cody Smith of Wyoming; Matthew Thomas of Avoca; and Abriya Wollett of Blakeslee.
Contact the writer: ksullivan@timesshamrock.com, @ksullivanTT on Twitter