Intern Cooper Bradbury- Goddard Police Department

Taking Down Criminals and Cancer

Hi my name is Cooper Bradbury and I am a senior at Andale High School.  I live with my parents in Colwich, Kansas, along with my two brothers and sister (of which I am the oldest).  I enjoy hunting and all types of shooting sports, from three-gun to precision rifle to skeet to tactical training.  I also enjoy walleye fishing and playing baseball.  This semester I will be working as an intern for the Goddard Police Department and for Children’s Mercy Hospital in Wichita, Kansas.  I am excited about the Internship Program because I will get to experience actual workplace environments and learn about some of the opportunities available within law-enforcement and the medical field.

I chose to intern with these groups because I enjoy helping others.  Police departments exist to protect and serve the people, and officers’ jobs have become increasingly difficult thanks to biased media and false reporting.  I hope to make the officers’ lives easier by taking care of their paperwork and re-establish community trust through interactions with different activists and groups.  Hopefully, the GPD will also allow me to assist in drug busts and warrant searches.  I also know many officers in Wichita, Maize, and Kansas City police departments, and this experience will give me a better understanding as to what they face everyday.  I also hope this experience will open a pathway to become a SWAT counter-sniper if I choose a career in law-enforcement.  Although this is a potentially dangerous and stressful internship, I look forward to being involved and assisting the Goddard police force.

During the summer I worked at Wesley Medical Center and I spent a great deal of time in the Oncology department.  This experience has prompted me to examine careers dealing with cancer diagnosis and treatment.  A career in oncology would allow me to help a large number of people, many of which could potentially die if not correctly treated.  At Children’s Mercy, I hope to establish a network of doctors as well as examine how they deal with heart-breaking cases on a day-to-day basis.  This experience will help me whittle down which area I want to study within the medical field (whether that be oncology or neurosurgery or whatever).  

The pathways to become a SWAT sniper and an oncologist are very different.  To become a SWAT sniper, I would have to obtain a degree in criminology and be accepted into a police academy and become an officer.  Then, through rigorous training, I have to be referred to SWAT by co-workers.  Through more training I can eventually be chosen to become a sniper by other counter-snipers.  To become an oncologist, I have to get a bachelor’s degree and then get accepted into medical school.  I have to finish med-school and take a residency in oncology.  Choosing either one of these careers can turn into a long and tedious process, but, in my opinion, it’s well worth it.

The demand for both of these jobs is growing.  For police officers, jobs are growing at 4%.  Although this growth is slightly lower than most occupations, demand is expected to rise as police work is becoming an increasingly difficult job.  For oncologists, jobs are growing at a rate of 18%, and this number is also expected to rise due to advancements in cancer treatment and technology.  Normal police officers received a national median pay (for the year 2015) of just over $60,000 compared to a median salary of $218,000 for oncologists.

If I choose to take a law-enforcement career, I will attend Wichita State University and major in Criminology.  Then, after several preliminary tests, I will attend the Wichita/Sedgwick County Police Academy.  If I choose to become an oncologist (which is the more likely path I’ll take), I will attend Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and be a Pre-Med major.  Upon graduation I will try to attend TCU/UNT Medical School in Dallas and then take an oncology residency in the Dallas-Fort Worth hospitals.  TCU is one of the best cancer research schools in the nation and Horned Frogs are twice as likely to get accepted into medical school than Jayhawks or students from UMKC.

The Goddard Police Department is extremely busy.  They are responsible for patrolling parts of US 54 (Kellogg) and protecting all of the students within USD 265.  GPD is often called upon to eliminate or stop threats and suspects that are headed west and trying to escape Wichita, so it should be a very exciting (and potentially stressful) experience.      

I hope that my ambition and drive will greatly help both of the agencies that I will be working at this semester.  I have background knowledge and training in both areas and I hope to improve the areas in which I work.  I expect this experience to be well-worth the time and effort and I hope to learn about the opportunities available to me upon graduation.   

Thanks for reading,

Cooper Bradbury