Even Grubby can be a Cop

Kevin and I met in college at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He was a civil engineer student, and I was in pre-nursing. Our lives took many twists and turns since then. We both graduated with Interdisciplinary Science Majors, his emphasis was in law enforcement and mine in psychology.  We were hired with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and asked to serve on the campus of UND in Grand Forks, ND. After a few years, Kevin’s dream to become a State Trooper soon became a reality, and we moved back to South Dakota where I became a stay-at-home mom, writing unpublished books.

Kevin soon found his true passion….crash reconstruction. It combined his love for law enforcement with his engineering (3.5 years of civil classes) background.  Kevin loved the profession of crash reconstruction so much that he often used his vacation days and any extra money we could scrape together to attend regional and national crash conferences. He even passed the national crash reconstruction certification (ACTAR) the first time he took it, which is a rare accomplishment.

When the SD Highway Patrol decided to improve their Crash Reconstruction program by adding a program director, Kevin knew this was his new dream job. In 2011, he was promoted to this position.

Over five years ago, he was challenged by a leader in the crash recon field to finish his engineering degree. We were both a bit hesitant at this new adventure. I was worried that he would be stretched too thin and our family would suffer for it. He was worried that he’d struggle in classes based on engineering and calculus classes he’d taken almost a decade earlier. But I encouraged him to step out in faith, and he enrolled in the mechanical engineering program at our Alma mater.

In the last five years, he has woken up long before the sun to start his day, working a couple of extra hours each night to make up for the time he’s in class. After some family time, he would spend the rest of the evening working on homework. Each weekend was split between school and family. We made our family and church a priority, but every spare minute he was studying. This last year, he joined the BAJA team for his senior design project. They spent every Saturday from eight to four designing and building a BAJA car, which they named The Bandit from Smokey and the Bandit and inspired by Kevin’s job. They’ll race it in the national competition held in southern California in the middle of May.

On May fourth, Kevin will receive his bachelor of science diploma in mechanical engineering. It has been a long, twisty, and bumpy road. We have all had to make sacrifices, sometimes gladly, sometimes with a twinge of resentment. We are overjoyed that he is about to finish this race (figuratively and literally). I could not be prouder of the extreme effort he’s exerted in order to reach this milestone, and along the way made some new, lifelong friends, and plenty of great memories.

Congratulations Kevin…. I love you!