For the first time in Florida A&M University’s history, a former rattler obtained an opportunity to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy.
Lt. William Evers of FAMU Police Department will be embarking to Quantico, Va. to join other individuals to get a chance to join the FBI Academy. There are 1,000 people selected across the country to participate in a 10-week session, 250 of those individuals are then selected to join the FBI.
“It’s an honor to represent FAMU because they gave me my first shot after graduating high school and this opportunity couldn’t come at a better time,” Evers said.
The academy only has four sessions of training every year and there are only four people selected from each state. Terence Calloway, FBI Academy alumni and current FAMU police chief, had to recommend Evers so he would have a better chance of getting selected into the academy.
“I put my name on the line to get this dude in,” Calloway said. “It’s so difficult to get in there, I know a guy that has been on the waiting list since 1988.”
Although Calloway recommended Evers for the academy it still wasn’t an easy process. According to Evers, initially he was supposed to leave in April but the FBI wanted to do a more in-depth background check on him so now he will not be leaving until July.
“When they told me that I had to hold off on joining the April class until July I felt as if I hurt the chief,” Evers said.
Once Evers gets to the academy he says he plans to spend every day of the 10-week session as if he is holding a grudge against the other contestants.
According to Calloway, if Evers is selected into the academy he will receive a yellow brick after completing the final 6.1-mile run through the woods, which he says has a lot of value.
“That yellow brick means a lot once you get it. It actually carries more weight than my master’s degree,” Calloway said.
This opportunity for Evers has not only given FAMU police department more exposure, but it has inspired third-year criminal justice student Shea Sutton.
“The goal for me was to make it to the CIA or FBI, so hearing that someone coming from a place like FAMU makes me happy to know and gives me more confidence to pursue my dream,” Sutton said.
If Evers gets selected he feels that his job is not over because he wants to give someone else from FAMU an opportunity.
“Once I get back to FAMU is when it will be time for me to give a hand to the younger generation to help them get to where I am, and basically do what the chief has done for me,” Evers said.