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AVON PARK, Fla. – April 20, 2026 – During a ceremony on Thursday, April 16 on the Highlands Campus in Avon Park, South Florida State College’s (SFSC) Basic Law Enforcement (BLE) Academy Class 274 and the Cross Over to Basic Law Enforcement Class 367 graduated 25 students.
Melinda Burke, coordinator of Criminal Justice Programs at SFSC, presented each graduate with their Career Certificate. The graduates were class leader Rafael Iturrino, executive officer Gabriella Rivas, Kenneth Arias, Steven Ayuso Radinson, Nicholas Brehm, Alexandra Burrell, Luis Calderon II, Andrew Colman, Jason Gargan, Volney Glenn, Matthew Hager, William Hunter Jr., Kellas Kinman, Colin Moreno, Daniel Morrow, Daniel Otero, Marccus Palsgrove, Kyle Papp, Daniel Pepin, Kaleb Prejean, Jorden Reyna, Rebecca Stieglitz, Luke Ward, Christopher Young, and Benjamin Youngs.
During the ceremony, special awards were presented to recruits. Rafael Iturrino was honored as class leader, Gabriella Rivas as executive officer, Nicholas Brehm for Top Academics, Colin Morena and Daniel Morrow for Higher Overall Achievement for Firearms, and Daniel Pepin for Peer Leadership. An Academic Impact Award was presented to Sgt. Bryan Martini of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, who assisted in training Classes 274/367.
“Martin County reached out to us, because they were unable to get the 15 students they sent to us into police academy training on the east coast in one group as they normally do,” said Dr. John McLaughlin, director of SFSC’s Criminal Justice Programs. “The students were able to train at SFSC after we found them housing and worked with them to complete the training faster by providing 50 hours a week training instead of the traditional 40 hours. We are happy to have worked with Martin County, Highlands County, Okeechobee County, City of Sebring, and the Town of Lake Placid, all of whom participated in the training. We were also fortunate that Martin County temporarily assigned Sgt. Martini to work with us to supervise his students and assist us in the training. With all these departments working together, we feel we raised the bar and hope to continue training with all of these departments in the future.”
Guest speaker for the graduation was Deputy Wesley Jones of the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.
SFSC’s Basic Law Enforcement Career Certificate program trains students to become law enforcement officers in Florida. By successfully completing the program, they are eligible to take the state certification examination to become certified law enforcement officers. The program runs 770 contact hours or approximately five months full-time or approximately 10 months part-time.
The Correction to Law Enforcement Career Certificate program trains currently employed corrections officers to become law enforcement officers in Florida. Upon successful completion of the program, graduates are eligible to take the state certification examination to become certified law enforcement officers. The program runs 515 contact hours or approximately 10 months part-time.
For more information about these Criminal Justice programs, visit southflorida.edu or call SFSC’s Criminal Justice Academy at 863-784-7285.
