Incoming Eastern Michigan University freshman McCade Campbell was awarded the Carl Parsell Scholarship bestowed by the Michigan Association of Police (MAP) on June 10 at the 31st Annual Carl Parsell Memorial Golf Outing.

Campbell, who graduated from Woodhaven High School, will attend EMU in the upcoming fall semester as he will be pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Flight Technology. Not only will Campbell’s university journey be supported by the Carl Parsell scholarship, but he has also been supported by EMU’s annual scholarship program as well. 

Campbell became interested in attending EMU after attending a discovery flight and getting a chance to meet students and faculty in the program. He even wore the hat his father bought for him from that opportunity throughout his junior year of high school as another piece of evidence as to how greatly the experience inspired him. Campbell has already begun to explore his career opportunities in aviation before his journey at EMU, including getting his pilot’s license at 17, and working at the Detroit Metro Airport as a Passenger Service Agent. 

The people behind his aviation inspiration, are a former neighbor of Campbell’s who flew as a commercial pilot and his father. Campbell’s father, who is a Woodhaven police lieutenant and a MAP member, was also the one to encourage Campbell to take advantage of scholarship opportunities when they were made available to him. 

“I guess you could say my dad encouraged me, really [with] scholarships overall,” Campbell said. 

Campbell is looking into working in border patrol after attaining his Bachelors. He became interested in working in border patrol while looking into other careers that would support his love of aviation such as search and rescue and homeland security. His family's history of protecting and serving citizens as police officers led Campbell to his current career choice and is also how he came across the Carl Parsell Scholarship. 

Through the scholarship, Campbell was able to express how he would be able to apply himself to homeland security and protect citizens as well as how he would utilize the scholarship to support his education. When awarded, Campbell felt accomplished and greatly appreciates how he would not have been able to get to his successes without the help of his family and others. 

For the upcoming semester, Campbell hopes that it will be a great start to helping him work towards his goals and also the start of the invaluable experience of the education and maturation that comes with attending college.

“I would just say things can happen when you definitely do put your mind to it and success is created in repetition...You just keep practicing and somewhere along the lines you’ll get it,” Campbell said. 

MAP started the Carl Parsell Scholarship in 1991. The namesake of the scholarship, Carl Parsell,  was instrumental to the foundation of MAP, which was the founding of several local police organizations in 1984 seeking professional representation concerning views on legislation in Lansing and representation for various groups. Parsell was a Detroit police officer who would later shape modern police unions when he became President of the Detroit Police Officers association in the early ‘60s. 

Parsell was the Executive Director of MAP until his passing in 1990 after a battle with cancer. As a tribute, the board of directors of MAP voted to establish the memorial namesake scholarship. Fred Timpner, appointed Executive Director of MAP, attributes Parsell’s strong encouragement of education as an inspiration in starting the scholarship, noting Parsell’s favorite sayings, ‘knowledge is power’ and his encouragement for students to stay in school and for others who were not in school to get back into education. 

“It seemed like a natural fit when the idea was put forth by a member of the board ‘let’s establish a scholarship for him in his name. And that’s what we’ve been doing ever since,” Timpner said. 

To be eligible for the scholarship, applicants must be a member of the organization, or a son, daughter, or direct relative of a public sector employee in Michigan. The scholarship is not only an option for graduating high school students, but also to members of the workforce. 

Scholarships have a set due date on March 1, and afterwards a selected committee composed of presidents from local groups representing MAP review the applications. The committee does not view applications on grades alone, as they also look at what applicants have done to demonstrate ways in which they have done public service and even how they may have been involved in extracurricular activities. 

Recipients of the scholarship receive $2,50, and are recognized at an annual golf outing and dinner for their accomplishments. Timpner hopes that by continuing to support recent graduates and others with the Carl Parsell scholarship the association can achieve not only acknowledging the hard work of students and others, but also giving outsiders a chance to see the positive aspects of society amongst a field of work in which many see mostly the negative aspects of society. 

“When you see the quality of the applicants that win, in fact, even the quality of the applications and you read what some of these people have accomplished it gives you great hope that this society has got a bright future with the talent that’s out there,” Timpner said. 

To learn more about the scholarship and MAP, visit their website.

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