Now a senior, Rance Mills attends Thomas College in Waterville and he's majoring in criminal justice. He graduated from Boothbay Region High School (BRHS) in 2011. This academic year Rance holds the Boothbay Region Student Aid Fund’s Wilson Wilde Family Scholarship, one of the BRSAF’s 60 scholarships.

Rance’s greatly admired older brother serves as a police sergeant in Kennebec County, and, after graduating from Thomas College, Rance hopes to — like his brother — become a police officer. Currently, with only a year left in college, Rance is completing for graduation core courses in literature, math, criminal justice careers, and comparative politics. This spring, as part of Thomas’ criminal justice curriculum, he will be attending the Maine Police Academy in Vassalboro.

This columnist recently observed that, prior to the 1970s, other than FBI agents, law enforcement officers rarely possessed college degrees. In fact, municipal and county police officers usually had no more than six months training at state or local police academies. The typical beat cop often got his job because his father was on the force, he knew someone influential in the department, or he had the right political connections.

Especially in many eastern municipalities, your neighborhood policeman was most likely Irish or Italian-American. Today, to become a police officer in Maine: “You must be 21 years or older, with at least 690 credit hours from an accredited college, or age 19, currently enrolled in an accredited post-secondary education program with at least 40 credit hours.” And, you must also have completed a “basic law enforcement course,” as Rance will do at the Vassalboro Police Academy as part of his final spring semester at Thomas College.

As late as the 1970s, Thomas College itself hosted the State Police Academy on its Waterville campus. Beginning in the 1970s, stiffer, mandated training requirements for policemen necessitated a much larger and better equipped facility. Therefore, in 1990 Maine purchased the 105-acre Oak Grove Coburn School complex in Vassalboro. The state renovated the old school and built a new 19,000 square feet training facility. Today, the beautifully-landscaped, fully-equipped State Police Academy houses up to 130 students.

Mills is excited about attending the academy and his imminent future in police work. In fact, he has already applied for a position on the Augusta Police Force.

The Wilson Wilde Family Scholarship supports Rance Mills’ criminal justice education at Thomas College. A year after the family in 2012, under the auspices of the BRSAF, established the Wilson Wilde Family Scholarship Wilson Wilde died. Born in 1927, and educated at the Chaffee School and Williams and Swarthmore Colleges, Wilson Wilde served in both World War II and Korea, before inaugurating a highly successful career in the insurance industry.

At age 43, in the year 1971, he rose to become the CEO of the HSB (insurance) Group in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wildes are long-time summer and year-round residents of East Boothbay. The family scholarship is “unrestricted” to be awarded at the discretion of the BRSAF board. Dedicated, ambitious and career-driven, Rance Mills is a worthy recipient.

The Boothbay Region Student Aid Fund recently completed its 2014 annual fund drive. However, it always welcomes financial support. Contributions to the BRSAF can be sent to P.O. Box 293, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538. For more information on the BRSAF, go to www.boothbayharborstudentaidfund.org.