Officer Brandon Stalker Scholarship Whitmer HS

I am a criminal justice professor at Lourdes University but Brandon was one of my students at Whitmer High school in the Criminal Justice program.  His class was special to me as they were my last class at Whitmer in 2015.  Brandon and I kept in touch and he sent me a picture of him in uniform when he graduated from the police academy and thanked me for my role in his success.  It was like him to be considerate of others like that. When I found out that he was the officer killed on January 18, I was devastated and speechless.  I am beginning this scholarship with his mom, Cosette Stalker, as a way to always keep his memory alive.

Brandon had a dream of becoming a police officer.  He took that seriously and when he reached  high school, he applied for the Whitmer CTC Criminal Justice Program. He completed the program and graduated in 2015.  Brandon was the kind of student teachers want to teach.  He cared about the subject matter and was always on task while participating in a very active classroom environment. He was a quiet leader who always had a smile. He was very bright and caught on quickly to concepts, making it easy for him to help other students when they needed it.  He also played baseball at Whitmer where he was talented, but also a team player.  After Brandon graduated from Whitmer, he continued to pursue his goal of becoming an officer.  In July of 2018, he began his police academy training and on March 1, 2019 he graduated from the police academy to become an officer for the Toledo Police Division.  He wanted to be a police officer to help others and not to wield power.  He was a kind and compassionate person and that translated into his policing. There are many people who have related stories about how his kindness impacted their lives.  Unfortunately, his time with us was cut short by a bullet from an individual who, if he could have, Brandon would have wanted to help.  His watch ended on January 18, 2021.  This scholarship is in memory of him and will be given to a current graduating senior going on to pursue an associates or bachelor’s degree in criminal justice or a graduate who has completed the Whitmer CJ program and plans to go into some type of law enforcement agency after college.    The recipient must show they have a kind heart and a passion for helping others and performing community service .  This will be shown by obtaining a recommendation and an  essay explaining why service is important  to them and providing examples of meaningful things they have done to help others. Our goal is to provide two $500 scholarships this year and have money for one next year.