One area student has transformed his dedication and discipline within the halls of Greenville High School into a springboard for a potential career.

Alex Haire, a senior at GHS, has been named an intern with the Greenville Police Department at the recommendation of school staff, as well as a board of police officers formed to select a candidate for the internship.

According to Greenville Police Department chief Justin Lovvorn, the internship program evolved from an existing job shadowing experience that the department provided for area youth. 

“What we did this year is we made contact with [Greenville High School], and they felt that the best place to start would be the ROTC program,” Lovvorn said.

Lovvorn and the department interviewed a number of interested students, but Haire stood out among the rest for several reasons.

“He was definitely a top-quality person in general, not just as a student, from what we knew of him,” Lovvorn said.

“We were looking at his accountability at school; he had a good attitude, and his attendance was good.  He showed a lot of promise and that he wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement.  He just had the best all-round demeanor, initiative and drive that we saw.”

With about a month of GPD experience under his belt, Haire has worked at the department after school for roughly two hours each weekday. 

Despite his limited capacity as an intern, he has been able to experience nearly every facet of operations at the department, including logistics, patrols, investigations, animal control, administration and more.

And though his time with the GPD has been brief, Lovvorn said that he–and others around the department–have felt the impact of his presence.

“Even though he’s limited in the amount of things he can do—because he’s not an actual police officer or someone who can look at sensitive records—he’s still a huge help,” Lovvorn said.

“He’s really started to learn what each person does there, and the different things he can do to help them.  We have a guy who’s over records, maintenance on vehicles and property, and he’s done extremely well in being his right hand when there’s nothing else for him to do.  And he also gets to ride with the patrol supervisor at times to experience that end of it, although it’s not as often.”

“He’s just been very helpful within the department with the things that he can do.  We’ve noticed that it’s helped out our other employees in our regular job duties when they can help him learn by giving him a little of their job description to do, and it’s worked out really well.”

The proverbial icing on the cake would come a short while after the department’s selection.  In addition to Haire’s list of achievements and qualifications, he is also the valedictorian of GHS’s 2017 graduating class.

Lovvorn said that it’s no small wonder, and that the department’s first intern has set a high-water mark for his successors.

“He obviously has a great work ethic, and how he handles his schoolwork is the same,” Lovvorn said.

“He’s at the top of his class there, and that’s no surprise to me after having watched him working with us and how he handles himself.  He’s very particular and follows through with what he’s doing, so I can see how he was named valedictorian of his class.”