MTC Law Enforcement students awarded memorial scholarships

DiCicco scholarship Fester

(Bradenton, FL—September 25, 2015)  Four students in the Law Enforcement Academy at Manatee Technical College were awarded $1,000 each from the Dan DiCicco Memorial Scholarship Foundation.  The Dan DiCicco family came to the MTC East Campus to present the scholarships to the students on September 23.

Dan DiCicco was a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputy and a graduate of the University of South Florida and Manatee Tech’s Law Enforcement Academy.  Even while battling Hodgkin’s disease, the former high school football star lived his chosen career as a Pinellas deputy and even made the physically demanding SWAT team. The inspiring young man died at age 29 in 2013. His family established a foundation to help students going into law enforcement.

The MTC students selected were Nina Fester, Natasha Hindman, Jonathan Rivera, and Maycon Mac-Dowell.  Dan’s mother, Cheryl DiCicco, presented the scholarships and encouraged all the recruits to “stay safe and be good law enforcement officers like our son was.”

Also in attendance was Dan’s father, Paul DiCicco, good friends Paul and Gloria Drouin, and Dan’s older brother, Paul DiCicco, deputy chief of Clinical Affairs in the Emergency Medical Services Division of the Manatee County Government Public Safety Department.

The students who were selected all had to overcome real hardships in life and are working in addition to being in school.  Rivera said, “The scholarship is going to help me still come to the academy and help my little sister, as well.”  The 23-year-old is legal guardian of a younger sister still in high school.  Hindman said it would help her pay for child care.  Also 23, she has a passion for law enforcement and a real desire to help young people.  “If I can help one young person out of 100 stay out of trouble, I will be happy.”

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