CANTON — Andre M. Lynch can see his future clearly, and recently received a financial boost to getting there.

Mr. Lynch, a SUNY Canton law enforcement leadership senior, wants to be an Ogdensburg police officer after graduation this coming May.

“I would love to work for Ogdensburg if I could to get my foot in the door,” he said. “I just want to be a cop somewhere, wherever the opportunity comes, I’ll run for it.”

A recently-awarded $1,500 scholarship from the New York State Financial Aid Administrator’s Association will help pay for his final semester.

“This is actually the first scholarship that I’ve ever applied for,” said Mr. Lynch. “I always figured there were so many applicants that I wouldn’t have a significant chance at winning.”

Mr. Lynch says he has wanted to go into law enforcement since graduating from high school.

“Since I went to BOCES in eleventh grade I knew I wanted to go into law enforcement,” he said. “My dream job would be to be a U.S. marshall or detective for the state police.”

A Central Islip native, he followed his law enforcement dream to Canton.

“SUNY Canton is one of the few colleges in the whole country that offers a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement,” he said.

Now, that dream is within reach.

Kerrie L. Cooper, director of financial aid Student Service Center, helped direct Mr. Lynch to the scholarship opportunity.

“He’s a very bright and very personable student, and I know he works very hard to get everything that he has,” she said. “A lot of students in his circumstances, they don’t even try. He has to go above and beyond every time.”

Mr. Lynch works as a student assistant in the registrar’s office. He is a founding father of the Delta Epsilon Omega chapter on campus.

“I do a lot of community service, a lot of volunteer work,” he said. “My fraternity organized a weekly campus cleanup and we just developed a partnership with the foster kids in the area at the Jefferson County Children’s Home.”

This spring he will enter the Law Enforcement Academy at SUNY Canton to complete his education.

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