Ava Bevilacqua dreams of becoming a police officer. 

Taking initiative to jumpstart that dream, she sent State College police a letter expressing her interest in volunteering. 

“We received a letter from a 12-year-old girl, asking to come and work with the State College Police Department this summer…it was something totally different then I’ve ever seen,” Community Outreach and Crime Prevention Officer Adam Salyards said.

Ava even went as far as to get a letter of recommendation that was sent to the station. 

One thing that all the officers can agree on, is getting letters like this can be a heartwarming start to a day. 

“I just thought it was really neat. And ya know, she went into details… one of the things that she said was ‘I’m not afraid to see blood or gross things.’ So it was kind of cool that she’s already thinking of the different things that we do and some of the things that we see,” Salyards said. 

While she might be too young to volunteer, the department welcomed her to get a taste of what a day in the life as a police officer is like — while doing some pretty neat things. 

“We went to the, I forget what it was called, it was the bomb place…I drove this bomb robot and we got a bomb from a lunch box and drove it back, and it was really cool,” Bevilacuqa said.

From processing fingerprints to getting her very own State College police challenge coin, the experience only makes her want to become a police officer more.