Three-year Veteran Faro-petersen Named 2011 Explorer of the Year

Samantha Faro-Petersen, a three year veteran of Winthrop Post #99, has been named the 2011 Winthrop Explorer of the Year.

“Samantha has been one of the leaders of our program for the last couple of years and she really deserved this honor,” explained Winthrop Police Sergeant Steve Rogers, who with Lieutenant Frank Scarpa serves as the Post’s Winthrop Police Department mentors.

“Samantha is a lieutenant in the post, she organizes the bi-weekly meetings and helps to run the post’s activities, including assisting with fundraising efforts to help the Post make our biennial trips to the National Conference.

Faro-Petersen was one of the Post’s main fundraisers two years ago when the Post traveled to Atlanta, GA and she has taken a leadership role in fundraising for this year’s planned trip in July to Fort Collins, Colorado.

She graduated from Pope John XXIII High School last year and is currently enrolled as a freshman at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, where she is majoring in Criminal Justice.

Among her many accomplishments as a Post leader, Farro-Smith was chosen as one of 50 participants in the 2011 National Law Enforcement Explorer/ FBI Leadership Academy in Washington DC and Quantico, VA last year. The FBI leadership academy features programs on the dynamics of leadership, physical training and law enforcement practices. She was one of more than 2,000 applicants to the program.

In 16 years of the Winthrop Police Explorers Program, Faro-Petersen is just the third Winthrop Police Explorer to be chosen to attend one of the four federally run leadership academies, following past Explorers’ Andrew Minichello and Amanda Shannon.

“Samantha, through her hard work and dedication to the program, really stands out as an example of what the Winthrop Police Explorers is all about,” added Rogers.

The Winthrop Police Explorer Post #99 is in the midst of its fundraising activities for this year’s trip to Fort Collins and Sergeant Rogers noted that the Post is “about halfway to its goal.”

“We’re at the upper end of members that we want to bring this year, between 12 and 18, depending on how things work out and with Colorado being an expensive place to fly to, we still have a lot of work to do, but we’re getting there,” said Rogers.