SIX OF 153 SUMMER EMPLOYEES SHARE HOPES FOR THE Y.I.P. INITIATIVE

Myla Fernandez, 17 Myla hails from Scarborough and heard about the YIPI program from friends who participated before. The recent Grade 12 grad from St. John Paul II Catholic Secondary School thought this would be good work experience before studying nursing at Ryerson. Myla said she hopes to work alongside the police’s forensics team this summer. Brenden Kennedy, 15 A North York native, Brenden is heading into Grade 10 at Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and hopes to shadow the marine unit because he likes spending time out on the water, and adds he’d consider becoming a police officer if this summer placement goes well. Zainab Hanif, 17 Originally from Scarborough, Zainab wants to push herself outside her comfort zone by getting involved with police in rural areas. “I thought it’d be interesting to explore that aspect of policing because I’m never exposed to it,” she said. She graduated from Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute this year and is headed to Ryerson to study politics in September. Brian Brempong, 15 Brian, from Etobicoke, hopes his athleticism will be a benefit while on the force. The Grade 10 student is on the trackfield team at his high school, Father Henry Carr Catholic. “When it comes to the action part of policing, I can be there,” he said. The placement will be his very first job. Maryan Sheikh-Ali, 17 Maryan hails from Jane and Finch and she’s the first in her family to work in any capacity with the police. “That was kind of my motivation to get involved — to learn more about it,” Maryan said. Just graduated from John Polanyi Collegiate, she would like to work in the police’s social media department before going to Ryerson to study media production in September. Samir Abdulhadi, 17 Samir is from Black Creek and his dad works with the police in the court services department, so he felt pretty confident he’d get the summer job, “not to sound cocky or anything.” He hopes to work with the forensics team before heading to Humber College to study to become a paralegal this fall. He graduated from North Park Secondary School this year.