46-year-old North Carolina sheriff's lieutenant graduates from college

BREVARD, N.C. -- James Dodson, a lieutenant with the Patrol Division for the Transylvania County Sheriff's Office, graduated from Brevard College with his bachelor's degree in criminal justice on May 10 at 46 years old.

At 20 years of age, Dodson put his education on hold to begin working as a full-time police officer with the Brevard Police Department.

In 2008, he began working full-time for the Transylvania County Sheriff's Office.

Ever since entering the workforce, Dodson has worked in the patrol division, investigation division, and been a member of the special response teams. He has attended over 3,000 hours of training and currently holds an advanced service award and the advanced law enforcement certificate, which is the highest achievement and certification for a law enforcement officer in the state of North Carolina.

"I got my associates in 1998 at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in criminal justice, and straight out of that, I went straight to the Academy and straight into law enforcement at age 20, right there at the beginning of 1999. I've been in law enforcement ever since," said Dodson.

ALSO SEE ABC11 meteorologist Don Schwenneker, son turn the tassel at UNCP

After this career, Dodson came back to Brevard College to earn his bachelor's degree.

"I've been thinking of it, tried to start back in 2019. I got a few classes in, and right behind that, my son started here on Brevard College playing football, so I wanted to enjoy him being in college. Where did those four years go? And he graduated from Brevard College last year, and my daughter will be graduating high school next year, and she'll be attending college soon. So not only time-wise, but financially, I knew this was it."

Dodson graduated among the top of his class at Brevard College.

He was also inducted into Alpha Chi, the National College Honor Society and Alpha Phi Sigma, and the Criminal Justice Honor Society.

The-CNN-Wire
& 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

Featured video is ABC11 24/7 Livestream