By Tony Germanotta
The Virginian-Pilot
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — When he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High, Bryan Farrington received a lot more than a diploma. He got his own badge and an ID that will get him in - and out - of the City Jail.
The next day, Farrington was sworn into a job he had sought all of his senior year. On Tuesday, the soft-spoken teen became a sheriff’s deputy after impressing a teacher and Sheriff Bill Watson with his determination.
Farrington , 19, began his career campaign after landing a job at a local gas station about 10 months ago. A couple of deputies had part-time jobs there, and he liked how they talked about their work.
“So I did some research,” he said . “I thought it would be a good fit for my skills.”
His grandmother had been a jail matron in Key West, Fla., and his mother had worked briefly in the same facility before the family moved to Kansas. They moved to Hampton Roads about five years ago.
His mother, Gail , now works at Tidewater Community College.
“I always taught my boys that whatever they put their minds to, we can do it,” she said .
Farrington got a squared-away haircut and focused on cracking the Sheriff’s Office, not even considering a similar career at the regional jail.
Darrell M. Lassiter, Farrington’s “education for employment” teacher, was moved.
“As a teacher at the high school level, I rarely ever get to see someone take a career goal, pursue it and make it happen,” he said.
Lassiter, who once worked in the jail as a deputy, called Watson about a month ago and asked if the sheriff would meet with Farrington .
Watson invited them right over.
“It’s refreshing to see a young individual that knows what they want, who has charted their life and is headed in the right direction,” Watson said Monday.
Watson said he decided during that meeting last month to hire him .
“If he’s got the guts to come here and ask me,” he said, “I’ve got the guts to hire him.”
But he didn’t tell Farrington until he finished his graduation practice Monday afternoon.
When Farrington ‘s mother picked him up after the practice, he told her that he had just talked with the sheriff and was going to be a deputy.
She brought him to Watson’s office, where he filled out the required paperwork.
“We get the first Xeroxed copy of your diploma,” Watson told him, adding, “I think you can do very well. I have big plans for you in the future.”
Monday night after graduation, Watson presented Farrington with a badge and ID . The swearing-in ceremony occurred Tuesday afternoon before Circuit Court Chief Judge Mark S. Davis.
Farrington will start work at the city’s sheriff’s training academy, then head over to the Portsmouth jail, Watson said. He’ll earn $27,104 his first year.
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