San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office employee, Joseph Van Meter, is the first recipient of the Sheriff's Advisory Foundation (SAF) scholarship award.
The scholarship fund honors the memory of Retired Judge Richard C. Kirkpatrick who passed away in July 2017.
It was created to give community members of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties scholarships to advance their careers in the criminal justice system.
The scholarship of $1,496 will help Van Meter obtain his license to practice law in California.
In May 2017, Van Meter graduated from the University of California Los Angeles-School of Law with a JD law degree; he specialized in Law and Philosophy. In April 2014, he graduated from Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA with a B.A degree in Philosophy and a minor in Spanish.
Van Meter says his lifelong goal is to serve as a Deputy District Attorney, prosecuting crimes, and later as a judge, presiding over those prosecutions.
