Pacific West Academy Graduation Class 75 September – November 2025

All right. Good morning graduates, family, and friends. My name is Ethan White, and I have the distinct honor of being the institutional director here at PWA. Today is a day of celebration, not just for the accomplishment of the individuals that are seated before us, but for what their accomplishments mean for our communities, our country, and the world. As we gather to honor the graduates of class 75, I want to reflect on what role they are stepping into and why it’s so profoundly important now more than ever. We live in a world that is increasingly complex. Whether it’s protecting individuals, organizations, or communities, the need for skilled, prepared, and ethical protectors has never been greater. At Pacific West Academy, we believe that providing you with the knowledge and skills to meet these challenges is not just our mission. It’s also our responsibility.

The Certified Executive Security Specialist program is built on the understanding that the work you do matters. It isn’t just about securing a client or a property. It’s about creating peace of mind, upholding safety, and being a pillar of stability in uncertain times. Your hard work over the past 10 weeks has prepared you to serve not only as professionals in your field, but also as leaders in a critical and honorable mission. It represents a commitment to equipping you with the tools to face the world’s challenges head on. In this commitment that has brought students from all across the US to join our program, united by a shared dedication to a higher purpose.

Class 75, your efforts over these weeks have been nothing short of extraordinary. You’ve pushed through rigorous training, honed your skills, and built bonds of trust and camaraderie with one another. Today we celebrate your success, but we also celebrate what that success will mean for the people and communities you will go on to protect. As we begin today’s ceremony, I ask everyone to reflect on the journey that’s brought us here and the vital role that these graduates will play in the world. Class 75, you have earned your place among the elite. Today is the start of a new chapter in your lives and we are very proud to be celebrating this moment with you. So, congratulations and let’s begin the ceremony. There he is.

All right. Good morning to all our graduates. Good morning to the folks watching at home, the friends and family. I just want to start off by saying and talking about what these students have been through. Since they’ve been here. First of all, these students before they come to Pacific West Academy have to wade through the entire internet to find courses that will prepare them for their future careers. They have a variety of courses they can pick from. One day, three-day, five-day, maybe even two week courses.

Most of the students who come here they’re already coming with a lot of experience whether it’s military, police, or they’re already in the security industry. This program is for people who want to get to the next level in their careers and in their lives. And we have people that come here that use these skills to go into other industries who also become very successful. However, the people who come through this course are here to become security professionals because they have a sense of duty towards their communities, towards each other or sometimes just towards the public at large. So to be involved in the security industry is a tremendous thing. It’s a tremendous career. It’s a real pathway. When I started in this game, it was not clear that you could make a career out of it.

Today there’s no doubt with the industry exploding how it is and with the demand for top flight agents being what it is, there really is no issue for highly trained agents like the one sitting before me today to get a good career and to make a big impact out in the field. Security plays a huge role in the safety of our country, of our communities and in our families. The public and your clients are not just safer from you having attended Pacific West Academy, you and your families are also more safe from having received our training. So, it’s a tremendous honor for me and my colleagues to provide this level of training to you all and I’m looking forward to talking about each of you individually just a little bit before we send you off into the field. So, I’m going to go ahead and talk about our first student. So, this first student was an excellent student all the way around.

He demonstrated good classroom performance, was excellent during his FTX runs and made huge strides on the range. He was a little shaky at first. He does have an interesting demeanor about himself for sure. He also did provide some good we me and him definitely had a very good back and forth. I’ll definitely call him one of my mijo. I’m sure now we know who I’m talking about. Big strides on the mats. His overall demeanor and professionalism is really what showed out all throughout the course. And just speaking about the mats real quick, I forgot to mention I do find it very fitting that we graduate right here on the mats where we really do get to meet each other and meet the real versions of each other. You’re not you. This sitting before me is not you. Who was you was yesterday during the combatives final when you toughed your way through that extremely difficult iteration of your training.

This particular student is going to thrive and excel wherever he ends up. He has great potential for me. He showed a lot of true greyman qualities. He can kind of fit in and do whatever he needs to do. And I’m pretty sure I’m going to be seeing him out in the field one of these nights. I’m talking about Mr. Adrian Millan.

Thank you so much. Thanks. Honestly, I just want to thank everybody, the family of Pacific West Academy, because I think a lot of us can relate to what I’m about to say, but as we begin to transition out, some of us, I know, have been in or have been out for many, many years already, but as a lot of us begin to transition out, it becomes hard to find who we are in like this new world, right? And I think Pacific West Academy does a good job to kind of reignite you to people that think like you. And I just want to thank you guys for that.

Simon. All right. This this next student a real standout, a top performer across the board. Came in great shape with a lot of previous experience in the field at the range and on the mats. I was watching him do his combatives final yesterday and I was like, man, it’s a good thing I don’t spar with these guys anymore. I was feeling much better being on the sidelines wi with you guys with this student running around the mats. He has all the correct tools physically and mentally to be a big success in the industry. His brother also graduated from our course as a top performer. I’m hoping to get the rest of the family in here, maybe the whole bloodline and hopefully a few of his kids as well. So we can have a whole squad of these students out in the field keeping the whole United States safe. I’m talking about Mr. Amunra Agrinya. Appreciate you. Man, it doesn’t seem like a long journey, but it was.

I’m thankful for all the people that I’ve met here at Pacific West Academy. I’ve learned a lot from each of you. You know, I’ve definitely grown in these two months and two weeks and honestly, I look forward to working with you guys in the field. I look forward to being able to continuously pick you guys brain and just building a strong community, you know, even after we graduate, you know, with the instructors and my fellow classmates. So, thank you all. Appreciate you.

All right, this next student, a really interesting individual. I don’t think I heard his voice for the first month, five, six weeks that he was here in the course. However, quiet is one of our core values and his performance spoke much louder than words. It really all came together for him yesterday during the final when I got to meet the real him. Let’s just say he’s quiet, but his motivation is loud. He’s another student with a lot of gray man qualities. He’s going to be a tremendous asset to any organization he ends up with. To watch him make the improvements that he made socially, physically, mentally, tactically is one of the things that keeps me motivated to continue being an instructor here to watch people improve and really become assets. I’m talking about Mr. Antonio Parra.

Is it okay? I just want to say thank you for all my fellow classmates helping me train to be better and all the instructors sharing their expertise upon me and helping me become a better person and hopefully a better person in this field.

Yeah. When he speaks, like an angel, doesn’t he? All right. This next student has an interesting backstory. I actually met this student while teaching a guard card class at the VA. I do like doing that, but I’m not going to lie, it can be a pretty depressing experience being in there, unfortunately.

There was one attendee though who did stand out with his professionalism and his demeanor. He approached me after class, asked me about the security industry. I told him about PWA and I sort of thought that’s where it would end that I probably wouldn’t be seeing him again. However, maybe a month or two later, I’m walking onto the mats and there he was ready to get to work. And somewhat surprisingly, he’s been a really exceptional student. Has really improved and elevated himself amongst his peers and in the industry generally as he’s already begun working extensively in the field. It’s really great to see someone walk almost blindly into this program and gained so much in such a short period of time. I asked him why he joined the program. He said, “I just kind of saw how you carried yourself. You seem like a cool guy, so I thought I’d give it a try.” so I thank the student very much for showing the confidence.

It’s no small feat coming to this program. It really isn’t. 10 weeks, away from your friends, from your family. Some of you already had jobs. It really is no small deal. And I really appreciate everybody’s sacrifice who comes through here through this program. And by the way, your instructors also make a lot of sacrifices to make this place run as well. We all got angry girlfriends and wives that sometimes don’t always appreciate the level of dedication. But like what I told you, there’s no way to excel in this industry without a tremendous level of dedication. And this student has definitely demonstrated that this is something that he wants. And I’m happy that we met and that I was able to push him in the right direction. He was a top performer on the mats and on the range. Was great in the classroom. It was funny. At the range, he seemed surprised that he was doing so well, but he actually ended up being a really really good shooter.

He’s like, “Man, these other guys, they’re so good.” Da da da. And I’m looking at his scores and I’m looking at his shots. I was like, “Are you sure we’re not talking about you?” So, and he really has a chance with his dedication, his training, and professionalism to really make an impact. I’m talking about Mr. Brian Rowan.

Appreciate you. I just want to say thank you to all y’all. Wasn’t easy. I think I was the main one that was having a hard time with adjusting with everybody, but over time I got to appreciate all y’all in different ways. And I say iron sharpens iron. Y’all taught me a lot in different ways and we made some changes. Let’s get to it, baby.

All right. All right. This next student is a real go-getter. Always was the first to step forward and take on difficult tasks and put in a lot of work in the field when he was in training. I really appreciate that about this student. He was always very available to us for whatever task we needed whether it was in the classroom or in the field. This student really made some big improvements to his overall game. He came in with an excellent background for the industry but what I can say is that it was his work work ethic that really stood out to me. If he continues his training, maintains his dedication, there’s no stopping this individual, whether it’s in close protection or advances. He’s going to be a tremendous asset. I wish that we could keep him out here on the West Coast, but he’s going to thrive wherever he goes, and he’ll always have a home here in LA if he wants it. I’m talking about Mr. Darius Cruz.

I’m talking about you. I just want to thank everyone here, class, instructors. It was great working with you guys, learning with you guys, training with you guys, and guns up, baby.

All right. You know, I got to call who was a top performer, and there were quite a few top performers in this class. So, this next student was another top performer in a class full of them. I’m also going to say he definitely has the best accent of class 75. I’m going to give him that. Really, really good accent. I appreciate accents. I never had the accent I wanted, but he’s definitely got one of them. So, he has all the intangibles. And now with his intense focus training that he’s received here at the academy, he’ll be starting a new security career right here in LA where he belongs. By LA, I mean Los Angeles, not Louisiana. Just so that we know. And I also don’t mean lower Arkansas. I do mean Los Angeles. So I do I don’t want to lose him to the South again. Came in great shape, tremendous mental toughness and resolve. Made big strides at the range and on the mats. He’s quiet, assertive, and in control.

And I look forward to seeing him out in the field one of these nights soon. Talking about Mr. Jeffrey Davis.

All right. I just want to thank Pacific West Academy. It’s been a while since I’ve been grouped up with a bunch of dudes working towards the same goal. I definitely won’t miss sharing a bathroom with you fellas, but I’ll I’ll miss you guys and I wish you all the best of luck out there. All right.

All right. So, another one of my mijos we’re going to talk about right now. Sometimes there’s a class mijo, sometimes there isn’t, but this time there was two. So that’s always good. So it has been great to see this individual’s confidence go up and really tap into his potential. Very smart individual. Could probably do other things with his life, but I think he knows now that he’s exactly where he needs to be at this point in his life. He was excellent all throughout the course. He’s a highly trained agent now and now he needs to go and do great things. He’s quiet, assertive, and in control. That’s what you need in this game. And now that he’s got it, I’m sure that we’ll be seeing him in the field all the time, which is what I’m hoping for. Talking about Mr. Johan, Johan Baez, John B. Talk about that spelling, want to give special thanks to my classmates. I learned a lot from you guys. Special shout out to Brian. Yes, sir.

He’s the main one that kind of like took me under his wing. Shout out to this guy, too. The special bunch of special guys around me. I appreciate all you guys. Thank you for all the learning experiences. Thank you for Willis for beating my ass the whole time, man. Hey, go what I got to work on, man. Thank you everybody here. Thank you for the PWA family for making my stay here. Like very nice. Thank you.

All right. Now, this next student was a real character. He definitely pro provided a lot of the comic relief for the class, which is what we need, especially on those longer days where a good laugh goes a long way. However, what really stood about this student was his mental toughness. I saw him step to every opponent he faced on the mats with bad intentions. He has the correct mindset and now the correct training to excel. He lives up in NorCal, which every day becomes a bigger hot bed for the security industry. Now, he did try to dress like Bruce Lee one time, okay? He thought that I wouldn’t notice. All right, so I did have to call him out on it. But I’ve decided that maybe he should dress like Bruce more often. The sky’s is the limit for this student. I hope to see him in the field very soon, and I appreciate him for his presence, his his his laughter.

He was a very very interesting guy but in the end he’s now he’s a highly trained security professional who’s going to go on the field and do great things. I’m talking about Mr. Johnathan Hawkley.

You know I wasn’t surprised about the Bruce Lee comment.

I appreciate you guys. The staff, the classmates, helping me get out of my comfort zone, keep me to stay true to my toes on what challenges that comes my way. Appreciate you guys. All right, this next student, this next student’s professionalism has really stood out to me and my fellow instructors. He really is the total package. High classroom, high range performer, high MAP performer. He had a little bit of a rough go yesterday during the combatives final and to no surprise, he toughed it out and made it to the finish line. He worked extremely hard and maintained a tough work schedule and go figure, he turned it into a great job right here in LA. We need more agents like him out in the field. I’m sure he’s going to bring the same level of dedication at his new post and will be a sought-after agent for many years to come.

I’m excited for this individual as well who’s had some good opportunities fall in his lap since you’ve been here in the program. I’m talking about Mr. Julio Oria.

Morning gentlemen. A lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice to get here, but we’re here now. Let’s go get it.

All right, this next student was a real standout. Excellent across the board, really showed showed out on the range, especially. He came in with an excellent background, significant skills that are going to make him a sought-after agent for years to come. This student is going to be staying in Los Angeles. He got himself a great post with a small but very well-known security company right here in Los Angeles. So, I’m looking forward to see this student a lot over the next several years. He’s definitely quiet, assertive, and in control. And now I get the pleasure and honor of getting to watch him execute out in the field for the years to come. Talking about Mr. Matthew Zedalis.

Thank you. Thank you Pacific West for having me for allowing me this opportunity not just for myself for all of us to come here and grow together. I’ve learned so much from each and every one of you. I try to take away something from each and every one of you. I’ve always been a firm believer of surrounding yourself around people that are better than you in a lot of ways. Around individuals that will constantly push ourselves forward, never backwards. So, thank you for everything and I hope to see you guys again here soon. All right. This next student is a very impressive individual, one of the most professional, presentable, well-spoken students I’ve ever had the pleasure of training. Is tremendously dedicated and motivated to be in the security industry, which is exactly where he belongs. He came to the academy with already an excellent background and came in tremendous shape. He showed up and showed out at every phase.

He’s one of those guys who’s going to be able to make his own way in the industry. I’m glad he let us give him get him a little bit more ready, and from what I gather, he’ll be staying here in LA. So, I really look forward to seeing this man in the field real soon. He’s definitely quiet, assertive, and in control, and he’s going to do big things. I’m talking about Mr. Stanley Stinvil.

And handsome, too. I honestly want to say thank you to the PWA staff. To have being able to be in a field that allows me to continue using my skills I obtained through the military is a great thing because I worked hard for a lot of the skills I did obtain and it is great to be surrounded with like-minded individuals who want to push themselves to be better and be able to protect their loved ones. So, thank you. And I look forward to working with you guys.

All right, this next student, I think we could all learn a thing or two from this next student about how to carry ourselves professionally and personally. This student was definitely the class papa bear, but also brought a bit of that grizzly bear with him as well. He came with a tremendous background,

A small grizzly bear. What can I say? He came with a tremendous background. His combative skills became apparent during our very first session and his range work was exceptional. Definitely the kind of guy who would make a good instructor out here. I know he has some other plans. He’s a true professional who could have went straight into a security career due to all his pre-existing qualifications. However, in wise Papa Bear fashion, he knew he needed a little more training. So I’m glad he chose our institution to get him ready. It was an honor to train him and I hope to see him again soon. I’m talking about Mr. Tyler Paul.

Small blonde grizzly bear. Normally I get called a bulldog, but I’ll take grizzly bear this time.

What what say that already hadn’t been said? You know, these are some of the best in-house instructors that I’ve had the privilege of coming across. You could tell that they take great pride in what they’re teaching and they really invest in each student and I thank you Matt, Frank, Benji for that exact thing. Guys in front of me, we somehow made it this long without getting into any fights or anything like that, which is very impressive for a bunch of alpha males in one house. But, no, it was a pleasure working with all you guys. I hope you continue on. And one thing that, I would take away and kind of mention is always be seeking to make yourself better. So, just because you graduated here, you know, keep keep doing more, keep doing more. Always prepare, always get better. All right. Thanks.

All right. Let me keep my you know, my my thing going. You notice I’m reading with my finger right now. So, this next student, another high performing student, he embodies our core principles of quiet, assertive, and in control. A real leader who will do big things out in the field. Came to us already with great combative skills. I don’t know how he forgot to tell me that he was an amateur Muay Thai fighter, but he didn’t really need to tell me. When we started throwing kicks, it became pretty obvious he had some skills he hadn’t told me about. His firearms proficiency was also there. But it was really his leadership and professionalism that really made him stand out. He has everything he needs in spades to make it. He’s already looked at some great opportunities out on the east coast. I’m hoping he relocates one day. About 10 minutes from here would be good.

He was my my point of contact for some field work that we did and was tremendous in helping me organize a lot of the unforeseen things that we had to deal with while that this class had to deal with while they were here in the academy. And it was then that I realized that he’ll be a leader one day on a great squad. I’m sure I’m going to see him in the field one of these nights. I’m pretty certain of it. I’m talking about Mr. Tylor Culbertson. Thanks, man.

Tyler was an amateur. I know. How you doing? No, listen to me. A sincere thanks to all of the cadre that we have here at this school. I mean, it’s it’s been a pleasure. And to all of you guys, I mean, I’ve made some some really great friends that I’m looking forward to staying in contact with. So, thank you to all of you as well. Yeah.

All right. This next student is a real high performer across the board. Came in with very strong combative skills and was tremendous on the range as well. Demonstrated also very strong academic knowledge as well. Highly intelligent, deep thinker who could do everything from operational planning to close protection. I know he’s thinking he wants to go work with the government and I mean he’s definitely got that government thing about him. But I do think that he would be great in the private sector as well. Maybe a few years in the government, maybe wants to get out and rejoin us out here in the field. Either way, he’s going to be out there keeping our people safe here in the United States and abroad. So I’m hope he makes that he makes a turn, ends up with us. But he’s going to be an asset wherever he ends up. I’m talking about Mr. Willis Wan. A little nervous. How you guys doing? Come on now, sir. Yeah.

So from the first day when we arrived met Tyler at the airport and got back to the house where we did not drink soju and did not grapple in the kitchen.

I knew that this was going to be a special experience. So thank you guys all for this transformative journey and thank you for making me a better person and a better hopefully security specialist. I appreciate that.

Keep this one over here. I may or may not give this to the next individual. Now, give me All right. This next student was another real character. I try to sort of take him under my wing from the start and I’m glad that I’m glad I did and I’m glad that he let me. So, I think he’s found the confidence through his training to go out and be an exceptional agent. He has the right tools and the right mind and the right soul to be in the security agent and to be a top agent someday. If he continues his training, remains dedicated and motivated, there’s no stopping this student. Lucky for me, he’s a local guy like me, so I know he’ll get more chances to impart knowledge to him so he can go fulfill his full potential. I look forward to seeing him in the field and doing what he does best, which is protecting human beings. I’m talking about Mr. Winlan Chung.

Thank you to say to be it’s an honor to have been with everyone that’s in this course is an understatement. Thank you to the cadre. Thank you to everyone that I was here with my classmates and everything. Learned a lot from each one of you. As you can tell, I’m not much of a speech person, but anyways, it’s been a true honor and pleasure. Thank you.

All right, gentlemen. Well, that’s all I got. This will be the last time I’m addressing you guys as a class. It’s really important that you use this training to go out there and do what you were meant to do. No more side quests for you guys. You came here. You dedicated yourselves almost three months of your life. There’s no reason to wonder anymore. When you leave here, your friend over here is going to be selling cars. This one’s going to be selling insurance. This one’s going to HVAC school, electrical school, all this stuff. No more of that. Okay? No more. You already came here. You put in the time. You came here because that is your inclination. Is to protect. You can go and make more money. Selling cars is a perfectly honorable thing. Being an electrician is a perfectly honorable thing. But you are protectors. That is what your base instinct is. And when you betray your base instincts, that’s when we’re going to struggle. Okay?

I did other things with my life. I took time away from security and I was very successful at it and I had a perfectly good life and it was perfectly honorable and stuff but there was always something missing. I want to talk to you very quickly about a story that affected me maybe 6 months ago, eight months ago. There was a stabbing in England. A daughter and mother were walking down the street in London. There was a security agent there. I forget his name but he’s from from Pakistan. Very heavily accented. Recent immigrant, didn’t speak English very well, but he’s there and he’s being a security guard. There was a mass stabbing. The girl and the mother came under attack. This security guard came and thwarted the attack and overcame the attacker. The media came to him afterwards and asked him, “Weren’t you scared to go and do what you did?” And he told them, he said, “I’m a security guard. It’s my duty to protect them.” Thank you.

What’s up, fellas? What’s happening? All right, guys. How we doing? All right, guys. Ladies and gentlemen, for those that are watching at home, my name is Matt Cheun. I had the privilege for the past 10 weeks of being your graduates instructor. Couple things. So, there’s been a lot of really nice things said about you degenerates, but a lot of them are very true. Ultimately you guys showed up and showed out and performed to the best of your abilities. And really showed what you’re made of. And for that as instructors, we can’t thank you enough for coming every single day and putting out the effort to be willing to learn. Everything that we say or any of your instructors say is a lot of things that we’ve learned over time and discovered in different ways, but sometimes a lot of it’s also just recommendations based based off of our experiences.

And for you guys to show up and leave the training that you had in the past behind to learn new things says a lot about your character. With that being said, we are still an academy and it still comes down to grades. So, we have three different awards here at Pacific West Academy. We have our Top Gun award. That is going to be the person that essentially overperformed and performed to the highest level based on percentages. All right. We then have our second overall. That’s obviously the second person that performed with the highest percentage in the class. And then we have something called our Greyman Award, which isn’t necessarily the third person, and oftentimes it turns out to be the third person, but it’s not always that. It’s somebody that we feel can blend into a lot of different teams if they really tried and put the effort in. So again, it’s not always the overall third, but it just so happened to be again this time.

All right, so we’re going to go ahead and present these awards for the Greyman and the second overall. We have some some goodie bags over here with a couple different pieces of gear in there that’ll kind of get you to kickstart your career. So you’ll go ahead and get those. And then for the Top Gun award, they are going to receive a plaque that has their name on it that they can hang up in the room, take a picture every year, send it in the group chat, and be like, “Haha, guys, I beat you.” Right? But with that being said, we’re going to start with our Greyman award. This student in very particular fits into a lot of environments and I think is a very high performer. Can be on a overt team or a covert team. As we saw for the guys that did the FTX with me, Covert is very difficult. But I think this student particularly can fit into both scenarios and will absolutely be an asset to, any team that they end up joining.

So our Greyman award is going to go to Mr. Matthew Zedalis.

Our second overall. This student is a very high performer. I’ve had a lot of time chatting with this student and getting to know this person. And the character that he portrays and shows and presents also shows in his scores and the performance that he has has done here at Pacific West Academy with the second overall highest percentage in the academy. So, our second overall is going to be Mr. Tyler Paul.

So, again, our top gun award is going to read a receive a couple different things. We talked about the plaque. They also are going to receive a Suunto Core watch. I’ve spent a lot of time using these. I’ve jumped with them. I’ve dived with them. I’ve I’ve gone on deployments with them. And I actually still have mine to this day and it has lasted me a very long time. So they’re going to receive a Suunto Core watch as well as the plaque with their name on it so that they can rub it in your guys’ face a little bit later. All right. So the top gun award for class number 75 is going to be Mr. Willis Wan.

Sorry. Feel free to say anything if you want. Thank you.

No, I appreciate it. I didn’t think I was going to get this, especially cuz I scored 48 on the call shooting. I thought it was over for me week like week three or whatever. But yeah, thank you again. You guys really made me much better and I have a lot to reflect on. So appreciate all of you staff and students. He cheated. It’s all the college he did. Officers. Can you believe them? All right. Crazy. Yeah, crazy, right, fellas? I appreciate you guys tremendously. I know I didn’t get to chat with you guys after the combatives final yesterday because I was teaching and I unfortunately didn’t get to partake in it. I was looking forward to punching some of you. Just kidding. But I really do appreciate it. You guys make this job easy. All of your instructors put a lot of time behind the scenes, much more than you guys realize. Not just showing up and teaching the class for the day.

There’s a lot of things that happen in the background to make sure things happen. And so ultimately all of your instructors sacrifice a lot for you guys and the work that you guys put in and the attentiveness that you guys put in, the willingness to learn that you guys put in allows us to enjoy coming to work every single day. All of your instructors, especially for myself, this is much more than a job. This is building the relationships with you guys. I’ve said it to you guys before. I value the relationships I make in this industry so much more than the money that I make because ultimately you guys are walking billboards and you guys are also assets to us as much as we are assets to you guys and we learn just as much from you guys as much as you learn from us. So the willingness that you guys put in to learn and be a sponge is absolutely appreciated and I want to thank you guys for showing up every day and putting the work in.

All right. Now do not let this be a pedestal moment. Do not leave from here and go, you know what, I went to PWA, that’s it. Same thing with the military, right? It’s very easy for us to go through something and immediately stand on this pedestal and five years down the line, 10 years down the line, with no more training that we did than Pacific West Academy or anything that we did in the past, we think that we retain those skills, and we don’t. The truth is you’re either getting better or you are getting worse. You don’t ever stay the same. So, continue to train, continue to learn, continue to seek different types of knowledge. Let’s look at the actual course name. It’s CES, Certified Executive Security Specialist. Let’s highlight the word specialist here just for a moment. Being a specialist in something or viewing yourself as a specialist in something doesn’t mean like, oh, I’m a specialist, so I don’t have to learn anymore.

Well, I challenge you to actually think about it this way. In order to maintain viewing yourself as a specialist, how much more do you have to continue to learn? How much more information do you have to figure out to maintain calling yourself a specialist? So don’t set on don’t stand on this pedestal and just talk about the training you did in the past. Talk about the training you did today every single day. You are either going to be an asset or a liability. The work is hard. The time it takes is hard. Everything about it is hard. But choose which type of hard path do you want to go through. Do you want to go through something that is hard but has a good outcome to it? Or do you want to go through something that is hard and have nothing to show for it? Continue to train. Continue to be an asset. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Thank you. All right.

So, as we come to the conclusion of this momentous ceremony, I want to take a moment to reflect on the significance of today and the people who helped make it possible. So, first and foremost, to the family and friends of our graduates. Thank you. Your support, encouragement, and sacrifices have been invaluable. Behind every graduate is a network of loved ones who have provided strength and motivation through every challenge. Today, we celebrate not just the graduates, but also the unwavering support that has brought them here.

And then also to our exceptional instructors, Benji, Matt, and Frank. Your knowledge, dedication, and leadership have transformed these students into professionals that are ready to take on the world. You’ve done more than teach skills. You’ve instilled the principles of quiet, comp confidence, assertiveness, and control that define the PWA motto and the foundation of our training. So, thank you.

And then to our administrative team that is always working tirelessly behind the scenes. Christina our student services coordinator. Mari and John in admissions. Omer who does just a little bit of everything. Andrea our director of administration. Your leadership and attention to detail make everything possible. Thank you. All right. Graduates of class 75. You now join the ranks of elite group of certified executive security specialists. You represent us in everything you do from this day forward. The values you’ve embraced, quiet, assertive, and in control, are not just words. They’re principles that will guide you in your careers and in your life. They are the qualities that set you apart and prepare you to exceed in this vital and challenging field. But let me remind you, this is not the end of your relationship with Pacific West Academy, okay?

You’re now part of our family, and we’re here to support you as you continue to grow and succeed. So whether you need some guidance, some additional training, or if you just want to reach out and be like, “Hey, I did this cool thing.” Please keep in contact with us. And as you leave here today, I urge you to carry the lessons you’ve learned and the principles you’ve cultivated into everything that you do. The world needs protectors, those who bring safety, stability, and integrity to every situation. Be proud of what you’ve achieved, and know that we are also very proud of you. So go forward with confidence knowing that you’re equipped not only with the skills but also the character to make a lasting impact. You are quiet, assertive, and in control of what you do next. So congratulations class 75. The future’s yours. So go and make your mark.