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Even as a young boy, McClure knew he was going to lead a life of service. He took those first steps into helping others, at the age of 16, when he joined the Sewanee Volunteer Fire Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy uncle and cousin and another uncle were all members,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so that kind of got my foot in the door, and I was like, this is great. The feeling of helping people was great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His time with the fire department further solidified his intentions in pursuing a career that served the community. He would then make the decision to become a police officer. McClure explains that his decision to take on such a position did not come at the best time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the time that I got into policing, it was not necessarily the best time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just a time where policing was really frowned upon, no matter what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, McClure said that even amongst the opposition he saw an opportunity to change the narrative about police officers, within his community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of what inspired me more to want to get into it,\u201d he explained. \u201cBecause I\u2019ve always been a big people person. So I liked the fact that maybe if I started it, I could start a chain, especially in Sewanee. There are students up here from all over the county and the world for that matter. You have the opportunity to inspire so many different people. Maybe I could be a small light and make it to where it\u2019s not as frowned upon. If you touch as many people as we do here, it just makes it seem better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So each day, that has been exactly what he has done. Now, as captain for the Sewanee Police Department, he said he feels like the community support is better than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m very thankful to work in the county I do, with working in Franklin County. Because you couldn\u2019t ask for a better community when it comes to police and as far as first responders in general. They support us, and it makes all the difference when you have community support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He encourages others to consider a career in policing or being a first responder. McClure said there is no better feeling than being a helper in your own community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would tell them there\u2019s not a better feeling than to serve the community, especially the community that you live in,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the most rewarding, every day. You see people at their worst times, and you see people at their best times. And especially when you see people that are at one of those worst points in their lives and they come back and they talk to you, and they say \u2018thank you,\u2019 that that is probably the most heartwarming thing that anybody could ever, ever feel. And that alone would be enough for me to go back and do this all over again.\u201d GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sewanee Police Captain Dylan McClure is looking to change the way people see police officers and just how much of a help they can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DSC06728-1024x683.jpg\")