Felicia Archuleta calls herself lucky.

She recently won the Washington Explorer of the Year Award from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) for her success in the Redmond Police Explorers Program. The program provides youth age 14 to 21 an opportunity to learn about law enforcement by participating in criminal investigations, traffic control and ride-alongs with police officers.

But it wasn’t luck that won Archuleta, 20, the award. Fellow explorers unanimously nominated her to represent Redmond at the state awards ceremony.

“She steps out as a leader and mentor,” said Redmond police officer Julie Beard, who also serves as lead adviser for the Redmond Explorers Program. “She balances her own enthusiasm with getting everyone else to participate.”

Archuleta says she is lucky to have found this opportunity after escaping an abusive home.

In February 2008, Redmond police responded to a domestic violence incident at the home of Archuleta’s birth mother. Archuleta, who lived with a foster family, was visiting her birth mother when an argument broke out between her birth mother and sister. Archuleta tried to break up the disagreement and was hit several times by her birth mother.

Responding officers helped Archuleta and her sister return safely to their foster family. That was her first encounter with the Redmond Police Department.

“Some of these officers saw me at my absolute worst,” Archuleta said. “For them to see me where I am now is just so amazing.”

Less than a year later, Archuleta was sworn in as an explorer. Her foster father, who always wished he had pursued a career in law enforcement, heard of the program and encouraged Archuleta to attend a meeting. Once she participated in her first mock crime scene, she was hooked.

“If there’s one thing I could do throughout my entire career, it would be to help an individual like myself escape what I escaped and move on,” she said.

After a series of oral and written tests, in May 2010, Archuleta became the program’s captain. She leads meetings and guides explorers through mock investigations that teach basic police procedures and laws.

She said the explorers work hard to maintain a high standard of service. The Redmond Explorers Program won the 2008 Post of the Year Award and Beard was named the 2009 Adviser of the Year.

Last winter, Archuleta worked with advisers across the state to develop curriculum for the Explorers Academy, a week-long explorers boot camp in Yakima. She worked at the Yakima Police Department’s dispatch center and responded to mock emergency calls from explorers without any guidance or prior training.

Archuleta quickly learned how to use the dispatch center’s computer and radio systems.

Beard said officers go through months of dispatch training, which Archuleta mastered in two days.

“She blew away professional dispatchers, her supervisors and command staff from other departments,” Beard said.

Archuleta said her work as captain has taught her balance. After graduating from Redmond High School in 2009, she currently attends Bellevue College where she studies sociology.

In addition, she works 25 to 40 hours a week at Redmond’s Everything Party store and has put in 770 hours of service with the Explorers program over the past two years.

Archuleta reminds herself that “you may work hard one day, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard the next day.”

She wants to pursue a career in law enforcement after completing college. She has 10 more credits to fulfill – then she plans to apply to a police department for officer training.

“I really do believe that someday, I’m going to be working patrol with her,” Beard said.

Archuleta may consider herself lucky, but her fellow explorers and advisers know it’s her dedication that will earn her a police badge.