Michigan communities will soon benefit from the addition of 54 state troopers who graduated Friday from the 145th Trooper Recruit School.

During the ceremony in Lansing, Col. James F. Grady II, director of the Michigan State Police, administered the Oath of Office to the graduates who begin their assignments at MSP posts across the state next week.

The graduates include Grace Taylor of Escanaba, who will be assigned to the Iron Mountain post.

The 145th Trooper Recruit School began on Jan. 21 at the MSP Training Academy in Lansing. Recruits received training in patrol techniques, report writing, ethics, cultural diversity and implicit bias, decision making, leadership, first aid, criminal law, crime scene processing, firearms, water safety, defensive tactics and precision driving.

“It is an honor to welcome and congratulate our newest troopers. Earning your badge is a direct result of determination, resilience and hard work,” said Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “This job will not be easy, but it will be rewarding. I’m confident the work our new troopers will do, will help to raise the standards of policing.”

Of the 54 troopers, 10 are former cadets, making up the largest group of cadets turned troopers to date. The cadet program was built to serve as a pipeline to recruit school, to get young adults familiar with the MSP and the policing profession and to support them through the process.

Including the 54 graduates of the 145th Trooper Recruit School, there are approximately 1,160 troopers assigned statewide, and a total of 1,875 enlisted members in the MSP.