MISSOULA – Chea Hollis may be a newcomer to the Missoula Police Department, but her whole life has revolved around law enforcement.
“My dad was an officer, and his dad and his brother, as well my sister’s husband, my brother in law. He’s an officer here as well,” Hollis said.
Hollis and her family hail from Great Falls, where she attended high school, and then attended college at the University of Providence where she received her Masters of Science in Organizational Management.
“Growing up in your hometown and going to college in the same town it’s almost like its two different worlds and I wouldn’t change it for anything,” she added.
Hollis used her Master’s degree in social work where she developed a love for helping children. Now, as an officer, she spends her spare time at Charlo Elementary School with second-grade student Braidon Butler
“With Braidon, we met his social worker, obviously while I was social working. We were coworkers at the time. I talked to a social worker and said ‘hey, can we meet this kid?” And ever since then we’ve just been buds. We get to hang out once a week we do outings together. It’s a good time”
Braidon enjoys their time together too, especially spending time with animals. “We went to the humane society, which I liked a lot, and we might sign up for being a volunteer,” Braidon said.
They also spent time together over the holiday season, which Hollis said helped get her into the Christmas spirit. “We got to do things, like, we baked cookies. We decorated cookies. We did gingerbread houses. It got us into the seasonal spirit” Hollis said.
Braidon and Chea also worked together on Braidon’s Valentine’s Day project.
“It’s a box that I cut. I put red paper around it. I cut out the mouth and I taped yellow teeth out of pieces of paper for teeth, and I taped them on and then I made eyes,” Braidon said.
Next up, Easter
