No Obstacle Too High for Reseda’s Hoffert

Jake Hoffert remembers what his report card looked like after he graduated from middle school.

There was an A in physical education, a B in woodshop, Ds in English and science and an F in algebra.

He was an unmotivated 15-year-old with few goals.

That summer, he saw a flier announcing that Reseda High was starting a police academy magnet, where students would be prepared for careers in law enforcement.

“It sounded like a lot of fun,” he said. “I saw the obstacle course and immediately I wanted to be the best.”

Four years later, Hoffert was named “Toughest Cadet Alive” after winning a district-wide competition last month among police academy magnet students in physical fitness and essay writing.

On Thursday, he competed in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles final at the Valley Mission League track championships, finishing second in a career-best 42.6 seconds.

“Before, [when] people would say, ‘What do you want to do?’ I had no idea. Now I have ideas,” he said.

Hoffert’s high-school experience has worked to perfection. It has inspired him to experiment in ways he never thought possible. It has challenged his mind and body and changed his outlook on life.

He tried football, baseball and cross-country at Reseda. He plunged ahead in academy training. He listened intently as speakers from the LAPD, L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept., FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Customs and Secret Service made presentations.

“Everybody has talked to us except CIA,” he said.

For three summers, he interned at the West Valley police station, getting to know men and women who put their lives on the line daily.

“They’d pull me aside and talk to me about life and how much they love their job,” he said.

Hoffert is 6 feet 1, 150 pounds. He set a record for the Reseda obstacle course, completing it in 46 seconds.

The course requires competitors to maneuver over a balance beam, climb a rope, cargo net and six-foot wall, swing on rings, jump hurdles, run through tires and roll under a three-foot structure.

He’s shooting for 39 seconds before he graduates. “I want my time to be the record when I come back in five years,” he said.

Hoffert has run in only seven hurdle races in his life but keeps improving. From 48 seconds several weeks ago, his 300 time has dropped to 42.6, but his inexperience shows. He still takes stutter steps before each hurdle instead of running through them. With more practice, his time could drop considerably.

Sports and the police academy have given him reasons to stay away from drugs, gangs and other teenage distractions.

“I’ve been offered before, but it’s never been hard to turn down,” he said. “I was experimenting with something besides drugs. I’m trying to better myself, my time, my strength. It’s helping me with my discipline.”

When his parents went through a divorce, Hoffert was deeply affected. But his teachers and fellow academy students helped him through the tough times.

“They’re pretty much my family, like brothers and sisters, and help me through everything,” he said.

Through his studies, Hoffert has learned about DNA, fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, tire analysis and forensics science.

He’ll be part of Reseda’s first police academy graduating class of 27 students. More than 140 are enrolled in the program.

“I was lost, really lost,” he said. “I couldn’t see the big picture. I didn’t even know to look for it until the police academy. I have a lot more goals now. I want to have a career I enjoy. I want to do something where I can go home at night and feel I did something good. I want to feel like a lot of police officers feel at the end of the day, that they’ve helped someone.”

Hoffert doesn’t know where he’ll end up in law enforcement, but criminals, beware. He’s quick and ready to do whatever it takes to capture a suspect.

“I’ll hop the fences and get that guy who runs away,” he said.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.