After six months of push-ups, stomach crunches, running, being yelled at and taking orders, Officer Freddie Lee’s training days are winding down. He will officially become a Northwestern University police officer when he completes his field training this Friday.

“I’m ready for it,” Lee said with a slight smile. “I’m ready to be on my own.”

He spent three months training at the Chicago Police Academy and three more months at UP. From September to December 2005, Lee woke up at 4:45 a.m. and was at the academy by 5:30 a.m. His appearance was spotless – his pants pressed and his hair no more than 3 inches long.

He also kept his attitude in top form. Instructors shouted and cursed at students from the first day, but Lee was determined to be a police officer.

“They treat you like crap,” Lee said. “You feel like a child because you’re not an officer yet. Once you’re done, it’s such a relief.”

The physical training was easy for him, he said. The trainees were expected to run once a week and do other exercises. But Lee was no stranger to physical exertion. He has been studying martial arts since he was a teenager.

At age 16, Lee began practicing at an underground martial arts school in Chicago. He continued to study at Purdue University. There he founded a martial arts club through which he taught other students and furthered his own study of tae kwon do, karate, kickboxing and 12 other forms of martial arts.

Lee often read literature about martial arts instead of doing his schoolwork at Purdue. He also took an interest in Eastern philosophy, especially Tao Te Ching. After reading the Chinese scripture, “school had a different feel,” Lee said. He was no longer worried about grades or physical wealth.

Instead, Lee searched for a better spiritual understanding. He gave away most of his possessions and went from wearing collared shirts to jeans and tees.

His grades fell from a 3.75 GPA freshman year to 3.3 by the time he graduated in 2004 with a degree in management studies. But it was a small price to pay for happiness, he said.

“In college, you’re so overwhelmed with the things you’re supposed to study that you forget about what you really want to study,” he said.

Lee knew he did not belong in management, so he looked into other careers after graduation. After a couple of dead-end jobs, he answered an ad for UP. From there he was sent to the Chicago Police Academy for training.

“I was nervous, but I knew that I wouldn’t quit,” Lee said.

Even when instructors and classmates teased him, Lee said it did not affect him. He said his classmates nicknamed him “Jet” because he was the only Asian American in his class. He is one of only two Asian-American officers in UP, according to Assistant Chief Dan McAleer.

“I’m proud to be who I am,” Lee said. “I’m proud of my background.”

And it was not the first time that Lee stood out because of his race.

“In my entire life, I’ve always been the only one,” he said.

Lee was born in Chicago but grew up in Skokie, where most of his friends were black. His idols were Michael Jordan and Tupac Shakur. In college, he joined Tau Phi Sigma, a predominantly Hispanic fraternity. He learned to understand Chinese by listening to his parents, Wign and Wendy, immigrants from Hong Kong.

Lee said his multicultural mindset will enhance his work with the police force. When crimes are racially motivated, he said it will be easier to understand different perspectives.

Lee said he cannot be too relaxed when it comes to his job, especially with the recent on-campus robberies. He said the problem will likely get worse as more of Chicago’s gang problems spill into the suburbs.

He will remember his training to keep himself out of danger, he said. It is especially important because his wife, Jenny, is three months pregnant with their second child. The couple married last year on Valentine’s Day, and they have an 8-month-old son named Brandon.

For now, Lee says he enjoys working with UP, and he wants to stay at Northwestern for the rest of his career. He is back in college, but there is something different about it this time.

“I’m back in school, but I’m not studying,” Lee said.

Reach Vincent Bradshaw at [email protected].