Bruce & Kathy Bevan Scholarship

As a full-time student, full-time employee and being recently married I must balance my three priorities in life, my marriage, my work, and my education but I have always seen it as a strength. While it can be challenging to find time to balance all my tasks at work and complete a full-time student workload. I have found that as I continue to persevere and proactively plan my week, I have always found time to complete every assignment on time. This has led me to blend my workload and my education to grow in both areas of my life. Currently I work in security in a downtown setting and at the same time I am getting a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. The security department I work for hires many former police officers and federal agents. They have served as friends and invaluable resources to help me expand my understanding of the concepts I have learned in the online classroom. Then down the road when I run into a situation that requires me to use a skill I have learned about, I can solve that issue more effectively. The best example I have was last semester. I was taking a 'communications in criminal justice' class and that week we learned about effective interviewing techniques. When I went on shift that week, I talked to one of my coworkers who was a police officer for 20 years about what interviewing techniques he found was the most effective. He taught me a different interview technique I did not learn called Serial Recall. I was able to apply this technique in the week’s assignment which I completed with a passing grade. A few days later we had an incident at work that required getting several witness statements I was then able to apply the Serial Recall technique I learned from my coworker in addition to what I learned in class to retrieve the information I needed to resolve the situation. I have always seen balancing work and school as my strength because I can use my experience and the experiences of my friends and co-workers to grow and benefit my schoolwork. Then I can use my schoolwork to grow into a better and more well-rounded employee. I do this by applying what I learn in the classroom in my career whenever I get the chance. This mindset will help me as I graduate and start my career working in Federal Law Enforcement.