I am a 46-year-old non-traditional student who is on the last stretch of my journey of finishing my Bachelor's degree at the University of Iowa. I will graduate in May 2024. I was married at a young age, to a man who didn't support my dream of getting a degree. We unexpectedly started a family right away and I have spent the last 26 years of my life being a working mother to 4 amazing children. I have hit many speed bumps and hurdles along my way; divorce, parental illness and death, unexpected job loss, hefty pay cuts, and more- but I have pushed forward and kept trying, never giving up. A few years ago, I was finally in a position to go back to school, and my kids were a little older so I was able to carve out a little time for myself to start taking classes. I decided that online school was the best option with my full-time job, kids, their schoolwork, their extracurricular activities, and maintaining a household. Covid hit shortly after I enrolled and it was a bittersweet blessing for me. The time that I had carved out to study was now endless since my children couldn't do their activities or even go to school. There was no madness and running around, life slowed down and my dream of finishing my degree looked like a reality. I have had to take out student loans to pay my way through school because shortly after losing my well-paying job, I had to take a significant pay cut and student loans are the only thing that kept us from losing our home. I decided when going back to school that I was going to focus my area of study on my passion. I learned along the way something in the criminal justice/law enforcement field and combined that with my compassion and empathy to help people. I will be receiving my degree in Applied Studies, but I have an emphasis in Justice Studies and a second emphasis in Human Relations, and I have completed the Certificate in Trauma-Informed Care and Resilience. The crazy thing is, my passion was ignited while working as a 9-1-1 Emergency Dispatcher, and then I followed by taking a position at a men's prison. I learned more in this role and wanted to help people and figure out how to help them make better choices so that they could have a life they could be proud of. In following my passion with my coursework, my dream job became available a few months ago. I am now the FIRST EVER Community Violence Prevention Coordinator for my county. I'm creating, building, and implementing an evidence-based model to reduce (hopefully eliminate) community gun violence in my county. I meet with individuals who are at the most high risk for being involved in gun violence and I work with them, in addition to Law Enforcement and Community Partners to identify their barriers. What would want to be doing with their lives if they weren't involved in the activity that they were? A message of hope and a message of help is offered. We get them enrolled in school, get certified for employment, pay off fines so that they can get their license, and more. Whatever barriers they have in place, we work with the resources in our community to get them out of a life of violence and on the path to success. I hope that I have left an impact on those I've encountered on my journey, and I hope to make a lasting difference in our future.

I am not saying this to sound conceited, but I have inspired and pushed myself. I am a 46-year-old non-traditional student who is on the last stretch of my journey of finishing my Bachelor's degree at the University of Iowa. I will graduate in May 2024. I was married at a young age, to a man who didn't support my dream of getting a degree. We unexpectedly started a family right away and I have spent the last 26 years of my life being a working mother to 4 amazing children. I have hit many speed bumps and hurdles along my way; divorce, parental illness and death, unexpected job loss, hefty pay cuts, and more- but I have pushed forward and kept trying, never giving up. A few years ago, I was finally in a position where I had a supportive husband, and my kids were a little older so I was able to carve out a little time for myself to start taking classes again. I decided that online school was the best option with my full-time job, kids, their schoolwork, their extracurricular activities, and maintaining a household. Covid hit shortly after I enrolled and it was a bittersweet blessing for me. The time that I had carved out to study was now endless since my children couldn't do their activities or even go to school. There was no madness and running around, life slowed down and my dream of finally finishing my degree looked feasible. I have had to take out student loans to pay my way through school because shortly after losing my well-paying job, I had to take a significant pay cut and student loans are the only thing that kept us from losing our home. I decided when going back to school that I was going to focus my area of study on my passion. I had learned along the way something in the criminal justice/law enforcement field and combining that with my compassion and empathy to help people. I will be receiving my degree in Applied Studies, but I have an emphasis in Justice Studies, and a second emphasis in Human Relations, and I have completed the Certificate in Trauma-Informed Care and Resilience. The crazy thing is, my passion was ignited while working as a 9-1-1 Emergency Dispatcher, and then I followed by taking a position at a men's prison. I learned more in this role and wanted to help people and figure out how to help them make better choices so that they could have a life they could be proud of. In following my passion with my coursework, my dream job became available just a few months ago and I am now the first EVER Community Violence Prevention Coordinator for my county. I am creating, building, and implementing an evidence-based model to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) community gun violence in my county. I meet with individuals who are at the most high risk for being involved in gun violence and I work with them, in addition to Law Enforcement and Community Partners to identify their barriers, find out what they would want to be doing with their lives if they weren't involved in the activity that they were. I offer them a message of hope and a message of help, and we get them enrolled in school, getting certified for employment, paying off fines so that they can get their license, and more. Whatever barriers they have in place, we work with the resources in our community to get them out of a life of violence and on the path of success.