Meet Some of Our Criminal Justice Students

At my internship at Hope Works in Burlington, I am a sexual assault advocate tending the hotline and connecting victims and surrivors with the necessary recourses to get back on their feet and help them to be resilient to their traumatic experiences. A lot of the time, it's just answering the phone and listening to the survivors share their story, being someone they can talk to and creating a safe space to do so.

I have learned many concepts through the InSight program. However, the most important thing that has stayed with me is financial budgeting and learning to keep yourself accountable on that budget. With this, we research and report the approximate salary we make a year after graduation in our field. We separate our budgets down by month and how much we should be spending each month per area of budget while making sure there is some money left for "a rainy day." As a college student, this has helped me when it came time to needing a budget within school alone. Using what I learned, I took what I make while working to create a monthly budget of what I need in order to "survive" that month of school and having to make the sacrifices of taking things out or adding things in when an emergency arises.

My favorite spot on campus would have to be the different quads such as Finney Quad or Rozendaal Courtyard because my friends and I gather to play frisbee after long exhausting days or simply just chat or run around to relax. One of my other favorite spots on campus is the Fireside Lounge. I love this space because so many student activities have taken place there and I enjoy connecting with everyone. Some of my favorite people-Jared Cadrette and Kelsey O'Connor- work very closely in this area and they have helped me significantly with my time here at Champlain.

I'm interning at the Burlington Police Department for my whole senior year. I have mostly focused on creative narratives for our bi-weekly "substat" meetings where we discuss any incidents we've had with individuals involved with substance use or serious mental health challenges. The goal of these meetings is to identify those in our community who need help, and then do outreach to gauge their interest in treatment, but also to let them know we're here, we care about them, and we want them to succeed. 

My internship has given me lots of opportunities to see how law enforcement and social work go hand in hand.

I may be biased because I'm an RA, but the sense of community in the first year residence halls is the best. I'm still friends with people I lived with my first year, and again as a Resident Assistant (RA) of that same hall when I was a junior. I hang out with my residents, and they come cheer me on at hockey games.

Social Work is one of the smallest programs at Champlain, and I love it. The small classes are extremely beneficial because we can go through real-world experiences and ask any questions we have. We are also encouraged to go into the field early and often. My third year, I took a job in the Emergency Department at the University of Vermont Medical Center doing crisis work, and I already felt prepared at that point.

With the Upside-Down Curriculum, you're jumping into your major-related classes right away. In my first year, I also went on a ride-along with a Vermont State Police officer. It was amazing to see another side of law enforcement—the human side you don't often see through the media.

One of the biggest things I've learned about criminal justice is human interaction. You can read about being in a squad car and pulling people over, but it's the area between the actual law and the connection to that person that matters. Champlain professors have real experience, and they can help you understand what being in that moment is like in a way a textbook can't.

We get to know people in the division through the EHS Signature Courses, which allow students from across majors to engage in topics. This semester, we're talking about human trafficking. We get a psychology perspective, for example, in addition to criminal justice. It's very interesting because you get contradicting opinions, and it broadens your view on global subjects.

Becoming SGA President my junior year is a great point of pride for me. The work we did and the tasks we undertook were truly a passion of mine. For example, we executed a project—the Rainbow Crosswalk—where we painted the crosswalk on South Willard Street the colors of the rainbow in honor of our LGBTQA+ community. The work we do truly can make a difference on campus.

Being a Criminal Justice major is great because, right now in America, everything is changing. We need properly trained officers and law enforcement officials. And that really appealed to me: to be a beacon of change in this new development of law enforcement. It inspired me to choose Criminal Justice.

In my first year, I was taking a criminal law class with Judge Cooper Smith, who was a judge here in Burlington for 25 years. He really helped us examine the law through an officer's lens. He even took us down to the courthouse for a few hours each week and let us examine case files. We are really exposed to our field through our classes.

I went to the Career Fair five times while at Champlain—that's how I got my first internship. It was a great way to get started on my career and get me connected to my industry. Champlain's Career Collaborative also did a great job preparing me for interviews, writing résumés, and learning how to apply for government positions.