Northwestern College Criminal Justice Students Earn 9 Awards at ACJA Reg’l Conference!
Northwestern College CJ Coord. Mark Mitchell, grad Pablo Manrique, Instructor Mike Collins, students Ruben Hernandez & Vivian Afocha, grads Mayra Camacho & Ebony Roberison, student Juliana Olivas, & grads Eduardo Garcia & Alex Barton.
Recently nine (9) Northwestern College Criminal Justice students and graduates and two Criminal Justice Program faculty members traveled to the American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA) Lambda Alpha Epsilon Region 6 Conference in Macomb, IL. After rigorous competition, Northwestern College walked away with nine (9) total awards, including five (5) earned by NC students and graduates and four (4) by NC professionals! The ACJA is a national fraternal organization dedicated to the betterment of law enforcement through education, with its regional conferences affording students opportunities to compete over several days in multiple categories of both written and physical competitions. The theme for the Region 6 Conference was, “CLUE: The Board Game and Criminal Investigations such games in livecasinosites.com.”
Northwestern College students traveled to the Conference and Competition with Criminal Justice Program Coordinator and Chapter Advisor Mark Mitchell, a retired Lieutenant of the Palos Hills Police Department, as well as Criminal Justice Instructor Mike Collins, a Sergeant on the Palos Hills Police Department.
“I’ve been taking students to these competitions now for 10 years, and it’s always exciting to watch them compete, especially for the first time,” commented Lt. Mitchell. “They take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it on multiple levels at this competition, with the categories they compete in being much like what they’ll find in the police academy. So it prepares the students not only for future competitions, but competitions that could result in employment as law enforcement officers.”
The students from Northwestern College’s Zeta Sigma Alpha Chapter (Oak Lawn Campus) and the Alpha Omega Chi Chapter (Chicago Campus) of the ACJA competed in the five (5) academic categories (Corrections; Police Management; Juvenile Justice; Criminal Law; and the History, Bylaws and Standing Rules of the Association), in addition to the Crime Scene team competition, the Firearms and Physical Agility competitions. Students competed at the lower division level (freshmen/sophomore, constituting students with less than 70 semester hours/105 quarter hours) or upper division level (junior/senior, constituting students with 71 semester hours/106 quarter hours), with a third standing category for professionals, including graduate students, instructors, or active or retired law enforcement. There were approximately 100 attendees at this year’s conference, with the majority competing at the lower division level.
In the Lower Collegiate Physical Agility competition (which included 3 divisions for both male and female), Eduardo Garcia was awarded a Second Place in the Male 26-35 division while a Third Place was awarded to graduate Pablo Manrique, also in the Male 25-36 category. The Physical Agility competition includes an obstacle course similar to those required at police training academies involving long runs, negotiating obstacles, and scaling walls. Competition here involved male and female categories for 18-25 year olds, 26-35 year olds, and those 36 and over.
Finally, in the category of Professionals, Northwestern College’s Criminal Justice Instructor, Sergeant Mike Collins won First Place in Juvenile Justice and Second Place in Physical Agility (Male Over 26). The College’s Criminal Justice Program Coordinator Lt. Mark Mitchell won Second Place in Corrections as well as a Third Place for LAE Knowledge. The category of “Professional” includes those who have been compensated for services rendered in the Criminal Justice discipline.
Additional Northwestern College students and graduates from both its Oak Lawn and Chicago Campuses who traveled to the ACJA Regionals and competed were Vivian Afocha, Mayra Camacho, Ruben Hernandez, Justin Mendez, Juliana Olivas, and Ebony Roberison.
“Congratulations to our Northwestern College Criminal Justice students and graduates on their success at this year’s Regional Conference,” commented Lawrence Schumacher, Northwestern College President. “It’s exciting to see our students take what they learn in the classroom and apply it in competition, preparing them for real life scenarios they might encounter in criminal justice careers. These competitive opportunities at conferences like this will help bring confidence to our students as they move forward seeking promising careers in law enforcement and within the criminal justice field.”