“It’s the daily opportunities. We have new students every day, and I get to assess their needs (as well as the continuing needs of our existing students). What excites me is getting to see the growth of a young person for the duration of their time with us. Secondly, it’s getting to know each student. I find students have unique strengths and personalities. Then I get to see how each personality can contribute in the classroom setting.

It's fascinating to me that with security and safety needs, how the Juvenile Justice classroom winds up being like a traditional one room schoolhouse.”

“At the organization level, we have a couple of things going on with new leadership at the administration level. With that will come new ideas and strategies that we can use to grow and develop the program.

Previously, we had a solid program foundation that has helped me have a strong future featuring three key areas:

1. Find a need for student engagement
2. Credit recovery – helping kids to catch up with educational credits
3. Opportunities for social and emotional growth”

“After 15 years of being at the Pathfinder Program, my mentor is Randy Farmer. He’s shown me the above three principles. He’s also imparted to me the need to focus on building curiosity and a love for learning and engaging for this population.

Secondly, it would be my colleagues. Over the years, it has been inspiring to be around a variety of teaching styles. When I observe them, it always reminds me of the different ways they use their skills which helps motivate me to find ways to work with our population.”

“Even prior to entering the world of Juvenile Justice education, I think it’s important to gain skills within different youth work. It gives an opportunity to learn and experience the differences you’ll see with juvenile justice education. It would help to pick up Special Education classes, as well as alternative education classes. Visit other JJ classes. Mirroring a JJ officer as well will really help understand the environment. For me, it’s always about having an opportunity to gain experience and new perspectives.”

“I don’t know that I’ve had one, but my daily experiences allow me to focus on getting to know the youth and students, so it’s just the ability to hang out and get to know youth. It allows me to learn from them in a relaxed manner. They let down their guard a bit as I’m more in their environment. It’s a great way to build rapport with them. There was one situation where I had a particularly challenging class, and we engaged in doing push-ups every day. Two things came out of that: 1. They became more comfortable with me; and 2. I got a lot stronger in the process (laughs)”

“Try to grow your knowledge and understanding through others. The opportunity for professional growth, being part of organizations like NPJS allows you to know what’s going on nationally, while staying connected with others in the field. It helps keep you fresh & motivated throughout your career. In addition, professional development opportunities help to challenge a practitioner to find and explore new teaching methods, and in turn, hopefully better engage youth in the classroom.”

“The first thing I’d say is to provide more opportunities for training in trauma informed care. We need to better understand what triggers youth, what causes them stress. You want to be able to create a safe classroom, so trauma informed care is important.

Also, understanding the need for special needs services in the Juvenile Justice field.

Thirdly, it would be nice to have additional support services and transitional resources, helping kids to more effectively transfer out of the JJ setting.”

“Not to promote NPJS too much (laughter), I’ve enjoyed being part of the organization in getting to share my knowledge and experiences with others. Also, the opportunity to inform and build knowledge in my areas of business education.

What I really like about what I do, is how youth often ask, ‘What’s the point to learning this?’ I love this question because later on they’ll come back to me and see the relevance for themselves. I love helping them connect the dots with their knowledge.”

“I really enjoy the opportunity to work out. I enjoy running. Running really helps me to reflect. I don’t wear headphones, so I do a lot of thinking during these times, plus, it allows me the time for personal care.

I also enjoy staying in touch with friends and family. I’m originally from Ireland, so getting back home is important to me as well.”