Six CCJS students received the Graduate With Distinction honor from the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies. The honor is bestowed by the department on graduating CCJS students who have exhibited academic excellence and outstanding service to the department, the university, or the community. It will be noted on the students' official SSU transcript of records and diploma and will appear in the commencement ceremony program. The students are also entitled to wear a special Graduate With Distinction honor cord as part of their graduation regalia.
The following are the CCJS students who received the Graduate With Distinction honor in Spring 2022:
- Barahona,Claudia
- Cherashore, Peri
- Hummel, Alyssa
- Jones, Mariah
- Lambert, Marc Philippe
- Voice, Jace
Alyssa joined the CCJS B.A. program because she wanted to follow the footsteps of her dad and build a career in the criminal justice field. Claudia, who has a Minor in Spanish, plans to have private consultation office in document translation to serve Spanish-speaking communities. Mariah will be working with a residential agency that houses people experiencing homelessness as well as those coming out of rehabilitation. In the future, she plans to attend law school and become a public defender. Peri, Jace, and Marc are also interested in pursuing a law degree. Marc wants to practice either corporate law or technology/patent law.
When asked about what they will remember the most from their CCJS program, the honorees gave the following answers:
- “As an older student, I seriously cared about succeeding in our program and my professors were always there to help and support me. Whether it was to check-in or ask about an extension on an assignment, they understood my concerns. It was nice to have them call my name and know who I was. I will always remember Dr. Burton, Dr. Grant, Prof. Henry, Dr. Hopper, Prof. Volkart, Dr. Toussoni, and Prof. Faux. They helped me with my success at Sonoma State University.”
- “[My internship] is the biggest memory I will take with me from my experience in the [CCJS] department. This internship has been my very first experience of seeing my field in person, rather than in a textbook or PowerPoint in class.”
- “I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to learn alongside such talented and driven individuals who pushed me to put my all into my work. Our program educates their students on issues that are so fundamental in our adult lives and offers us the freedom to form our own opinions around them.”
- “Whether it was debating ethical dilemmas regarding constitutional law with Dr. Sinrod and fellow students, or doing CDCR research with Dr. Henry, the program was never uneventful. The culmination of all these experiences has created one memory that will forever influence my deliberations, as well as acting as a guiding light through whatever path I choose to take.”
- “During my time within the CCJS program, the importance Dr. Faux put on the rule of law will stand out to me. I’ve learned that the criminal justice system is far from perfect and although we’re all supposed to have equal access to protection under the law, systematic inequalities allow certain individuals to have better protection than others. I’ll also always remember the fun games like Jeopardy we would play in Professor Henry’s class. They were engaging and would challenge me to remember the content we covered.”