I'm someone's Dr. Tatum!

When I originally registered for college, I was a journalism major. I thought I wanted to be a writer. I had registered for a criminal justice course as an elective because it sounded interesting. Dr. Tatum was my professor. After the first day of class, I went and changed my major to criminal justice and never looked back. I took many courses from him in my years at Ricks College. He was an excellent teacher, knowledgeable in his field, and really cared about his students. I think very fondly about him to this day and truly believe he inspired me to the career I have today. I still keep in touch with him and actually went back to guest speak in one of his classes last year.

At the end of last semester I had a lot of students come and talk to me. Some of them told me how their view of the criminal justice system had changed as a result of our class. Some told me they have changed their career path after our class. One young man stayed after the last day of class to talk to me. He is 18 years old and is on track to finish his bachelors degree in 3 years. He has plans to go to law school and wants to become a judge. He is Hispanic and I connected him with Idaho's only Hispanic judge during the course of the class. He has had many opportunities to meet with him this semester. He told me that our course helped him to map out his future, he wants to be Idaho's next Hispanic judge, and if he sticks to his plan, he could apply for a judgeship by his 30th birthday. I was so impressed with his dedication and planning. Then he told me that at 14 he committed a felony and that he never thought his life would take this course. I had chills.

I left last semester with the thought that I am someone's Dr. Tatum. I am helping students determine their career paths, and hopefully I am inspiring them. I am helping them shape their views about the criminal justice system, about the courts, about the laws of this country.

I just finished the evaluations that my students did last semester on me and a teacher and on my courses. Seriously, I had tears in my eyes when I was done. I know that is cheesy, but it reaffirmed to me that this is what I want to do. This is the path I want my career to take. I LOVE teaching at a community college. Students are there because they want to be. They really want to continue their education and better themselves. Our classes are a great mix of students, I have parents (and even grandparents) returning to college, or starting fresh for the first time, I have students who just graduated from high school, I have students in high school who are doing concurrent enrollment, I have students who just released from prison, I have individuals who have lost their job and are retraining for a new career. I love being a part of teaching them. It is a great feeling to have a job that I truly love!!