College Experience

Hello everyone, My name is Isabella. I am from Lake Waccamaw, NC. I am a sophomore at BCC and my program of study is Criminal Justice. I have been in this program for about 2 semesters. My first year here at Bladen, I was enrolled to take prerequisite classes for the LPN program but I have always had a passion for crime. In 5 years I hope to see myself working as a crime scene investigator. That is my top priority.

My Journey

My educational journey this semester has been full of ups and downs. Throughout this semester I have procrastinated a little but not so much as last year. My study skills have strengthened a little but that is still something I always want to improve on. I have gotten better about looking over assignments to make sure there is nothing that will give me problems. I see myself as a hard working student who stresses over assignments but always strives to get things done. If there is one thing I can change, it would be to completely stop procrastinating. This semester has taught me a lot including how to use the 4P's when completing assignments and also how to development a stress management plan. I hope I can continue to improve as I go throughout college.  

Pursuing Degress

As you may know I am in the Criminal Justice program. I plan to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. When I graduate from Bladen, I will have an Associates Degree and with that degree I plan to work in the police department and work my way up to becoming a Crime Scene Investigator. There are numerous jobs I can apply for with a two year degree but my main goal is to focus on obtaining a four year degree. I have always seen myself working in the criminal justice field so I strive to do anything possible to reach my goal. 

Unhealthy Choices

An area in life where people choose to make unhealthy choices is the moment they try drugs. This is very common in our generation and there are so many drugs out there that you may never know what may be in someones system. I believe there are many reasons why someone decides to take drugs. It may be to relieve stress, to fit in with peers, to escape problems and etc. Sometimes the situations we endure during life causes us to resort to relieving the stress. I don't exactly know the right advice I would give someone because it would seem to be hard to reason with them. I may not know the situation they are in so therefore they might not want to hear my advice. However, I would do my best to be there for them. If they needed someone to talk to or just someone to listen to them then I would be there. There's really no right advice you can give someone unless you have took a walk in their shoes.  

What energizes me the most

This may sound a little bit crazy but I love to watch The First 48. This is a show based on real life crimes that were committed and it basically gives the police 48 hours to solve a crime. When I watch this show I feel as if I am working on the case myself. Its an intense show that gives detailed descriptions on how the crime was committed. I could spend hours pretending that I am actually solving cases by watching this show. It is always a relief knowing that at the end of every show the suspect has been brought to justice. 

Reading Skills

My reading skills are pretty average. I dont struggle with reading, I mostly struggle with my study skills. However, I do plan to improve my reading skills by building my vocabulary. I would like to learn new vocabulary words and I believe that reading on a daily basis will help me improve my vocabulary. I hope that reading will provide me with the knowledge I didn't have before. 

When thinking about the future. I believe a situation where I would have to think critically would be helping a detective solve a case. For example, there is an open investigation and I am called in to the crime scene along side the detective. To be specific, the crime scene was a murder involving a young man around the age of 21. Part of the crime scene investigators job is to take photographs of the scene and collect any available fingerprints and any evidence that may be at the crime scene. I would have to think critically on how to properly handle the evidence so that nothing is tampered. 

My two favorite classes are CJC111 and CJC160. CJC111 is Introduction to Criminal Justice. In that class we learn about the basics of the Criminal Justice system. CJC160 is Terrorism: Underlying Issues. In this class we learn about domestic terrorism and international terrorism. Domestic Terrorism is terrorism within that country. For example, a domestic terrorist group would be Black Panthers or KKK. International terrorism is terrorism outside of that country. An example would be ISIS. These classes are my favorite because I learn so much about the issues involving terrorism. In CJC160, when talking about domestic terrorism I learned about groups of terrorists that I had no knowledge of them being a terrorist group. So finding out new information is always something fun to me.