Gilroy
– Three Gavilan College Administration of Justice students
recently won top honors at a regional criminal justice conference,
propelling them to the national competition in March.
Claudia Gonzalez, Neal Oppenheimer and Jeanne Church swept
first, second and third place in the written juvenile law
examination in their division at the American Criminal Justice
Association/Lambda Alpha Epsilon co-ed fraternity regional
conference.
Gilroy – Three Gavilan College Administration of Justice students recently won top honors at a regional criminal justice conference, propelling them to the national competition in March.
Claudia Gonzalez, Neal Oppenheimer and Jeanne Church swept first, second and third place in the written juvenile law examination in their division at the American Criminal Justice Association/Lambda Alpha Epsilon co-ed fraternity regional conference. The team also took second and third place in the criminal procedures examination.
The competition, hosted by Fresno State University Oct. 29 through 31, included about 120 students from throughout the western United States.
The three students from Gavilan competed in academic and tactical areas including juvenile law, criminal procedures, firearms, physical agility and crime scene investigations.
Gonzalez took first place in juvenile law, Oppenheimer took second in juvenile law and in criminal procedures and Church took third in juvenile law and in criminal procedures. The team also placed in the top 10 in the firearms competition.
The three will travel to Memphis, Tenn., March 21 through 25 to participate in the national American Criminal Justice Association conference.
Steve Smith, instructor of administration and justice at Gavilan, said he is proud of his students and is confident they’ll do well in March.
“To sweep the regional conference says that Gavilan students are well prepared to compete academically, which transfers to the ability to compete in the job market,” Smith said.
Church, a lifelong Gilroyan, said one of the best parts of attending the conferences – and what she’s looking forward to in March – is the chance to talk with people who have been working in criminal justice administration for a long time.
Oppenheimer, a 21-year-old second year student at Gavilan and vice president of the chapter, said he and his fellow students will be preparing for the national competition by taking more classes, reviewing past notes and training for the competition’s physical agility component.
Gonzalez, 27, also has lived in Gilroy her whole life. She began attending criminal justice administration classes at Gavilan in 2000 as a way to get into the paralegal field.
The Gavilan College chapter of Lambda Alpha Epsilon was founded last year by students in Gavilan’s Administration of Justice department. The fraternity sponsors academic and social events relating to criminal justice.
