Criminal justice students volunteer at produce giveaway

ZANESVILLE – There’s only so much April Cohagen-Gibson can teach her criminal justice students in a classroom.

That’s why, for the program’s capstone at Zane State College, she pushes her students to get out into the field and meet the people they may one day be protecting as officers.

“It’s real-world experience, being able to deal with the public at all different levels,” Cohagen-Gibson said. “You can’t get it from a textbook.”

A group of her summer students were doing just that Tuesday. Five of them volunteered a few hours by helping at the Eastside Community Ministry produce giveaway, where hundreds of area residents came to collect food donations.

As part of the community outreach project, the students directed parking and assisted people with their bags.

“It lets the community know that if they need somebody, we’re here,” said Johnda Williams, a 24-year-old student in the program. “You’re here not to judge them. You’re here to help them.”

Williams, originally of Newark, is set to graduate after fall semester and plans to pursue a job as a corrections officer in Zanesville.

“They do good in the community,” Williams said of corrections officers. “(Inmates) need positive people to rehabilitate them.”

The capstone class, which is a seminar in administration of criminal justice, is a three-credit course in the two-year, 64-credit hour criminal justice program. The program prepares students for police work, correction work or protective service.

Although six students are in the summer capstone class, Cohagen-Gibson said it usually averages between 12 and 20 in the fall and spring semesters.

For the class, students complete several projects such as Tuesday’s produce giveaway. In addition, they recently volunteered at an animal shelter program and have worked at Christ’s Table.

The idea, Cohagen-Gibson said, is for her students to get to know the public and for the public to get to know them, showing them that they’re more than a gun and a badge.

Although Cohagen-Gibson said her students don’t always understand at first why these assignments are part of the class, eventually, “They learn to respect the public,” she said.

elagatta@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

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Twitter: @EricLagatta