EAST LIVERPOOL -- Samantha Works is the first KSU Justice Studies student from a Columbiana County campus to finish an internship with U.S. Department of Justice, and she thinks more students should take advantage of the opportunity.
U.S. Probation Officer and KSU Trumbull Instructor Steven Roberts offered Works the opening to enter the eight-week criminal justice internship. “Samantha did a very good job,” Roberts said. "We are still offering the federal internship program, but currently, there is no one in the Youngstown office."Any applicant for the internship must first be a justice, human services or psychology major. Also she must pass the same background check that the full-time hires do: credit check, verifiable personal references, an FBI fingerprint background check. The application process alone takes three months.
From June 9, to July 31, 2008, Works completed her criminal justice internship with the Northern District of Ohio. That district is made up of offices in Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron, and Toledo. Works worked every day, 32 hours over a four day week. She was responsible for keeping logs of interviews with defendants, most of whom were drug offenders, and writing the violation reports. Because the federal guidelines do not allow interns to accompany the probation officers to homes or prisons, she interviewed primarily at the Youngstown office, working side by side with other federal probation officers. Occasionally, she traveled to the Akron and the home office in Cleveland.
While in Cleveland, Works met the Northern District's chief parole officer George Johnson as well as all the federal judges and magistrates. Along with her daily tasks, she had to write a thesis paper pertaining to her internship experiences. In total, 210 hours were required for her to receive credit for completion.
Works speaks of no bad experiences in her internship, only benefits: "I would encourage any student to take advantage of the internship program so they can expand their knowledge beyond the walls of Kent state."
Works is a Crestview High School graduate who takes “LER” courses at the Salem campus and justice studies courses in East Liverpool. She responds weekly to emergencies as a volunteer firefighter in New Waterford where she can execute any duty. "I do anything from wash trucks to put out fires,” she said.
When asked why she preferred to pursue the rehabilitation field instead of police work, Works said, "I just like to help people and could best serve in this capacity as a probation officer.”
Currently the Salem branch does not offer any justice studies courses but it does provide the required LER courses. Lynette Rawlings, director of justice studies, said, "When it becomes advantageous to offer course work at both campuses, we will begin offering a complete schedule at both. We need to recruit another hundred people into Justice Studies."
Students interested in an internship or a future in this field should contact Lynette Rawlings at 330-385-3805, Stephen Roberts at sroberts@kent.edu, or Samantha Works at sworks@kent.edu.
