On Jan. 6, the criminal justice Career and Technical Pathways Program housed at Cranston High School East hosted a half-day Criminal Justice seminar designed to introduce students in the program to those actively working in criminal justice careers including state police officers, local police officers, prosecutors and victim advocates. The Criminal Justice Pathway is one of 14 different Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs offered by the Cranston Area Career and Technical Center, housed on the Cranston West campus, but the program is one of three that are housed on the Cranston East campus (JROTC and Plumbing are the other two).

“The CHSE criminal justice program is a comprehensive educational curriculum that allows students to explore careers in law enforcement, corrections, the courts, security, emergency services and law/legal services. The criminal justice seminar,” a description of the program reads. Retired RI State Police Officer of 25 years, John A'Vant teaches the program, sharing his industry knowledge along with classroom curriculum with his students.

On Jan. 6, the students participated in the three-session seminar with each session lasting 45 minutes and including a presentation followed by a question and answer session. The event was in person in the school auditorium and the guests were State Police Captain Kenneth Jones, State Police Troopers James Thomas (a CHSE alumni), Lawrence Scott, and Laurenmaria Velasquez-Smith, Cranston Police Chief Colonel Michael J. Winquist, and Officer Maria Richard from the Department of Corrections/Training Academy, as well as Prosecutor Jim Baum and Advocate Coordinator Cynthia Limoges from the Attorney General’s Office. Also present were Cranston Public Schools Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse and Cranston Area Career and Technical Center Director Zachary Farrell.

Those who conducted presentations each shared individual experiences and career-specific details, but also had a common theme: giving the students an accurate representation of what happens on the job, versus what they may have seen on social media or in the news. They also gave the students the information needed should they be interested in a career in one of their departments, sharing details such as education requirements, salary, benefits, application and training requirements (if you can’t swim you can be a police officer in the state of Rhode Island) and shared their insight about some of their actual cases and job experiences. Assistant Attorney General Jim Baum shared with the students that his department also takes on both high school and college interns, and those interns are given the opportunity to shadow those in various departments given their specific interests. He encouraged students to take advantage of that opportunity in order to learn even more about careers in the field. He currently serves as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division.

Cynthia Limoges encouraged the students to explore careers in the realm of victim advocacy, and shared her experiences in helping those who have been the victims of crimes. She also stressed the importance of taking care of one’s mental health, given the types of cases that are encountered on the job such as those who are victims of domestic violence, families of homicide victims and more. She noted that they are often silent victims, those the public may not hear about. She cited her job as being very rewarding, and explained that she herself had a very troubled childhood and utilized the ROTC program, completing basic training with the Air Force, as a means of getting out of the dangerous life that she had experienced growing up. She also explained that having had such experiences made her even more passionate about helping those who were victims of crime.

“I’ve been there, I know what it feels like,” she said to the students. “This is a passion for me.”

“As prosecutors we serve those we never hear from, those victims who don’t have a voice,” said Baum. “We respond to that voice.”

The speaker panel was very diverse, and A’Vant noted that he was very pleased to see the diversity, especially in the State Police force where he was a former trooper.

“A lot of issues will change with increased diversity at the force,” A’Vant said.

Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse thanked her guests for coming to speak to the students.

“Thank you all for being here,” she said, addressing the guests during one of the breaks before addressing the students in the audience.

“This is a big part of our program, and having you folks talk to people in the field at all different levels and under the law enforcement umbrella,” she said. “It’s important for our students to see all different people in all walks of life and it’s important to have them come in and talk to you.”

CACTC Director Zachary Farrell was both appreciative to the guest speakers for their time as well as impressed by the seminar as a whole.

“I was extremely impressed by the entire experience,” he said. “It was a paradigm of the ultimate goal of CTE, that is to bring students, teachers and members of the industry together that generates interest in students and presents them with possible career opportunities. I greatly appreciated that the law enforcement professionals took the time out of their day to work with our students.”

To learn more about the Criminal Justice Pathways Program as well as any of the other 13 CACTC pathways programs, visit https://cactc.cpsed.net/.