Graduating Senior Spotlight: John Peña
In honor of Commencement last month, today I wanted to highlight one of our most distinguished graduating seniors, John Peña. John has worked with us in admissions since his freshman year, and graduated last Saturday with an honors degree in criminal justice administration. John has been recognized with many honors and awards including the Sister Pacelli Award for service, serving as the Alpha Phi Sigma criminal justice honor society, and most recently being profiled in the local paper.
To start off, why don’t you tell me a little about your background?
I was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1994. Long story short: I am one in eight children, never met my mother, was raised solely by my father and because of it struggled to find a steady place to live so I moved around a lot. I lived in the Dominican Republic between ’01 and ’03. My family’s from there, so I travelled to the country and got the opportunity to meet a lot of my aunts, uncles and cousins. I got to see the place where my parents were born, where all my aunts and uncles grew up, so it was an eye-opening experience. In 2003 I returned to Lawrence after that two year stint in the Dominican Republic, and ended up moving to Reading in 2006. I attended Northwest [Middle School], went to Reading High School, and I was part of their JROTC program. Initially, I thought that I would enlist in the Marine Corps straight out of high school, although I have always wanted to be a police officer. The idea of becoming a Marine was incepted during my involvement with the JROTC program. I had grades good enough to earn me a scholarship to come to college, so that’s how Alvernia came into the picture. I always say that I didn’t choose Alvernia, Alvernia chose me. The Reading High School JROTC program had a partnership with Alvernia University, and because I had grades good enough to get accepted into college and was an active member of the training program, I was chosen to be a recipient of the scholarship. because of the scholarship. Ultimately, I attended Alvernia University and it’s been a great four years.
Will you walk me through your progression as a student at Alvernia?
Though it might be a hard to believe, when I first came into Alvernia, I was a shyer individual. Once I came to Alvernia, I started getting highly involved in different things---from being a tour guide, working in the admissions office, becoming a resident assistant, orientation weekend leader, a peer mentor---and this afforded me the chance to work on both my people and communication skills, and my leadership skills. From meeting people, I noticed for the first time in my life that I had a knack for being an extroverted individual---I love meeting new people, I enjoy being around people, but most of all I enjoy getting to talk to people and learning about their perspectives of life---where they came from, how they ended up in college, where they want to be five, ten, fifteen years from now---and I grew from a shy individual into someone who has the ability to carry himself with confidence and radiate that through the relationships I develop with the people I meet.
What led you to Criminal Justice?
Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a police officer. I joke around with people and say, I watched Cops before I watched Bob the Builder. Because my father was constantly on the move, working and making sure he made ends meet for the both of us as well as the rest of my siblings, I was exposed to and saw a lot of things that children shouldn’t see. Growing up in an urban environment you see a lot of things such as gangs, drugs, and violence. Though I wasn’t directly involved with any of it, I saw enough to make me want to be a change agent in the society we live in and that Is what drew me to the field of criminal justice and the desire to become a police officer. Coming into college with the JROTC scholarship mixed with my desire to also serve my country as a Marine, I aspired to attend Alvernia University, obtain my four year criminal justice degree, serve my country as a Marine Corps Officer, and later become a police officer. Coming into college, I already knew I wanted Criminal Justice; I knew I wanted something in the law enforcement field; I knew I wanted to help people surpass or overcome any obstacles they were facing in their lives. I know that whether I become a Marine first, or a cop first, it doesn’t really matter, at the end of the day I just want to work in law enforcement and help people surpass any difficulties they might be living through at times of distress.
You attended the Reading Police Academy; tell me a little about that.
The Reading Police Academy was fun, the pepper spray was an experience I’d rather not have to go through again (laughter). The effects lasted forty-five minutes to an hour. The Police Academy was a great experience because it allowed me to take things I learned in the classroom at Alvernia through the Criminal Justice program and apply them to real-life scenarios through the academy. We spent a lot of time talking about being a police officer, working with people who are mentally ill, talking about the laws both here in PA and in general. We also did some self-defense and maneuvering, we did an emergency vehicle operations course, and we did marksmanship training. We had a whole plethora of things that we had to go through in a twenty week span, and we probably took about twenty-three academic tests to challenge our knowledge of what we were learning. The training was enriching and I enjoyed every minute of it, even the pepper spray (laughter).
And through that, did you get out into the field?
With the academy, you earn the ACT 120 certification (which states that you received the basic training needed to become a police officer in PA), and you then have to go out there and find a job in a department that is willing to hire you. The internship I did at Alvernia is a requirement through the Criminal Justice Department. It has nothing to do with the Academy, but nonetheless, it allows you to apply the knowledge you’ve learned over the years. I did my internship at the Wyomissing Police Department. I was there for about two and a half months. Again, I got to apply all that knowledge there. I got to interview people who were both the alleged criminals or perpetrators of a crime; I got to interview witnesses; I got to interpret for the officers because most of the officers, if not all of the officers at the Wyomissing Police Department are non-Spanish speakers, and lot of the people commuting in and out of the Wyomissing community are Hispanic. This is especially true in the Berkshire Mall. Getting the opportunity to apply my Spanish-speaking abilities there, letting both parties know what was going on so that nothing was missed between translations, was probably one of the best experiences I had throughout my internship.
What are your plans now that you’ve graduated?
My short terms goals are just to make some money, pay some student loans off, find an apartment, and just set a little bit of a foundation for myself. In the future, obviously I want to still find a job as a police officer, particularly here in Reading because that’s the community I’m from, and it would be a way to give back to the community that has enabled me to grow into the man I am today. I still plan on becoming a Marine Corps Officer, whether that happens now or in the future; and if that doesn’t happen, I still want to be a police officer regardless. In the future I think I also want to get my Masters and Doctorate degrees; earning those degrees would be an even greater milestone in my life and in my nuclear family because someone has yet to earn them. I’d like to take that education and everything I’ve learned within my job and career choice to give back to the community. I want to let kids know that if I was able to overcome all the obstacles in my life, and turn every negative I encountered into a motivating factor to become a better person, they can do the same. I do not know who said it, but I am a firm believer of the quote: “the struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you’ll need for tomorrow.” I believe that my story is a testament to that idea.
Do think Alvernia University and the experiences you’ve had here have helped pave the way and prepare you for life after graduation?
Definitely. The one thing I always tell people, especially throughout the tours I provide of the university, is that it doesn’t matter what university you go to, as long as you receive some sort of quality education and make the most out of it, it’s going to be great. While I’ve been here at Alvernia, I’ve met a lot of great people that have given me tons of career advice, whether it’s professional advice or just personal advice about my family, how to continue to be successful in my life, they’ve all been there for me from day one. A lot of them are people from the Reading community, so I know that I can extend that same care and compassion to a lot of other people in the future, either from the city of Reading or wherever I choose to reside and work once I settle on my career. Every single aspect of my Alvernia experience including my classes, the extracurricular activities I was involved in, the staff and faculty members, even the scenery of the campus made it easy to transition from that shy high school student, into a professional and productive asset to society.
This interview was conducted by Brandon Pytel, Undergraduate Admissions Counselor
About Alvernia University
Alvernia University is one of the leading Catholic colleges in PA. Receive a classic, liberal arts education in over 50 different subject areas, combining all the best features of an outstanding university, delivered in the personal setting of a college environment. Alvernia provides an affordable, private education in Reading and the surrounding communities in Pottsville, Harrisburg, Allentown, Lancaster, Kutztown and Philadelphia. For more information visit:http://www.alvernia.edu/
