Jessica Mortenson

"I know a lot of criminal justice students who go to colleges around here, and none of them have teachers who were previously officers or can teach from experience – they teach from a textbook. But Jeff (Nelson, Criminal Justice program coordinator/faculty at M State) is a prior law enforcement officer, and I feel really privileged to have him teaching me the ropes. I’m an older student, in my 30s, and Jeff understands that life happens. He’s encouraging. He’s also honest about whether there’s a ‘right’ or clear answer in tough situations, and he has other officers come and talk to us in class to share their perspectives. 

I came to M State because I needed a change. I was a store manager for a long time. I came for a career day event to explore different areas, and thought about going into nursing but decided to go into criminal justice. I wanted to go back to school to show my kids that just because I’m a single mom doesn’t mean I can’t do all the things I want to do. They’re super excited for me. 

I’m part of the Criminal Justice Association student group, and we go on field trips to the jail, to the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) building, to the state penitentiary, to Home On The Range juvenile center. We get to see all the different career options out there, and there are a lot of them: Police work, NCIS, border patrol, FBI… you can do all kinds of things in the field of criminal justice. I never would have known if I hadn’t become a student here."