Trine wins 29 awards at ACJA competition

GURNEE, Ill. – Trine University’s Tau Alpha Omicron (TAO) chapter of the American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA—Lambda Alpha Epsilon) won 29 of 72 possible awards at the organization’s regional conference.

The Trine chapter co-hosted the conference Oct. 18-20 in Gurnee, Illinois, along with a chapter out of Minnesota.  Students and faculty competed against four other chapters/colleges from throughout the Midwest in four categories: written examinations, handgun competition, crime scene investigation and physical agility.

“This year, we had a total of 15 students attend the conference. Of those, 10 were first-time attendees and had just joined ACJA this semester,” said Cisco Ortiz, chair of Trine’s Department of Criminal Justice. “To prepare for the various competitions, these students had to work hard over the past couple of months strengthening their academic knowledge, shooting skills and physical training.”

Ortiz said the Trine chapter had not planned to host this year’s event after hosting last year, but stepped in when the scheduled chapter had to withdraw at the last minute.

“The TAO members joined the Beta Sigma Omega Lambda members from Minnesota and collaborated on the efforts needed to ensure the conference would still be held,” he said. “A neutral location was established and each chapter split the responsibilities of planning and coordinating.”

“Crime scene investigation is a favorite event of the TAO members, and they agreed to facilitate that event this year,” Ortiz said. “Unfortunately, that meant the TAO members were not eligible to compete in the CSI event. However, they put together a very challenging event that was highly regarded by the participating chapters.”

Ortiz, a 1999 Trine graduate and one of the chapter’s faculty advisors, along with criminal justice professor and co-advisor Mike Hess, competed in the professional division, while the students participated in the lower and upper divisions based on their academic year in school. Hess wrote the four examinations taken by the attending students and advisors.

Trine’s team members won 15 academic awards for testing in the knowledge areas of criminal law, corrections, juvenile justice, police management and the history of ACJA— Lambda Alpha Epsilon, and 14 awards in the three other competitions. Awards were as follows:

Written Examinations

• Criminal Law — Grace Haliena, an informatics major/criminal justice minor from Defiance, Ohio, won first place and Jacob Bolen, a sophomore criminal justice major from Auburn, Indiana, won third place in the lower division. MaKenna Knuth, a criminal justice major from Lake Villa, Illinois, won second place in the upper division.
• Corrections – Grace Haliena won first place and Devin Daniel, a sophomore criminal justice major from Huntington, Indiana, won second place in the lower division. Alexa Marlow, a junior criminal justice major from Saint Mary’s, Ohio, won third place in the upper division. Prof. Ortiz won second place in the professional division.
• Juvenile Justice – Grace Haliena won first place, Hannah Vankersen, a sophomore criminal justice major form Coldwater, Michigan, won second place and Devin Daniel won third place in the lower division. MaKenna Knuth won first place in the upper division and Prof. Ortiz won third place in the professional division.
• Police Management – Grace Haliena won first place in the lower division.
• ACJA-LAE History – Grace Haliena won second place in lower division and MaKenna Knuth won third place in upper division.

Physical agility

Ben Davage, a senior design engineering technology student from Hamilton, Michigan, placed second in the male 18-25 years of age division. Prof. Ortiz placed third in the male 35 years and older division. Sweeping all places in the female 18-25 years of age division were Alexa Marlow, first, Grace Haliena, second, and Brooke Neitzert, a freshman criminal justice major from Coldwater, Michigan, placing third.

Handgun individual

Dakota Snyder, a freshman criminal justice major from St. Joe, Indiana, won first place, and Trenton Sakos, a sophomore criminal justice major from Pioneer, Ohio, placed second in the lower division. Ben Davage placed first and Julia Jimenez, a senior criminal justice/psychology double major from Bronson, Michigan, placed third in the upper division. Prof. Ortiz placed third in the professional division.

Handgun team (three-person team)

Brooke Neitzert, Miyah Holmes, a freshman criminal justice major from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Allie Curdes, a freshman criminal justice major from Fort Wayne, Indiana, won third place in the lower division.  Ben Davage, Griffin Watson, a sophomore criminal justice major from Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Dakota Snyder won first place in the upper division. Julia Jimenez, Trenton Sakos and Luke Williams, a sophomore criminal justice major from Hudson, Indiana, won second place in the upper division. Prof. Ortiz and two non-TAO members placed third in the professional division.

Top photo: Front row, from left: Alexa Marlow (chapter secretary), Brooke Neitzert, Hannah Vankersen, MaKenna Knuth (chapter president), Julia Jimenez, Allie Curdes; middle, Luke Williams, Dakota Snyder, Grace Haliena (chapter vice president), Miyah Holmes; back, Devin Daniel (chapter social/induction chair), Cisco Ortiz (chapter co-advisor), Jacob Bolen (chapter treasurer), Ben Davage (handgun team captain), Griffin Watson and Trenton Sakos. Not pictured: Mike Hess, co-advisor.