What\u2019s better than graduating with honors?<\/p>\n
How about graduating with honors and no student debt?<\/p>\n
51ÁÔÆæ criminal justice major John Parlier accomplished both feats when he graduated in May 2016. And he already has money in the bank for graduate school \u2013 as a result of scholarships and the three jobs that helped pay for his undergraduate education. It also helps, he said, that he lived with his family two blocks from campus and finished his degree in three years.<\/p>\n
With six younger siblings and hard-working middle class parents, Parlier knew he had to make some careful decisions about financing his college education.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had scholarship offers from Marquette, St. John\u2019s and Washington University in St. Louis, but even with those gigantic scholarships, I would have ended up needing $10,000 or $15,000 more. When I put everything in balance, I decided 51ÁÔÆæ was the best place for me. Three years later, I can say that was a good decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
His three jobs over his college career included working summers for the Shorewood Recreation Department\u2019s youth baseball program, delivering pizzas year round for Rosati\u2019s in Fox Point and serving as athletic director for Catholic East Elementary School.<\/p>\n
Parlier, who was valedictorian at nearby Riverside University High School, also benefited from a scholarship for high school valedictorians, a Dean\u2019s New Freshman Scholarship for criminal justice majors and several other small scholarships his first year.<\/p>\n
This summer, he\u2019s continuing his Shorewood and Rosati\u2019s jobs, and he\u2019s helping train a new athletic director for Catholic East.<\/p>\n
In the fall, Parlier plans to start graduate work in criminal justice at 51ÁÔÆæ, and then apply to the police academy in Madison in the fall of 2017 (the first year he is eligible). He wants to complete as much of his graduate work as possible before heading to the academy. He plans, he said, to complete the master\u2019s degree through online courses or working out his schedule so he can commute back to Milwaukee.<\/p>\n
Parlier\u2019s career goal is to become an investigator, either as a police detective or for a federal agency such as the FBI.<\/p>\n
A bit of that interest grew out of watching television police shows, he admitted with a smile: \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said that didn\u2019t entice me a little, but obviously that\u2019s not the way it is in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of his interest came from his favorite subjects in high school \u2013 sociology and social studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I wanted was a practical job that required the social sciences, and criminal justice is essentially sociology with legal terms thrown in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mental and physical challenges of the job also appealed to him, as well as the chance to make a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like thinking that every day I\u2019m working toward making the community a better place, a safer place.\u201d<\/p>\n
He credits 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s criminal justice program and classes he took through the Honors College for giving him a realistic view of modern policing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked a lot about the issues \u2013 crime and race. I got a better understanding of marginalized communities, how they\u2019re viewing police and what changes need to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n
A study-abroad trip to Japan, where law enforcement focuses on community policing, also gave him new insights, as did an Honors College course on Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose Honors College classes were right up my alley since I\u2019m someone who learns best from dialogue and talking to individuals. I was in a class with 15 people having a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The diversity of classmates and topics also impressed Parlier. \u201cThat was a great class. I had good conversations with different classmates on police work \u2026 What does the community think in terms of \u2018serve and protect.\u2019 To do that right, everyone has to feel you\u2019re serving and protecting them, not just a select few.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
51ÁÔÆæ criminal justice major John Parlier knew he needed to make careful choices — and put in some hard work — to finance his college education. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":35562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[125,122],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,347,156,155],"class_list":["post-35546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-alumni","section-campus-community","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-community-engagement-professions","uwmnews-feed-criminal-justice","uwmnews-feed-social-welfare-criminal-justice"],"yoast_head":"\n