Back when I was in college, I started off as an art major.  I wanted to be a graphic designer, so I enrolled at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  One of my elective classes was a criminal justice class that ran Tuesday nights from 6-9.  I was in that class with my good friend Greg, who I'd met in my very first art class a few semesters before.  Our professor's name was Mike Kuhar, and I believe he was the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer in Indiana County. 

As I anxiously attended each of his classes, I was drawn in, fascinated by criminology and the study of human criminal behavior.  The semester dragged on, and art became more tedious to me...I looked at it as less of a career and more of a hobby.  For me, the criminology was where it was at.  Professor Kuhar's lectures were interesting, so when I had a college writing class where I had to interview someone, I chose him.  I set up an interview, and it's been so long, I couldn't tell you what I had asked him, or what his answers were.  All I knew, was I walked out of that interview knowing I wanted to be a juvenile probation officer.  Soon after that I changed my major, not to criminology(unless you're a new student at IUP, forget getting into that major), but to political sciene/pre-law, kind of as a back door. 

Fast forward a few years later...I ended up working at a behavioral health institution that eventually let me to Blair County's Juvenile Probation Office.  I had finally found a job I liked doing...trying to give hopeless kids hope that they could live a better life.   It was a job that I never felt like not going to work...I actually looked forward to it.  They say money isn't everything, but unfortunately, I had bills to pay and the salary left a bit to be desired, so I took some  time to explore other options.

In my four year absence from the JPO office, I had thought about how much I liked that job, and how I wondered if I'd ever like that job again.  I missed it...I missed my co-workers, I missed the kids, and I missed the experiences.  Dangerous as the job can be, it's always nice to make a troubled kid feel like they're a little more respected and worth something than they think they are.  When someone puts a little trust in them, they'll cooperate a lot better.  Even if they don't heed your advice after you're done working with them, you at least have their attention for a little while.

In December of 2006, I talked with one of my former JPO Supervisors over our Christmas Eve beer at the Pipe Room in Hollidaysburg.  He told me there was going to be an opening and he wanted to know if I'd be interested in coming back.  Not knowing what kind of future I had with the job I was in at the time, I weighed the option over and over in my mind.  For me, it was a no-brainer...I had always liked the job, the pay was a little better than it was when I left, but I figured it was the only time in my life I wasn't miserable at a job.  So, I went back.  I like to joke around and say some sickness drove me back to that job, but it's where my heart's been ever since I talked with my professor in college. 

I'm not sure if Mike would ever remember me, and funnily enough, we've never been at the same state conferences.  But I would like to thank him for getting me into the profession.  You never know where your niche is, but this seems to be mine.