On Sept. 12, Washburn University’s Corrections Club met for the first time in the semester to discuss upcoming events for the club and greet new members.
The Corrections Club is a newer club offered at Washburn as it was revived only recently. The club used to be part of the Criminal Justice Association, but after changing leadership multiple times, was disbanded.
Patricia Dahl, associate professor of criminal justice, is the current faculty advisor for the club and the faculty member who reinstated the club.
“It stopped for a number of years, and then with talking to our department and wanting to promote corrections as a profession and field of study, they encouraged me to bring it back,” Dahl said.
The club meeting was attended by both in-person participants and Zoom participants who were either criminal justice majors or just students interested in the club.
One student who participated in the club meeting was Kory McFan, freshman criminal justice major, who came to the club meeting to get a better understanding of criminal justice.
“I always had an attachment to mental health and different issues that are in society and in the system,” McFan said.
At the meeting, McFan volunteered to be the club’s recruitment officer, who would focus on finding more people to join the club, because he felt that he was fit for the position.
Kayla DeVore, senior criminal justice major and club president was present via Zoom. She led the flow of the meeting as well as greeted new members and discussed future activities.
“I have a good tie to mental health. I’m really invested in mental health and seeing how that combines with criminal justice in the field of corrections is really interesting to me,” DeVore said.
One activity that was mentioned was the possibility of touring a prison and giving members insight into the inner workings of the criminal justice system. DeVore spoke about her internship at Shawnee County Department of Corrections and how she helped to create the first honors module in a Kansas jail.
The Corrections Club happily welcomes new members to attend its meetings every second Thursday of the month from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Menninger Conference Room of Benton Hall.
Edited by Jayme Thompson and Morgan Albrecht
