Jillian Pierce, a UNG senior criminal justice major at the Dahlonega campus, will be interning with the District Attorney’s office in White County starting this May. After applying to a few internship opportunities sent to Pierce through UNG, Pierce heard back from the DA’s office in White Country to begin her interview process after submitting her resume and letter of recommendation.

Pierce says, “I am excited and interested in seeing the day-to-day work and to see the process of building cases beginning to end.”

Pierce originally planned to study kinesiology. She says “I knew I didn’t want to be a kinesiology major within the first 20 minutes of my A&P [anatomy and physiology] class. Within the first week, I had changed my major to criminal justice and stuck with it.”

Pierce says she enjoys forensic work and wants to pair that with creating a positive impact on the community.  Pierce says “The major jump from kinesiology to criminal justice was so worth it because I have a passion for forensic work and helping people.”

Although Pierce found out about the internship opportunity through UNG’s resources, Pierce says “I wish UNG, and most colleges really, gave more guidance and information about the different certifications and the Peace Officers Standards and Training Council (P.O.S.T.) program that people need to continue in this major.” Pierce did research on her own to determine what certifications she needed to be successful within the major and to get the internships that were best matched to her interests.

Pierce wants other students to know that “If you want to go into forensics, UNG doesn’t have a lot of opportunities, so focusing on trying to get in with a DA’s office will give you the experience you’re looking for.”

Some resources that Pierce suggests for students within the criminal justice community are:

Georgia P.O.S.T.

UNG P.O.S.T.

Campus Explorer