Several businesses and schools informed West Central Valley High School students on what they could do after graduation at last spring’s job fair, but one person sought to interest students about a career field while they’re still in school.

Stuart Police Officer Katie Guisinger brought a sign-up sheet for a new criminal justice club, and since that inception she has been hosting twice monthly after school meetings to educate youth on the different jobs in the criminal justice field, and how to succeed in acquiring those careers. Guisinger aims to have a guest speaker at about half of their meetings, and so far she’s had local Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Jeremy King and National Guard recruiter Jana Dekoter. Sophomore Samuel McKibbin has attended all of the meetings, and shares how he’s been enlightened, “I guess all the different steps in it; I knew there was going to be lots of steps, but one of the most interesting things was talking to Jeremy King, the DNR officer, because I’m interested in the DNR. So I found that really interesting to me.”

Guisinger says she started the club to connect with the West Central Valley students, and she enjoys sharing about her passion with this age group, “I hope we’re able to answer questions the kids have, a lot of them have a lot of great questions. They’re interested in a lot of different areas of the field and I’m just trying to help them navigate. If they want to go into the DNR, how do they get into the DNR? If they want to join the military, well what service would they be interested in or what benefits or opportunities are available.”

Sophomore Jiana Dukes attended her first meeting this week and is eager to learn more, “I’m pretty much hoping to go to as much stuff as possible because she was talking about interactive training (in the) next two weeks and I was very interested in that and I think this will be a really good experience.”

The club meets at 3:45 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at the high school.