I knew this was the school for me when I went to check out the college and met Jeff Nelson, the Criminal Justice coordinator. He is very knowledgeable about law enforcement topics, and he works with you if you don’t understand something. He wants all his students to succeed.
My parents started me out very young with hunting and fishing, and I love anything to do with the outdoors. After four years in the Marine Corps, I wanted to pursue a career as a conservation officer – it’s the best of both worlds, being in the outdoors protecting the natural resources and helping people.
I enjoyed the atmosphere at M State, especially in the veterans center, and the program greatly helped me prepare to become a conservation officer. Jeff did a great job with the law enforcement aspect, and the biology classes really helped with the natural resources aspect. The special topics class was easily my favorite, with lots of hands-on work. I haven’t heard of many colleges that actually let you do traffic stops and go on calls to learn. It’s usually all book learning.
Ryan Brown graduated in 2019 with an associate degree in Criminal Justice and is a conservation officer in the Karlstad field station of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.