We could all learn something from following WilmU senior Brandi Niehoff, though most of us couldn’t keep up.
Entering the final semester of her Criminal Justice bachelor’s degree program, she leads by example wherever she goes.
Niehoff starts her day caring for her husband and two sons — an infant and preschooler. She makes sure the kids are dressed, fed, and dropped off at school or daycare. Then it’s off to her full-time job as a civil operator and investigative case analyst for the Army National Guard as a member of the Delaware Counterdrug Taskforce. Her daily responsibilities involve supporting local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in counterdrug investigations, and helping community- based operations that serve youth and adults. After work, she visits her “second family” at Frontline CrossFit, five days a week. It’s a major factor in her continued success. Somehow she manages to find the time and energy to maintain her 3.6 GPA.
Working with Dr. Jim Warwick, program chair of the Criminal Justice program, and members of the Instructional Design and Credit for Prior Learning teams at the College of Online and Experiential Learning, Niehoff was approved for and completed a specialized Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) in fall of 2018. She was one of the first students to participate in this exciting option for the redeveloped Technology Applications in Criminal Justice (CRJ 350) course. The specialized PLA format was designed carefully for students with sufficient professional experience in law enforcement.
After 15 years of dedicated service to her nation and local community, she will be appointed to the rank staff sergeant with the 160th Engineer Company. Never one to shy away from a challenge, she is also taking advantage of the opportunity to participate in the CRJ to MAJ Accelerated Option at Wilmington University. She’ll take her first two graduate-level courses in the spring of 2019.