Victim Advocate Assistant Arica Nelson

DJ DeLong
Creative writing and history major
College of Arts and Sciences, Marketing and Communication student employee

Arica NelsonMany students wonder about what they will find on the other side of graduation, especially with a job market that is consistently fluctuating. Will they automatically start working their dream job? Or will they have to find other means to pay off college debt? Others wonder if they even went into the right career field. Some ask, "I have my degree, now what?"

Arica Nelson can be the example to calm the fears of current students. Nelson, Western Michigan University alumna and current graduate student, is a victim advocate assistant for the District Court Division of Kalamazoo County. Nelson graduated from WMU in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Only a year after receiving her degree she is working in the career field she dreamed of and continuing her academic career by pursuing her master’s degree in public administration. Nelson shows current students that the right opportunity could be right around the corner or even found while still attending WMU.

When asked how WMU helped prepare her for her career as a victim advocate assistant, Nelson said, "Professor Felix Brooks specifically helped me the most. He connected everything we learned to real life situations. I learn best by application and he did just that for me." 

Her internship was also one of the biggest helps for Nelson during her college career. The office she works in now is where she had her internship. To Nelson, it seemed the most interesting on a list of places that needed interns. She had no idea that she would fall in love with the work and start a career there. Nelson comments, "It is a very stressful and tense unit to work in, but it is much more rewarding than it is stressful."

Nelson is one of many WMU students who are out in the workforce making a difference in the world. She shared the most influential case she has worked on, a criminal sexual abuse case of a special needs child. "She was the sweetest little girl I have ever met in my entire life," Nelson said. It was a stressful case and the entire office was extremely tense about how the case was going to go. When the young girl had finished testifying, she ran back up to the Victim/Witness Unit and screamed, "I did it! I’m a survivor!"

Nelson and others in her office do their jobs for those who need help, like this little girl. Nelson said, "She didn’t know it, but she made us realize again why we do what we do. That was the case that showed me that I am in the right career field."