Monmouth University homeland security student Sierra Poole recently won first place at the New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Association (NJEPA) Higher Education Challenge for her presentation, “Mental Health for First Responders to Terrorism Events.” The competition took place on April 8, in Atlantic City as part of the NJEPA’s annual conference.
Poole received a scholarship prize for her winning presentation, which stemmed from her capstone project for the Senior Research Project in Homeland Security course. As a result of the win, Monmouth University’s name will be added to the NJEPA Higher Education Challenge trophy.
“Participating in the NJEPA Higher Education Challenge was an incredible experience. It gives students a chance to present their research to real-world practitioners and gain valuable exposure. I highly recommend this opportunity to any Monmouth homeland security or criminal justice student. It’s rewarding and builds strong presentation skills. I’m especially grateful or my groupmates, who were instrumental in bringing this project to life,” Poole said.
Challenge topics covered fields in all phases of the comprehensive emergency management cycle: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, or recovery. Potential themes included threats and solutions in the field; analysis of disasters (i.e., response and recovery); analysis of systems and processes; and emerging technologies and techniques.
Poole’s project was an expansion of a capstone project from the Seminar in Criminal Justice course, which she collaborated with classmates James Gentles, Greta Valvo, and Brandon Benanti. Under the direction of Meg Forney, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, the group created “Operation Inner Armor,” a 10-month, four-phase treatment plan for first responders exposed to psychological strain resulting from traumatic events. The program aims to address high rates of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and substance abuse among first responders, and was previously presented at the FEMA Region 2 Higher Education Roundtable hosted by Monmouth in December.
Homeland security and political science student Anthony Sogluizzo also represented Monmouth at the challenge, where he was named a finalist for his presentation, “The Practical Application of the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Model to a Municipality.” His project was developed as part of the Emergency Management Planning course.
Both students were supervised at the event by Thomas J. Carey. Ed.D., specialist professor in the Department of Criminal Justice.
NJEPA Higher Education Challenge invites undergraduate and graduate students in emergency management, homeland security, public safety, and related programs to present solutions to current issues facing the profession.
NJEPA is a nonprofit organization that provides affordable emergency preparedness training to local, regional and state emergency managers and first responders by conducting an annual conference.
