GTCC’s public safety administration program opening new opportunities for law enforcement veteran Christa

“I was interested in being able to get more well-versed in the administrative side of things instead of just the criminal justice side. This gives me the best of both worlds,” Christa says.

Destiny Christa has years of law enforcement experience, working mostly in the state and federal correctional systems.

Now, the 27-year-old New York native is back in the classroom, augmenting her on-the-job training with classroom experiences through Guilford Technical Community College’s public safety administration curriculum.

“I’ve been wanting to go back to school for a few years now,” said Christa. “Originally, my plan last year was to go to Liberty University, but the timing wasn’t right, and I tabled that. Then I saw GTCC had the classes I was interested in, and I pulled the trigger.”

“When Destiny joined the program, she shared that she was interested in learning about the administrative side of public safety,” said Esteban Soto, public safety administration instructor. “In the public safety administration program, she’s learning how to lead and manage personnel, manage resources including budgets, and develop and analyze policies, all while using best practices and in an ethical manner.”

GTCC’s public safety administration curriculum is designed to provide students with knowledge and skills in the technical, managerial, and administrative areas necessary for entrance or advancement within various public safety and government organizations.

“I was interested in being able to get more well-versed in the administrative side of things instead of just the criminal justice side. This gives me the best of both worlds,” Christa said.

In addition to attending GTCC, she also works as an armed security guard for Guilford County, protecting government sites and events throughout the county. It is a continuation of the varied type of security work she has done throughout her career.

“When I worked for the state, I was on a special team. We would go to maximum and minimal security facilities in emergencies. When I worked for the federal system, I normally worked in high-level to medium-security facilities, but I worked others, too,” said Christa. “I got a good mixture.”

The boots-on-the-ground experience she has gotten in the corrections world over the past decade is paying classroom dividends for Christa at GTCC.

“My experience, especially in corrections, has helped me in this program,” said Christa. “It has helped me more in my homeland security class. Certain things I had to learn for those jobs correlate a lot and feel like going forward training I had in the past is going to correlate more.”

Visit GTCC’s Public Safety Administration program web page for more information.