Before graduation, Dr. Joe Johnston sat down with Haley Mayer, 2023 Criminology Senior Award winner, to look back at her 91勛圖厙 journey, and look forward to what is next as she moves into the world with her degrees in Sociology and Criminology.
Dr. Joe Johnston
What led you to become a criminology and or sociology major in the first place?
Haley Mayer (’23)
So originally in high school when I was applying to colleges and thinking about majors, I was thinking pretty heavily about going to law school. I knew I wanted to do something in kind of the law, maybe social work field, so that was the original intention and I was like, I'm really interested in sociology and from like just the small bits that I've learned about it. Then my first sociology class was with you. And I remember calling my mom after, like, the first couple weeks of school and being like, sociology is really cool. This is a really cool subject like I'm excited about this.
I didn't start off on the best foot criminology wise, my first CRIM class. So it wasn't my most favorite, but I was still like, yeah, the material was really interesting and I think it's going to get better and it did and I ended up taking mostly CRIM electives where I could, and that kind of changed my focus to CRIM and I kind of switched out of, like, feelings about law school and was like, I think I could maybe just do research for the rest of my life and be really happy about that.
Joe
So why did you stick with the major? You sort of answered this already, but were there times where you doubted either sociology and or criminology and or considered changing?
Haley
There were not. I was pretty steady throughout. I originally did have a French major that I ended up dropping. That was partially because I got a concussion, but partially because I was like, I know French at this point and I'm not having fun anymore taking these classes. And I would rather focus on SOC and CRIM and get more space on my schedule to really do that. And there is definitely like end of freshman, like during sophomore year, being like I don't know that I want to go to law school anymore and I have no idea what I'm going to do with this degree. And then, being like I still want this degree because I like these things, but what am I supposed to do with it? And then I met Esther Matthews and I started doing research with her, and I was. Like this is why I'm doing this degree and I would like to continue pursuing research in this field.
Joe
So already mentioned some of this already. What specific course or courses, experiences, if any, people and or maybe assignments or projects do you want to remember from your criminology and or sociology major and why?
Haley
From this department, I think, and maybe I'm biased, is the best department on campus. I always will like mention things to my friends about like, oh, I went to office hours or oh, my professor did this or sent this e-mail and they'll be like, that's crazy. Like my professor would not do that. So I think it's just like. First, the way that everybody here really cares, it's not just like, oh, your professor, you know, do you have questions for class? It's like I can show up and talk about my life or what's going on or what I'm feeling and like there's a genuine interest and urge to care about me coming from the other side, which is really cool.
I think I've taken a lot of classes that I really love. I think obviously Esther's corrections course was where I was like ‘ohh, I could work in prison reform research. That's really interesting.’ And so that kind of sparked, like my specific research interest and like my idea of, I think I could do a PhD.
I think that I want to do more research focused work and law focused work, but during COVID when everything was online, I remember all my core classes just being miserable and being like, I'll put it on the screen and deal with it. And then having all of my soc and crim courses like showing up and like the first questions that my professors always asked in any of those was like, ‘how are we really’ like ‘I know that right now sucks’ and making sure like before we started doing actual class work like ‘are you guys OK and are you able to do this work with us today?’ It was just like oh, this isn't just about checking boxes and getting things done. It's about caring for the people that are here and caring to make this a good experience, which I don't think I see across the board in departments, so that's really cool.
I took Vik’s subcultures and I think that was one of the, really solidifying pieces for me in, like, sociology is really ** cool and you can do some really cool things with it, and that's awesome. He very much made that class about like ‘what do you guys care about and How can we apply that to sociology? I was like ohh I really can think about whatever I'm interested in and just connect it to sociology. And that's really cool.
So those classes are really important and I think one of the classes that challenged me a lot was the first class I took with Forrest. I was like ohh he has a lot of little assignments and work and group projects and I'm very used to just like writing papers and being like, I can get that done like the night before. But Forrest very much like how to structure that was different from some of the other structures that I'd followed, especially coming out of COVID. But I think it was all very meaningful. And so it wasn't like we have a lot of work and a lot of it's busy work, which is something I experienced in some of my core classes. It was like we have a lot of work and it's all really important and I'm not finding a hard time getting it done because it's interesting and he put so much thought and preparation into making it an important activity for us. So I think those were the classes that were like the pieces that were like okay yeah.
Joe
What are you hoping to do in your post 91勛圖厙 life? The easy question. the easy? How do you think criminology and sociology will connect to those hopes?
Haley
I've been reframing the way I'm thinking about it. Instead of saying I'm taking a year off, I am taking the year to do something else and I'm really excited about that opportunity. I initially was trying to decide OK, do I want to go to grad school right away? Do I want to Take some time? and I'm really excited to take some time.
I'm moving to Seattle and so I get to be near my sister and I've been working at a restaurant for the past two years that has been a really big piece of, like my Spokane experience, and we're opening a new bar in the Green Lake area. So I'm helping open that. Which feels cool, which is something completely different from what I'm studying right now. I don't think like going into college, I would have been like, oh, yeah, I'm going to help open a bar when I leave college. So that's kind of fun and I'm really excited about that and I'll still be doing some research and working on PhD applications during that time.
So ideally the year following is when I’ll start a PhD program and wherever that takes me, I'm really excited, hoping to work on my PhD In Prison Reform specific research, and so continuing doing a lot of qualitative interviews, that has been giving a really interesting part of my research so I'm really excited to just work with people and hear stories and write about them and keep learning. So yeah, I'm excited for the break, but I'm also really excited for what's to come after that. So we'll see what happens. But that's the plan right now.
Joe
Anything else you would like to share?
Haley
I'm just so grateful for all of my professors and all of the people in this department who have walked through the last four years of me. There's a lot of really important people who have cared a lot about me and who have poured a lot of energy and time into me, and that is really special.
I think there's a lot of people here that are going to be part of my life for a very long time and I'm just really grateful for it and with all of the craziness of COVID and all of the craziness of real life and personal life going on, I've had a beautiful support system and a beautiful group of people who I know really care about me and I really care about back. So I'm always going to be super grateful for that.
Joe
Thank you.