But she also is perfectly comfortable in a pair of cleats on the softball field, spikes on the golf course, or tactical shoes for her police work. The ability to excel in very different roles and opportunities in her life is what made Southern Utah University the perfect choice for a diverse college experience.
Crystal grew up in the White Mountains in a town called Show
Low, Arizona, but she was truly raised on the softball field. The youngest of
five children, she spent her days attending her older sisters' softball
practices, clinics, and private lessons imitating her sibling’s motions from
the sidelines.
"It was always my goal to be better than my sisters who
were both amazing ball players,” she says. “And after my collegiate softball
career ended, I took up golf and quickly found out that I have a new hobby that
I can do for years to come to satisfy my competitive nature!"
After her time in Arizona, Crystal finished up high school
in Preston, Idaho, where her father took a job as the principal and athletic
director. It was during her time at West Side High School, that Southern Utah's
softball program took notice.
"From the day Coach Laurel Simmons walked into my house
to recruit me to be a Thunderbird, I knew I would decline all my other
scholarship offers to play for any other school,” she explains. “I had eleven
total offers and chose SUU not only for the appeal of the university and the
town, but because I wanted to play for a coach I trusted."
Once on campus, Crystal developed an interest in criminal justice and cites great professors and mentors for helping her become a
police officer in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. She just started her twelfth
year as a Buffalo Grove Police officer in the patrol division.
"My day to day duties are never the same, which is why
I love what I do,” she says of her job. “I respond to calls, enforce traffic,
and am a field training officer, which means I train the new officers we hire
and show them the ropes as well as part of the recruitment team which recruits
future officers to our agency from various career fairs and colleges. I am also
a DUI/SFST instructor and a Rapid Deployment instructor which involves police
response to high stress situations such as active shooter scenarios,
room/building clearing, etc..."
Crystal credits her professors at SUU for teaching her how
to apply her education to real life.
"You're in your late teens and early twenties thinking
criminal justice is just like an episode of CSI or Law & Order when really
it's nothing like that,” she says. “I felt like my professors had real life
experience and knowledge of the topics they were teaching me and weren't just
reading from a textbook."
In conjunction with the "real world" education she
received from Southern Utah University, Crystal believes the qualities Thunderbird
athletics taught her also play a vital role in her success.
"Benefits are endless as a student athlete
at SUU," she says. "Learning to balance a busy life all while maintaining the highest level
of physical fitness, grades to maintain scholarships, and meeting academic
deadlines when you're busing traveling the country for games and competing with
elite athletes taught me how to excel in all areas of life. I
have respect for those who have mentored me in my athletic career. As a
training officer with my police department, I always say the easiest rookies to
train are the ones with some type of athletic or military background because
they are used to a discipline that many others may not be and they look at you
as their coach."
Crystal believes she has become an effective
"coach" in her career because of the lessons she learned at Southern
Utah University. She uses her life experience and desire to seek out diverse
opportunities to inspire the next generation of police officers.
"One reality check for me in college was that I HAD to
study and Coach Simmons made sure we did," she explains. "I think here I learned discipline,
focus, and balancing a heaving work load--all of which are the tools that I use
every day in my life now, I am grateful beyond words for those lessons. I
learned that opportunities aren't always given, sometimes you need to seek them
out, SUU taught me that I can always do more than I think I'm capable of."
Southern Utah taught Crystal how to manage wearing all those different shoes in her life, and while it's challenging, she wouldn't have it any other way.
Southern Utah taught Crystal how to manage wearing all those different shoes in her life, and while it's challenging, she wouldn't have it any other way.
"I am engaged to the love of my life, who is also a police officer and proudly serving as a Captain in the Army National Guard. Though extremely busy at times, we live an awesome life."
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