{"id":1090,"date":"2024-11-11T16:06:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T16:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/?p=1090"},"modified":"2024-11-12T19:20:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T19:20:28","slug":"victoria-giraldo-sees-her-2025-jla-degree-as-a-step-toward-becoming-a-navy-jag-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/2024\/11\/11\/victoria-giraldo-sees-her-2025-jla-degree-as-a-step-toward-becoming-a-navy-jag-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria Giraldo sees her 2025 JLA degree as a step toward becoming a Navy JAG officer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Victoria

Victoria Giraldo<\/p><\/div>\n

Danbury resident Victoria Giraldo has known for a long time that she wanted to eventually become a member of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. She set her path toward that goal in motion in middle school by joining the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps Dealey Division out of Stamford, Connecticut. A participant throughout middle school and high school, Giraldo said she received medical and leadership training, and attended boot camp in New Jersey for two weeks.<\/p>\n

When it came time to consider colleges, Giraldo was accepted to Western Connecticut State University<\/a>, two CSCU sister schools, UNH and UConn. In the end, Giraldo opted for WestConn so she could stay in her community, commute to classes and continue to work. The reputation of WestConn\u2019s Justice and Law Administration<\/a> program was also very important to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always known that I wanted to major in justice and law,\u201d Giraldo said. \u201cI plan to get my bachelor\u2019s degree and then work with a Navy recruiter to become a Navy officer and enter the JAG Corps. That way, they will help pay for law school, because it\u2019s so expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giraldo has a very specific type of law she wants to practice: immigration law. A second-generation immigrant from Peru, Giraldo has witnessed friends and extended family members struggle to integrate into the U.S. and wants to find a way to help. \u201cIt\u2019s hard and costly for people who are looking to find asylum,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to use my bi-lingual skills and eventual law degree to help the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Victoria

Victoria Giraldo<\/p><\/div>\n

In the meantime, Giraldo, who will graduate in May 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies<\/a>, is finishing up her coursework and participating in a semester-long internship at the Danbury Adult Probation office. \u201cA lot of law firms don\u2019t have internship placements right now,\u201d Giraldo said. \u201cI took a sex crimes class with Dr. Casey Jordan and I excelled in the class and became her teaching assistant. Dr. Jordan helped me find the internship at Adult Probation and I\u2019m working with Hispanic sex offenders because I\u2019m bilingual and can communicate with the clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spring semester, Giraldo plans to do another internship and has already started submitting applications. She\u2019s also continuing her on-campus work as a Tech-in-Attendant at the university\u2019s Media Services office, and as an employee in the Communications & Marketing Department\u2019s print shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestConn is the best option if you want to stay in Danbury, commute and work at your job(s),\u201d Giraldo said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great school with great professors, and I\u2019ve always worked while I have been a student here. My family is very proud of me and think the path I\u2019ve chosen is a smart decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Victoria

Victoria Giraldo (front row)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Danbury resident Victoria Giraldo has known for a long time that she wanted to eventually become a member of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. She set her path toward that goal in motion in middle school by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":1098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8,6],"class_list":["post-1090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","tag-jla","tag-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}