Author: Brad Deen
Class 20 became the Class of ’22.
The 20th crop of future leaders in Adult Corrections was supposed to finish the year-long Corrections Leadership Development Program back in 2020. Then COVID-19 struck.
After a two-year pause, the Office of State Development and Training reassembled the group to complete coursework and group projects. Their relief-filled graduation ceremony was Thursday, July 14, at the OSDT Training Center in Apex.
“Congratulations on becoming vibrant, successful leaders for the state of North Carolina,” N.C. DPS Secretary Eddie M. Buffaloe Jr. told the 17 new CLDP graduates.
The Corrections leadership program provides a firm foundation in critical thinking and problem-solving. Its purpose is to ensure a continuity of highly qualified and experienced leaders throughout the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice.
“Any organization is only as good as its leadership,” Secretary Buffaloe said. “A successful organization has people at all levels who can inspire those around them to see the goal ahead and to move as a group toward it, everybody playing their part.
“It sounds simple, doesn’t it?” he added. “But as I’m sure you’ve learned through CLDP, and in your jobs with Adult Correction and in your own lives as well, there are times when nothing in the world is more difficult than leadership.”
CLDP has been offered since 1997, but OSDT Director Stephanie Freeman speculated to the assembly that the idea has always been in Corrections. “In 1885, when Central Prison first opened, I’m sure the warden back then took someone under his wing and trained him to be his successor,” she said.
Freeman noted that Class 20 isn’t the first class to be interrupted by circumstances. Class 10 finally graduated in 2009 after a 22-month halt on travel and training due to budgetary restrictions.
“It makes me wonder,” Freeman said, “what’s going to happen with Class 30?”
Class 20 graduates are:
- Clark Atkins - Community Corrections
- Jeffery Billups II - ACJJ Administration
- Bret Bullis - Prisons
- Demetrius Clark - Prisons
- Debbie Crouell - Prisons
- Nina Hooks-Thomas - Alcohol/Chemical Dependency
- Jamel James - Prisons
- Katina Jordan - Prisons
- Mary Locklear - Prisons
- Rodney Moore - OSDT
- Embery Morton - Prisons
- Shawn Owens - Community Corrections
- Tara Richardson - Community Corrections
- Kenneth Smith - Prisons
- Cristel Vaughan - Prisons
- Latasha White - Community Corrections
- Pam York - Community Corrections
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Thursday, July 14, at the OSDT Training Center in Apex.