Valentina Otero\u2019s passion for her major goes deeper than assignments on a syllabus. To round out a robust course load, Otero, a senior criminal justice and psychology double major from East Stroudsburg, Pa., pursued an independent study capstone project focused on exploring the minds of female serial killers. Carrie Maloney, Ph.D., associate professor of criminal justice, was her advisor. Otero has long been interested in the human psyche. \u201cI took a general psych class in high school, and I found it really interesting. And many family members suffered with mental illness throughout their lives, and I wanted to learn about how mental illness affects people,\u201d she explains. \u201cThrough my education, I\u2019ve gotten a better understanding of the questions I\u2019ve had.\u201d She added criminal justice as her second major during her first year at ESU and is particularly interested in working with offenders. \u201cAt first, I was interested in assisting with police investigations, but now I\u2019m leaning more toward helping offenders adjust to re-entering society. I\u2019m kind of thinking of getting my master\u2019s degree, but first I\u2019d like to get more professional experience. COVID limited my field experience opportunities,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
COVID didn\u2019t just limit her field experience opportunities. From virtual learning to mandatory shutdowns and disrupting daily routines, Otero was surprised by how much COVID touched her life. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it would affect me as much as it did,\u201d she admits. \u201cI like to be home, and I was already commuting, so I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d miss that much. But being inside all the time was maddening. The routine I had to stay motivated was suddenly gone.\u201d Then in November 2020, Otero\u2019s parents contracted the virus. Otero describes herself as a \u201csecond mother\u201d to her younger siblings and took on more responsibility. She cared for her sick parents, then fell ill herself a few weeks later. \u201cIt was very difficult for me to stay on track with my work. There were times when I missed class because I felt so sick. It affected my self-esteem\u2014I\u2019m a hard worker, and it\u2019s not like me to miss. I\u2019m glad now that I\u2019m getting caught up. I feel like I\u2019m in a time crunch, and I appreciate everything professors have done to make this an easier experience,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Otero pushed through the challenges and continued working with Dr. Maloney. They worked out a flexible syllabus and meeting schedule, and Otero chose to complete a 10-page research paper comparing the psychology of male and female serial killers. Otero says the independent study was rewarding on many levels. \u201cIt was beneficial in that it taught me to pace myself\u2014don\u2019t leave everything to the last minute. Every week, I would be determined to get something done, but I also learned to communicate with Dr. Maloney. The meetings have been very enriching. I would say they helped me with my critical thinking skills and to look at things from different perspectives.\u201d With graduation approaching, Otero is still exploring her options. She hasn\u2019t ruled out graduate school, but she is also weighing a few job offers. \u201cI\u2019m not sure what I\u2019m going to take yet,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Otero was a student in Maloney\u2019s senior seminar course \u201cThe Untold Stories of Capital Punishment\u201d. It focuses on the various individuals directly impacted but often overlooked by society and\/or the criminal justice system, such as death row corrections officers, jury members, and victim and offender families. \u201cValentina really wanted to get into the psychology,\u201d Maloney says, adding she offered a \u201cfresh perspective. Her research focused on \u2018how do death row corrections officers cope with the fact that this person will be put to death?\u2019 \u2018Do the CO\u2019s get support?\u2019 \u2018What are their coping mechanisms?\u2019 \u2018Are some able to compartmentalize?\u2019 \u2018Do others just leave the field and never come back?\u2019\u201d Otero then approached Maloney about being her capstone project advisor. \u201cSometimes a faculty member is chosen because of their expertise in the field, or the student feels a closeness to the faculty member,\u201d Maloney explains. \u201c[Valentina] really wanted to explore the psych of female serial killers and how they\u2019re so different from males. She would read outside sources when they weren\u2019t required\u2014she just wants to know more about it. I let her take the ball and run with it,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m not an expert in serial killers and mass murders, so the teacher became the student. Meeting with her has been the highlight of my week. In what has been an overwhelmingly difficult year, it\u2019s kept me going in many ways.\u201d Maloney adds, \u201cShe is a good example of a double major. She sees how things fit together, and it can improve your understanding of both fields. I see her doing it really well. Her inquisitiveness is refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Valentina Otero\u2019s passion for her major goes deeper than assignments on a syllabus. To round out a robust course load, Otero, a senior criminal justice and psychology double major from East Stroudsburg, Pa., pursued an independent study capstone project focused on exploring the minds of female serial killers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":20962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20954"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20966,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20954\/revisions\/20966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}