Meet & Greet with local emergency responders

MIA GARCIA STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, April 11 fellow Seawolves attended a meet and greet with local emergency responders. The event was hosted on behalf of Campus Recreation and the SSU Police Department. At the event, students had the opportunity to hang out with SSU police, Santa Rosa Police Department, Petaluma Police Department, and Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District. The meet and greet took place at the Rec Center where everyone bonded over pizza, competitive games and winning prizes.

At the event, the Sonoma State STAR had an opportunity to interview SSU Chief of Police, Nadar Oweis. He explained the importance of the meet and greet with local emergency responders, “It’s an opportunity for us to get to know people on a one-onone basis and get to know their names.”

The Chief of Police believes that building relationships with the community on-campus is important and he plans to accomplish that here at Sonoma State. Chief Oweis said, “[SSU Police Department] has a lot of events that are specifically designed to interact with students.” While planning the event, they thought hosting it at the Rec Center would make an engaging atmosphere for emergency responders and students to spend time together.

At the Rec Center, there were a variety of games including: Jenga, Connect 4, and Cornhole. Jeff Vel- iquette, Chief of Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District participated in a game of Jenga. He said, “Right now we are in a heated game of Jenga, we’re right down at the very edge to see who’s gonna bring the tower down… It’s a good time.”

Fire Chief Veliquette was invited by Chief Oweis so he can interact with some of the students. He said, “We are your fire department so we respond here to Sonoma State all the time… We are here for you guys if there is any type of emergency.” Veliquette said if students are looking to become a paramedic, first responder, or EMT they have part time and full time positions available. If anyone may be interested, contact the Rancho Adobe Fire District at (707) 795-6011 or visit their website, rafd.org.

The Sonoma State Police Department is also offering internships for students who need them. The internship includes a class, ride alongs and videos of what to do and what not to do. SSU Criminal Justice major, Fatima Contreras works for the on-campus Police Department and said “It’s really helpful for a lot of students to get themselves out there and having those connections is very important in law enforcement or any department because you get to know a lot of the officers, get to know their experiences and they personally tell you what they went through.”

Chief Oweis is trying to get a unit class at the police department that correlates with the internship as well. For more information go to police.sonoma.edu or for more student officer meet and greets times and dates follow their Instagram @sonomastatepolice.