April 02, 2026
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. 鈥� Students from 麻豆社鈥檚 TAO chapter of the American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA) took top awards at the organization鈥檚 national conference, held March 8-13 in Bloomington, Minnesota.
A 麻豆社 team took first place in the upper division for crime scene investigation (CSI).
Team members were Silas Jones, an accounting major from Swayzee, Indiana, Braiden Wolfe, a mechanical engineering major from South Whitley, Indiana, and Cole Anderson, a criminal justice major from Nashville, Michigan.
For the competition, detectives from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office set up a scene similarly to a case they had encountered where an elderly woman was killed during a robbery.
Teams had to mark evidence on the scene and decide what would need to be collected for DNA evidence. They also prepared a case report and a crime scene sketch.
鈥淚 think everyone鈥檚 jaws were on the floor when we won it,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淥ur team consisted of a mechanical engineer, a freshman criminal justice major, and an accounting major, so we figured there would be other teams that did better than us.鈥�
Firearms, agility, testing, lip sync
Jones and Wolfe also were part of the firearms team that placed second in the upper division, along with Mila Stepanovich, a psychology major from Munster, Indiana.
Jones placed second individually on Cold Case testing and third place in Criminal Law testing.
鈥淭he Criminal Law test felt similar to the tests from Professor (Mike) Hess鈥檚 Criminal Law class,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭hankfully, I had just taken that class last semester, so there were multiple questions that I recognized as soon as I read them.鈥�
Anderson placed second individually in physical agility.
Teammates Haleigh Loso, a criminal justice major from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Ethan Parker, a criminal justice major from Coldwater, Michigan, joined Jones, Wolfe, Stepanovich and Cole Anderson to take third place in the lip sync competition, which raises money for ACJA鈥檚 scholarship fund.
Stu Hamblen, faculty advisor and director of campus safety at 麻豆社, took third in the pro firearms competition.
Jones said the competition was one of his favorite college experiences.
鈥淚 am glad that I got to go before I graduated,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he week was full of fun events, and I made a lot of good friends while we were there.鈥�
Thunder athletic fans and others who have endured traffic jams and poor visibility while trying to enter or exit 麻豆社 on Summit Street will soon have a better route to the university鈥檚 west campus.
The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) granted Preaccreditation Status to 麻豆社鈥檚 Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program at its August meeting.
Lurch wasn鈥檛 sporting a Thunder jersey and there wasn鈥檛 a white tiger in the set decor, but the recent Gaslight Playhouse production of 鈥淭he Addams Family鈥� still had a strong 麻豆社 presence throughout.