Hello everyone!

Today I wanted to try something different. I thought I would give you a bit of insight from someone else. 

Today I will be interviewing my friend Courtney! She is a great friend that I met through a page on Facebook. 

We were both considering the same college at one point and she messaged me since she saw me on the page. She decided on a different path in the end but we kept talking anyways and became pen pals! As well as great friends!

She has some great insight to share, so I will be posting some of what she shared with me when I interviewed her. 

What I say will be Bolded 

And her words italicized

Give us some insight on you Courtney. What are the most important things for us to know about you?

Insight on me? 

This may be harder than I thought. 

There are many things to know about me. Where to begin? 

I whole heartedly support the police (and that doesn’t mean I’m okay with police brutality) and i can’t get along with people who don’t. I spend my nights listening to a police scanner instead of partying like people do my age.

 I’m also a Winnie The Pooh fanatic. While I may be 18 I have Winnie the Pooh things all over my room. 

I’m also that weird person who watched Christmas movies all year around. I watch Home Alone 3 every Saturday (yes I can quote it). 

And I love to write. I carry a notebook where ever I go because you never know when inspiration will come along.

What do you want to do now that you’re finished with high school?

I want to graduate college.

 My parents and grandparents never went to college so doing this will be something special. 

I also want to turn 21 so I can put in my application to work for the 911 disbatch center in my town. 

But most importantly I want to spend as much time as possible with the ones I love. Since graduating high school I’ve spent so much more time with my grandma and I want to continue that. 

Those are great goals! For the next question, describe what you are passionate about. 

(This may offend someone and if it does I’m sorry)

I am VERY passionate about law enforcement and the men and women who protect us. Nothing bugs me more when the media tries to paint every cop dirty and a murderer. And that’s not me saying that police brutality is okay. ITS NOT. 

But it’s also not okay to call me a racist because I support the police!

I had an experience in a airport where I was wearing a memorial shirt for a friend who was a cop and who was sadly killed doing his job. This lady gave me the nastiest look and mumbles racist under her breath. She wouldn’t let me explain myself. 

And if for some reason she’s reading this I’m sorry if you or someone you love has been hurt by a member of law enforcement but that doesn’t mean you can say every law enforcement member is like that. 

Just like not every teacher is a bad one, not every lawyer is dirty and so on.

I agree, I don’t see why issues like these have to cause division among everyone. In the end that does way more harm than good. 

So for the next question-who is someone that has changed your life and why?

There are two people. 

His name is Deputy Carl Koontz. He was my one of my school recourse officers and a Deputy in my town. He started working for my old highschool at a time in my life where I was lost.

I didn’t know what I wanted, I was unhappy and at times not making the best or safest decisions. The school resource officers stand in the lunch room every day incase of fights or other emergencies. 

One day I got scared (it’s a long story) and I went and I started talking to him. That was the best decision I ever made.

 If I needed him he’d stop what he was doing and listen. He’d let me spend how ever long I needed with him if I was having a bad day. I felt safe for the first time in a while. 

He is the reason I’m not afraid of public speaking. This man did more than his job required him to do. 

Even when we weren’t in school I’d listen to him on the police scanner and it kept me out of trouble. It also helped me fall in love with becoming a 911 dispatcher. 

Sadly on March 20, 2016 while serving a warrant he along with another deputy were shot. His partner survived and he lost his life. The man who killed him killed himself. 

Carl wasn’t even suppose to be working that night but it was Carl. He went beyond what he needed to do to help others. 

After he was killed my world fell apart. I felt alone and lost and no one around me (at least in my age group) understood me. 

There was also only so much grief and guidance councilors could say before it became the same thing over and over again. And I didn’t feel like I could go to our other school cops. I didn’t want to bother them. I knew they were hurting just as bad if not worse and it wouldn’t be right. 

I struggled for a while untill something I will never forget happened. An email was set up for his son. It was to share stories about his dad that you maybe didn’t want others to see. 

One night I sent him an email. I was struggling and I wanted to look back on some happy memories with his dad. What happened next changed where I was going. Carl’s wife contacted me. She has been so kind and caring to me and at times I don’t think I deserve it. She’s given me someone to talk to and she cares. 

When I sent the original email I expected nothing but I got one of the greatest things ever out of it; a friend. His wife has done so much for me and I am so thankful that words can’t explain it.
From the way you talk about him I can tell that officer Koont was an amazing man. I’m glad that you decided to reach out to his family and that they reached back to you. 

What have the experiences of high school taught you?

It taught me it’s better to have a few friends that truly care for you than a bunch of friends who don’t. 

You shouldn’t care what others think. I was called a snitch a lot because I preferred to be around teachers and the school cops than I did people my age. 

Don’t fall into peer pressure. Highschool may seem like to worst time of your life but you are going to miss. 

I’d do anything to go back for a day. 

You hear that high schoolers? You really do NOT have to buy into the drama. In fact it makes school so much easier when you don’t. Real friends are the best kind. The only kind, technically, haha!

Is there anything that you have always wanted to learn?

Sign language 😊 I knew a very limited amount when I was younger because of communication issues because I couldn’t hear. After three sets of tubes I can hear amazing and my parents never continued with sign language. As of now I know how to sign ball and I love you but I’d love to learn so much more. 

What things inspire you?

Butterflies, they can’t see how beautiful they are kinda like some people in life. The darkness, it’s so quiet and mysterious and I usually write the best in the dark. The ocean; the world can be falling apart but it’s absolutely breath taking to be by the ocean 🙂

What is the best lesson you have learned?

Cherish every moment you have because you never know when it or the people you love will be gone

What is your greatest achievement?

Do you know what the D.A.R.E. Program is? If not I’ll explain it. It’s a program at least here in Indiana that you go through in 5th grade. It teaches you about drugs, alcohol, tobacco and how to resist it. A sherriffs deputy teaches it once a week for a long time. The program also helped students get close to the officers and make friends. It also got me interested in the career field as a whole. Any way at the end of the class we were required to write essay about what we learned. Writing was my favorite thing so this made me happy. The department would pick the best three essay and those people who read them in the packed autotorium on graduation day and you’d get a cool medal. I one the contest for my class and I had to read the essay. I was a very shy girl and I was on the verge of tears. I made it through the whole thing with no tears and that was an am amazing achievement for me. I still have the essay and the medal and it hangs on my wall by my bed 😊 and graduating highschool was a close second. It got rocky towards the end.

That is awesome that you were able to conquer your fear like that Court!

Is there anything else that you would like to tell the world?

Stay classy, treat others how you’d like to be treated, and get a pen pal!
Alright my readership, that was my dear friend Courtney! I hope that you enjoyed getting to know her!

Maybe I will do something like this again in the future!

-Katy