Rylie - JUNIOR

Rylie is a passionate soccer player, artist, writer, and student here at Sandia Prep, and loves animals and family more than anything. Along with these interests, Rylie has been fascinated by the science of criminology for years, and wants to utilize the Odyssey Scholars Program to shape her enthusiasm into something impactful. She is inspired by the work of the world’s renowned special agents and is passionate about exploring the connection between childhood influence and violent criminal behavior. Rylie plans to write analytical essays on a variety of subjects, including education, social media, parenting methods, geographical awareness, astrology, trauma, and mental disorders, and how we use these pathways to inspire criminal behavior. Rylie also wants to research the ways in which victim psychology and recovery affects the world’s perspective on violent crime. Rylie said, “I want to encourage and expand the discussion of criminology to bring it parallel with current-day issues and provide information to show what we can do to prevent raising criminal personalities within our society.”

 

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

 

Hello!

This past August and September, I have focused on building the outline of my Odyssey Project and making as many connections as I could. Beginning this summer, I went to a family reunion in Oklahoma. There, I met my cousin Miranda Bruce for the first time, who has a PhD and works in cybercrime in Australia. She got me in contact with Christopher Lamb, a recently retired Special Agent who I connected with throughout August. I had a phone conversation with him and expressed my plans for my Odyssey Project and my career, and he was able to share his story with me as well as advice for me moving forward. The most fascinating thing I learned from him was his idea for how I could start my journey in the FBI. From what I had told him, he believed that becoming a Victim Specialist would be a good path to consider, and this idea got me interested in the victim-focused side of my project. As I researched the framework of the job, I saw what a big and underrated role Victim Specialists play in helping survivors work through their trauma and the aftermath of violent crime. So in August, I added some plans for researching the impact victims have on how we approach criminal patterns. As well as this, Mr. Lamb also assisted in getting me in contact with Tobias Long, a current Supervisory Special Agent at the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia. I had a phone call with him to discuss more contact options and the best ways to conduct applicable research on my topic. Talking with Mr. Long and Mr. Lamb gave me a lot of confidence in reaching out to contacts, because they showed me a kindness and willingness to help that I hadn’t expected. Their passion and advice gave me newfound excitement about my project and how I was spending my time. 

Since these helpful conversations in August, I spent my time in September looking for research resources and taking notes on a variety of topics related to criminal psychology. I am working to create a general base of research to gain a basic level of understanding in order to focus my project later. Creating the Odyssey Scholar’s elevator pitches in early September helped with this immensely. I spent about three weeks working on a 3 minute pitch about my project, and working to fit what I had to say into that time was a big task, and I would say it has been my biggest challenge so far this year. I have so many interests and goals I would love to accomplish in raising awareness about the creation of violent criminals, as well as concern for the voices of victims, and the elevator pitch was the first time this year I had to put that into words. I redid the pitch various times, and felt very stressed about demonstrating my project well to my family. In the end, I came through with a pitch that accurately expressed my sympathy, passion, and dedication to criminal psychology. Now, in late September, I am working on my annotated bibliography– finding scholarly sources and books and taking endless notes on how they may support my theories on criminal development.