04/16/2025
While in Telecommunicator's Week, I want to share a testimony from one of our graduates who started his career as a telecommunicator.
KC graduate Trenton Gonzalez:
"I started working at the Effingham County Sheriff's Office as a 9-1-1 Telecommunicator while attending Kaskaskia College in 2017. I worked there until I began working as a full-time deputy at the Richland County Sheriff's Office in July 2021. In October 2023, I was selected as the canine handler and sent to the canine academy at Cedar Creek Kennels in Monmouth, Illinois. Since then, K9 Riggs has seized over $700 in US Currency, 75 grams of illegal narcotics, 5 weapons, and over 3,000 rounds of stolen am******on.
The Kaskaskia College Criminal Justice Program helped me prepare for many of the classes I took at the police academy and for the tasks I face as a Sheriff's Deputy. The instructors I had during my time at Kaskaskia were still active in their career fields, and learning from them helped me learn how to write better reports and gave me the tools to have a solid foundation going into my law enforcement career, which can seem to be overwhelming had I not had the experience I did at Kaskaskia College.
I am now a part-time instructor at Olney Central College as well, and look to give the same knowledge and experience, I received at KC, to my students as they begin their journey into a great career field with so many opportunities to do things to challenge yourself and expand your knowledge while advancing your career."
Thank you,
K9 Officer Trenton Gonzalez
