Glory Reitz
Editor-in-Chief
Two months ago, Crowder College hired Phillip Whiteman as the new Drug Free Campus grant coordinator and program director. Now, he looks forward to building relationships with students and making the college a safer place.
Whiteman has two offices for his new job. One is in the Kelly Club near downtown Neosho. The other is a wall-less setup in the foyer of the MARET center on Crowder’s Neosho campus. Whiteman says that when he wants to get work done, he goes to the quieter Kelly Club, but the MARET center space provides a great opportunity to meet students.
“He has a heart for this community, for students,” says Stephanie Witcher, a Crowder English instructor who has known Whiteman for ten years and is good friends with his family. “Even in this job now, working with the Drug Free Community grant, I think the reason he’s doing so well at that is just, he really cares.”
Whiteman grew up in Oregon and moved to southwest Missouri for college in 1999 to take advantage of the low cost of living. He earned a degree in youth ministry at Ozark Christian College, then spent eight years working at Gulf States factory in Joplin. Then he decided to take a different route, and went to Missouri Southern State University’s police academy. Since then, he’s worked as a police officer, at the Neosho police department since 2011. He’s also working toward a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Missouri Southern.
Whiteman says his time on the police force has affected him greatly. The officers form a bond through shared experiences, but they’re not good experiences.
“You’re seeing so many horrific things,” he says. “It’s gonna come out somewhere. And usually the way that comes out is in verbiage to another officer. Which is fine, it keeps it out of the community, but we’re pretty darn ugly to each other. And that’s why we’re so close… we can talk real talk to each other.”
Three years ago he volunteered to become Neosho Junior High’s new School Resource Officer (SRO). The police department had a rotation that put each officer on the night shift every four months, and Whiteman saw the SRO position as an opportunity to get out of that cycle and spend more valuable time with his young son during his formative years.
“I didn’t have a dad, growing up,” says Whiteman, “…I don’t have any regrets there, because my grandparents were great, and my mom was still involved, but I don’t want that for my child. I want him to know his dad.”
But Whiteman quickly grew fond of his position at the junior high. As a transplant to the southwest Missouri, he says the job forced him to make connections in the area and be involved in the community.
“When I first moved here,” he says, “I felt like an outsider, so to speak. Because the Midwest is definitely a unique culture… But this job really pushed me in getting to know everybody in the culture.”
As Neosho Junior High’s SRO, Whiteman attended school events and taught active shooter training. He connected with people he never would have otherwise. He says those connections are what got him his new job at Crowder, because, like in the SRO position, Whiteman is still required to be in tune with the community.
Whiteman’s new job at Crowder has many different components, overseeing grant activities, attending Newton County Community Coalition (NCCC) meetings, and spreading community awareness of drug, alcohol and tobacco activity.
“With his experience in law enforcement,” says Caleb Hatfield, a Crowder student and member of the NCCC’s executive council, “as a parent and a community member, I feel like he will take all of that and incorporate it into his new job. He’s very passionate with his new job and loves making new connections with people.”
Whiteman is also beginning as an adjunct Criminal Justice instructor, and twice a month, he writes an column for the Neosho Daily News. He explains current drug and alcohol patterns and culture to make the Neosho area aware of what’s going on in their community. His most recent column as of press date talked about teen drug slang.
In the little free time that he has, Whiteman enjoys spending time with his wife and son, who is now four years old. He says he camped a lot growing up in Oregon, but grew less enthusiastic about the humid conditions of camping as he got older. That is, until last year when he purchased a hard-sided camper with an air-conditioning unit. Since then, he and his family have gotten into the hobby of “glamping.”
But most of Whiteman’s time is spent working, either at the Neosho police department, or at one of his Crowder offices. In any job, he’s trying to make a difference.
“I try to be what I want my son to grow up to be,” Whiteman says. “I want to be a good human being. There’s so much ugly in the world, that I don’t want to be that ugly.”
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