Once everything is approved at the SAC & NA level and the local NA Coordinator notifies you of your final approval you are instructed to get ready to go online to register for your classes when registration opens. This is about three months before the actual start date of your NA session. You go online thru the
FBI Virtual Academy . To use this you must be registered thru your agency. The site will have access to online FBI Training and the NA course selection console is there too. The key is to spend some time navigating the site before the registration date opens. You can look at the different courses that are available for your section in advance and at what times and days they are offered. Here is the schedule I chose and I'll explain the class selections too.
The NA requires you to take 5 classes and mandatory PT. PT is considered a class so you need to pick a time too. You end up doing PT with your whole section so it may determine your section, I don't know. What you only need to worry about are your other 5 classes. You will see a 7th class on the schedule and it is Networking and Enrichment. You can't choose that either because it is the same for everyone. It is the special events and Wednesday night Enrichment Seminars that are mandatory too. The Enrichment Seminars are some of the best parts of the NA. They bring in top notch speakers from all over the world to talk to us each Wednesday. These are top quality, hard to get folks who talk about leadership and other great topics.
The top classes to take from speaking to prior graduates in no particular order are:
Media
Computer
Just One Leadership Class (The others can run over each other)
Public Speaking (You will have extra class during down time)
PT with E. J. O'Malley (He is the toughest PT instructor if you really want to shape up)
PT with Kevin Chimento (Very balanced, good workouts with classroom education)
The classrooms are great and set up for a very functional learning environment. They split classes at different parts of the academy so you will get a chance to move around the campus. Below are some pictures of the classrooms.
My favorite enrichment speaker was Bobby Smith the tremendously courageous blind State Trooper who wrote
Visions of Courage. His story had half of the tough cops in the auditorium crying. It makes you reflect upon yourself and the fact that us cops don't communicate well with our family and we keep it all inside. We have a tough job coping and we turn to alcohol and prescription drugs. Bobby really brings it home and makes you examine yourself. He tells his own life story too which will have you crying. What an honor to hear speakers like this at the NA.
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| Bobby Smith - A Blind Man Helped Me Too - Thank You Bobby! |
Another great speaker was the pilot from Black Hawk Down. He is
Mike Durant. He gave us his account of the mission and his subsequent capture and release. His book In The Company of Heroes was great too.
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| Michael Durant after Capture |
So now you know about the enrichment portion of the schedule. As for the courses there are 5 to take. You need to think about what you want to learn. I was interested in technology and media so I jumped on those courses too. They fill up fast. Next I wanted a leadership class and I also wanted to learn about the latest case law updates from the FBI so I took constitutional law. Also I wanted a communications course but not too close to leadership courses, already had one selected. I ended up with a well rounded schedule and that is the key. Don't stack it too heavy in one area or the classes can get the same. I saw people who did that and wished they had diversified their schedule more. Go outside your comfort zone and also identify where you are in you career and what you need to learn more about or just get updates. These are the best instructors in the world and you need to take advantage of that now. You will not get an opportunity to get all of this at the same time and place again.
So after you choose you end up with the schedule that I included above. You know about it in advance and can go back in and drop/add before the closing window which is two weeks. But if you drop one you have to add another and that may conflict with a time slot of one you already have. You can throw everything off. So do your planning in advance before the window opens, get in there fast, and lock in the courses. I picked my favorites first and had a plan B & C in case they filled up before I could pick them. The console is kind of like a fill in the blocks, you need one in each area. All I can stress is get in there before it opens and browse everything, learn how it works. If you wait till registration time you will not figure it out and get stuck with classes you did not want because the people who did their homework got the best ones first.
All the 5 classes are good for graduate or undergraduate credit at the University of Virginia. There is a graduate and undergraduate version of each class, in fact both classes are with each other, the graduate folks just do more work, like an extra paper or project. I did not need the credits because I was working on my Doctorate so I took all undergraduate classes so I would have more time to dedicate to the rest of the experience. This turned out to be the right choice. I'll cover each class later and what it entailed but suffice it to say it is an attainable bunch of credit hours you can earn all at once if you are working on an undergraduate or graduate degree. I teach too so I can say that with confidence. You will work but you will get it done.
So now you have your courses, the window closes, and you get ready to go. Don't worry you get another chance to change. There is a one week drop add at the NA, except at this one you get to meet each instructor. They all set up tables outside the classroom area and you can talk to them. You can still change but it may affect the rest of your schedule. Your section will stay the same though. I was in section 1 with 40 great brothers and sisters.
Expect to be in classes from
8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Wednesdays
are for the Fit Challenge in the morning, with meetings of some specialized
courses or field trips in the afternoon. If you don’t have a class
or field trip on Wednesday afternoons, the time is yours to study or run
errands. Some Wednesday’s there will be mandatory enrichment seminars (guest
speakers). These were all excellent. If you take Public Speaking you will have
class Wednesday.
How to Succeed: Attend
classes, listen well, ask questions, and take good notes. A good review of your
notes will ensure success on the tests.
***Do as many papers as early as you can. As time goes on fun
things gear up as you go! Take
the first weekend or two to knock out all your papers. Then all you have are mid-terms and finals to
worry about. Enjoy the rest of the time fellowshipping. I did this and it worked. I got the most out of the experience and saw all of the DC area!
