Alumni spotlight: Michael Heyward, BA Justice '99

In 2010 we began a project to interview Justice alums who were working for the Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) at McLaughlin Youth Center in Anchorage, with the goal of posting a mini-profile on each individual on our Justice Center website.

We posted one profile, then other projects and deadlines intervened. But we are taking another look at this project and will be posting mini-profiles of these Justice alums over the next several weeks. This week we highlight alum Michael Heyward.

Michael Heyward
Photo by Mike Dineen

Michael Heyward, BA Justice '99, is a Juvenile Probation Officer II with DJJ Anchorage Probation and works at McLaughlin Youth Center (MYC). For Michael, the best part of the job involves being part of the process of helping kids and interacting with families. He works with kids who are residents for extended time periods and there are different dynamics among these kids. His biggest challenge is developing individual education plans (IEPs) for each kid – partly because family dynamics vary so much. Beyond that, there is always the issue of limited resources and options.

While a student at UAA, Michael did a project at MYC for a juvenile justice class – the McLaughlin staff person really liked his work and encouraged him to apply at MYC – and Michael did. Michael enjoys anything out of doors, and back in 2010 he especially liked camping and fishing with his kids – both of whom are now grown. He still likes to get out with his kids when they are home.