The daylong simulation, called the Adrian Project, was held in the Fannie Lou Hamer Event Room at Stocktonās Atlantic City campus and provided students with a quick glance at a potential career path as an IRS special agent, who represent the law enforcement arm of the federal tax agency.
The Adrian Project is a national program established in 2000 by the IRS, so named because it was first held at Adrian College in Michigan. For more than 12 years, the project has been held at several New Jersey colleges. The first time the Adrian Project was at Stockton was in 2017.
Professor Barry Palatnik, an accounting professor at Stockton, is credited for bringing the training here, while Dan Barbera, a Stockton alumnus and chief financial officer of Lydia Security Monitoring, sponsors the event.
āItās a fun program, but students learn a lot,ā said Palatnik. āMy students do great work, so I want to take it to the next level.ā
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The program started Friday with an 8 a.m. swearing in. At least 10 IRS special agents trained about 20 Stockton students majoring in accounting, finance and criminal justice, as well as two students from Ocean City High School who take college-level accounting.
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IRS Special Agent and Lead Firearm/Use of Force Coordinator for New Jersey Kristine Fata conducted the defense training, which consisted of learning how to use police vests, handguns and handcuffs and arrest people.
Fata conducts training for all IRS special agents in the state.
Mena Adly, 22, is a senior at Stockton who had heard about the training from Palatnik.
āIām interested in a career in law enforcement. The job I want to apply for you need a degree for,ā Adly said.
āThis is a potential career for students. They can use their accounting knowledge and be in law enforcement,ā Palatnik said.
āThis gives students insight to the job. If you donāt want a desk job, this is like 50/50,ā Adly said.
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Jackson Goetter, 16, and Kylie Turner, 18, said their accounting teacher told them about the opportunity.
āIt sounded interesting, and itās better than a CPA,ā said Goetter, who takes college-level accounting classes with Turner at Ocean City.
Adly said he āwasnāt interested in numbers,ā but other students could see themselves in a career where kicking down doors in a bulletproof vest and accounting go hand in hand.
āThis program really opens your eyes up to different career paths,ā said Robert Glantz, special agent and public information officer for IRS Criminal Investigation.
Glantz, whoās been working as a special agent for more than 31 years, said IRS Criminal Investigation special agents are a small part of the organization, whereas 95% of IRS matters are civil.
āItās a fantastic job. You feel good every day about what youāre doing,ā Glantz said.
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New IRS special agents usually have to undergo six months of training, while veteran special agents train quarterly. That training is condensed into a one-day simulation for students in the program. Other requirements include an accounting degree and a certain number of accounting classes.
Glantz said the students learn a lot in that day, including how important it is to separate, quickly and correctly, the guilty from the innocent during a raid.
āWe put a fake baby in each one of our mock raids,ā he said with a smile. āAnd they point their guns at the baby. They donāt know any better because itās their first raid.ā
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