Selinsgrove resident sworn in as president of Pennsylvania Court Reporters Association

May 13—Selinsgrove resident Colleen Wentz was recently sworn in as president of the Pennsylvania Court Reporters Association (PCRA).

The ceremony was held in late April during the group's annual convention in State College. Wentz will serve two years as association president.

She graduated first in her class from Central Penn Business School in 1994 with an associate degree in Specialized Business; received her Registered Professional Reporter Certificate in 1995, and the prestigious Registered Merit Reporter Certificate in 1999, which required her to pass a written knowledge exam and a skills test that included testimony dictated at a speed of 260 words per minute. In 2002, Wentz secured her Certified Realtime Reporter certificate at a time when only six percent of the court reporters in the United States held that certification.

Wentz worked for the 17th Judicial District in Snyder and Union counties for 21 years before resigning in 2016 to care for her children. She freelanced for a few years before accepting a job in 2021 as an official court reporter for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania where she is the primary court reporter for the Honorable Chief Justice Matthew W. Brann.

As PCRA president, Wentz will address the "extreme shortage" of court reporters in Pennsylvania and across the United States.

"My goal over the next two years as the president of PCRA is to have as many high schools or technical schools as I can offer Project Steno's bootcamp class in their curriculums," she said. "Let's get students not only into court reporting schools, but graduating and successfully starting their careers."

Megan Burlew, a registered professional court reporter working in Snyder County who replaced Wentz in 2016, learned about the profession from Wentz during a visit to Selinsgrove High School to talk to students about pursuing the court reporting as a career.

"Megan is bright, enthusiastic, and an excellent writer," said Wentz. "When she applied for the Snyder County job when I resigned, I said 'yes,' you want her. She's really good. I was so pleased to know that the position was being filled by such a top-notch reporter. And now to see her taking such an interest in the board of directors with our State Association and having her succeed me as president in two years ... well, I'm very proud."

"It's been almost 30 years that I've been court reporting, and I still love what I do. There aren't too many careers that you can go to school for two years, be certain you'll have a job, and know that you'll be able to make a living wage, and yet there is a shortage of us. I'm going to try my best to change that, and my first step is by approaching high schools and trade schools about offering an introductory program to court reporting as a part of their curriculums. It's being done successfully in other states, and I'm going to attempt to do that in Pennsylvania, as well," Wentz said.

To learn more about the Career of Court Reporting and the Court Reporting shortage, visit www.project steno.org or www.ncra.org/discoversteno