As she repeated the last words of her oath of office, Jennifer Ciccone's law career entered a new chapter. She's now the first female judge of Struthers Municipal Court.
"I am so honored that Governor Mike DeWine decided that I was the right candidate for this position and I look forward to serving Struthers...the community that I grew up in and chose to raise my family in," Ciccone said Thursday.
DeWine appointed her to fill the rest of Judge Dominic Leone's term.
He stepped down in September.
Now that she's sworn in, Ciccone is set on taking the municipal court into the next era, modernizing it while pledging to rule fairly.
Specialized dockets is one way she intends to do it.
"One of them I'd like to implement is the victim's advocate program,, and that's more where they deal with victims, but also a domestic violence docket," said Ciccone.
Ciccone's first day is Friday and as if she didn't have enough going on, she's also running to keep her seat in the November election.
"Adding an extra responsibility of being a judge is significant, but that's not going to change our grassroots campaign, getting out there, meeting the community, answering questions they may have," she said.