Amanda Guzman, the Penn State student charged with endangering a child, still has the chance to have her record cleared in two years.

Guzman (graduate-sociology) was granted a probationary two-year Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition (ARD) by a Centre County judge last week. ARD is geared toward relatively minor first time offenses. It was established to eliminate costly court proceedings by allowing records to be cleared after satisfactory completion of a rehabilitative program.

In the complaint filed by Assistant District Attorney Karen Arnold, Guzman did "knowingly endanger the welfare of the child by violating a duty of care, protection or support" when she left her young child unattended while at a party.

According to court documents and testimony by Ferguson Township Police, Guzman left her 18-month-old child in the care of sorority members during the early morning hours of Nov. 10 while she attended a party. Later, the sorority members showed up at the event, telling Guzman they left the child alone, sleeping in the locked apartment. Guzman assumed the child would be all right and stayed at the party.

Around 3 a.m., Guzman's neighbor called the police, saying the child had been crying. About 15 minutes after police reached the apartment, several of Guzman's friends arrived and called Guzman. According to the documents, she returned to her apartment about 25 minutes after receiving the call.

Guzman, who is aware she can still go to trial at anytime during her probationary period, said in an e-mail that she arrived home within 10 minutes of being called.

During a telephone interview, Guzman said she was surprised about the amount of attention her case has received.

"The media fell on it," she said. "At the time the police officer told me I would probably be fined a couple hundred dollars. It is frustrating for me now that I can't fully explain the details."

In the e-mail, Guzman said if she could have gotten a fair trial despite exaggerated news reports, she would have gone to trial instead of accepting the court's ARD deal. She said she would never purposely or even indirectly endanger her son, adding Children and Youth Services dropped her case after a month.

"It is very hard being a single mother, especially here without family around me," Guzman said. "All of this has only made me second-guess myself as a mother -- time ultimately wasted."

Part of Guzman's sentence includes group counseling at Penn State's Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), one day of community service at Beaver Stadium, and the cost of court proceedings, a fee Guzman said totals $1,000.