For their Final Exams taken last week, St. Joseph High School students in Ms. Angela Collins' Forensic Science class had to become teams of cold case detectives tasked with unearthing unsolved crimes and providing justice for their victims.
"This was a really fun way to showcase all the skills and knowledge my students gained during the semester," Ms. Collins said. "They used critical thinking to assess evidence and pieced together the truth behind each crime."
A few groups of three or four students each chose a different homicide to delve into.Timelines of events were created, suspects lists were drawn up, motives and opportunities were examined along with what physical evidence, witness statements, and suspect interrogation transcripts were available. The details of those fictitious murders are too weighty to describe, but the students waded through much information and presented their findings. "It felt like a puzzle with pieces you couldn't see," Zach Simon said. "The more we put it together the more it made sense. The class definitely made me consider a career in this field." Marleigh Thessing says her group was able to identify the perpetrator and solve the case. "I felt it was fairly realistic, and it was really cool to piece it together and bring justice to our victim." Another student added "It was very interesting for us to see all the interviews and the questions the suspects were asked by the police. It was fun to be able to help solve our case," Bethany Woodson said.