My Experience at Forensic Science Camp

By Lydia Katrin, Grade 7

During winter break, AIS offered a Forensic Science Camp. I signed up right away. When I got to school on that cold Monday morning my heart was racing. I was so excited. Ms. Amy met us at the front desk, and we waited for all six people who had signed up. There were two groups, Grissom and Seidel. In my group, Grissom, it was me, Shreya (grade 7) and Euikua (grade 7). The first thing we had to do was get our fingerprints taken, just in case we were the criminals. Then we went to our rooms. When we got there, we started on a case right away.

The first case was about a break-in. It was about this man who had just fired three of his employees for no reason. After many interviews, fingerprint taking, DNA samples and searches, our group thought we knew who robbed the poor man. We decided instead of persecuting Calvin, who was one of the employees who was fired. We decided on having one last interview. In that interview, he confessed about stealing the money.

Since Calvin confessed, we did not have to bring the case to the Grand Jury. On the second day of camp, we got a whole new case. It was about a murder! (Gasp). It was the murder of a man who had been at a reunion. He died from stab wounds, but the autopsy also found that he had a bruise on his forehead. He had been killed in the bathroom. We know he was killed with a knife. After many searches we finally found the murder weapon; it was in a secret clubhouse that the guy had been in. We found out that the guy found dead almost had married this woman named Marietta. Well, Marietta started flirting with the guy and her boyfriend, Glen Roberts, did not like it.

After many searches, fingerprinting and DNA samples we thought we knew who killed the innocent man. We decided to do an arrest warrant for Glen Roberts. When we had one final interview with Glen, he denied killing the man. Since he did not confess, we had to go to the Grand Jury (which was our parents! AHH!) We took it to the Grand Jury and had to explain all of our evidence to the Jury and Judge. After we finished explaining, we had to wait to see if the Grand Jury would allow the case to go to trial. After a few minutes of them consulting, they had their decision. They said that Glen Roberts should go to court.

This was how I spent my Winter Break. It was so much fun because I got to do all of this with my friends. Another fun part was when we had “Compulsory Fun Time”! We played so many games. I would recommend this camp to anyone who likes to watch CSI or is really interested in science.

Campers are fingerprinted upon arrival at camp.

Campers practice lifting fingerprints before they apply the procedure to their evidence.