Manatee students getting a taste of CSI

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Post a comment | E-mail this story | Print

High schools students in Bradenton are taking part in Manatee Community College's CSI program.

It may be a horrible crime scene but for several Manatee County high school students, it's a blast.

Fourteen high school students are spending part of their summer in the Manatee Community College Crime Scene Investigation program.

And even though the blood, bodies and gore aren't real, the lessons the students are taking away certainly are.

"We cover a lot of different disciplines from math and trigonometry to biology to forensic science to physics,'' said professor Andrew Swanson, the course instructor. "So we're really covering a lot of ground."

More Information

During any given class session, the students deal with fake crime scenes, although extremely authentic looking in appearance. The students search for clues, fingerprints and any other signs that may answer questions to the crime.

"We saw blood, signs of struggle, overturned chairs, a broken-into chemical culture lab and a body of course," said Winn Haslem, a student in the course, on the particular crime he and his classmates were tracking. "We saw footprints on the sand outside, inside we found blood tracks."

The course teaches students how to collect, analyze and present crime evidence.

Swanson said the course is geared towards high achieving students.

During the first week, students learn to process a crime scene, followed by a week of analyzing data. The final part of the course teaches students how to present evidence in order to secure an arrest.

The course, funded through the Summer Governor's Program, is offered free of charge by the college.

Haslam, who admitted the course is different than what he sees on television, said the course met his expectations.

"I didn't want to get bored during the summer," he said.