High school students fascinated with television crime shows have the chance to try out some of the techniques they see on the small screen at the Forensic Sciences Mentoring Institute, writes Paul Barlyn for The Intelligencer.

The forensics camp, sponsored by the Frederic Rieders Family Foundation nonprofit in Abington, offers students a hands-on forensic experience. Twelve local high school students were selected from around 50 applicants to work in the laboratory for eight weeks over the summer.

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Alex Krotulski, assistant program director, said many students come to the institute expecting real life forensics to be the same as on TV. However, they soon discover it is much more complicated and tedious in real life.

The students get to test samples and evidence created by the laboratory staff from a hypothetical crime scene. They get divided into three study groups, one for each forensics branch: toxicology, biology, and chemistry. In their groups, they then learn how to use various forensic technologies while working with different materials.

“Forensics seemed pretty cool to me because there’s so much that goes into it,” said seventeen-year-old Sierra Wolke. “I love putting pieces together in a puzzle and solving something.”

Read more about the Forensic Sciences Mentoring Institute at The Intelligencer by clicking here.

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