This year, Lowellville introduced new electives to its program, Forensic Science and Detective Fiction and True Crime Narratives. These classes are two separate classes, but they also work together. Mrs. Boila teaches the forensic lab in the first semester, and Ms. Mercure teaches the second portion, which consists of learning about true crimes.
Mrs. Boila said that her main objective for this course was to offer another science elective for students while also trying to peak their interest in forensic science. During this class, she was able to use some of the concepts taught in biology, anatomy, and chemistry for real-life situations. This course was more focused on real-life applications she’s taught in her classes. She said, “In biology, we teach the structure of DNA. In forensic science, we look at how that structure can be used to place a person at the scene of a crime.” Mrs. Boila said that in her future forensic classes, there will be more labs involved.
Spencer Simione is a senior taking Forensic Science this year. Spencer decided to take this class because he has always enjoyed forensics, which consists of learning about crime and the legal standpoint. He shared the most exciting part of this class. He said, “We learned about the different true crime cases, all of the experiments, learning about blood types, and getting the opportunity to talk with a forensic pathologist.” There was a guest speaker who is a forensic pathologist, and she talked about what her job consists of and more detail about what forensics is. He said that by taking this course he was able to learn a lot about identifying fingerprint types, the various blood types, how to use different forensic tools, and how people in the forensic field work on crime scenes. Spencer recommends this course for the upcoming classes because it is interesting and has fun activities throughout.
Connor Anderson is also a senior enrolled in this course. He said the most exciting part of this class was the labs, especially the fingerprinting and the blood testing. Connor said, “I wish it was a full-year course.” Connor decided to take this course because he enjoys crime shows and thought it would peak his interest in forensic science. Connor would recommend the upcoming classes to take this course, “If some people want to go into the field and learn this, I would definitely recommend this class.”
Maddie Esposito is also a senior taking this elective. Maddie chose this class because she has always been interested in forensic science and would like to pursue it in the future. Maddie’s favorite part of this class was the labs that were involved with it. Her favorite was the blood spatter and fingerprinting. Maddie enjoyed and found the case of Jon Bonnet Ramsey to be interesting in the class. After taking this course Maddie is sure to recommend this class to incoming students. “I think it’s just something interesting and an enjoyable class.”
Mrs. Mercure is teaching the second half of this course, which consists of examining fiction and non-fiction crime and detective stories, as well as the motivation and behaviors of criminals. Mrs. Mercure shares the key skills she hopes students will take from this course. “ I hope students will walk away from this course with an understanding of what makes a compelling mystery, or detective story and why true crime narratives in their many different formats continue to fascinate and engage people.” She also says students will explore the differences and similarities between true crime and detective stories by analyzing narrative points of view, examining evidence and motives, and crafting their crime narratives. Mrs. Mercure shared what made her want to teach this class. “My one senior class studied a true crime podcast, and I thought it would be interesting to expand upon that and offer an elective that focused on this genre.”
The new forensic classes offered by Mrs. Boila and Ms. Mecure have proven to be engaging among the students. These students were excited while engaging in the hands-on labs and real-world applications. These courses have helped inspire students to further their education in this topic of forensic science.
