It was just a normal day for the students of “Forensics: Field Techniques,” about a week before mid-terms, when all of a sudden their teacher, Ms. Page, began coughing intensely in the middle of class. The students did not react much to the coughs, but abruptly Ms. Page rushed to the trashcan, where she then vomited and seemingly passed out. Shocked, the students were ushered out of the classroom by Ms. Clayton, who was suspiciously sitting in on the class, as their teacher lay motionless on the floor.
The student’s disbelief was evident as they gathered in the hallway; however, their worries were eventually put to rest as a smile spread across Ms. Page’s face as she rose from the ground. “I was not sure what was going on when Ms. Page collapsed,” explained senior Bryan Stankey, “I couldn’t decide if it was a joke or not and I was actually pretty worried. She definitely got me.” Laughing and feeling relieved, the students were then told of their task: investigate the horrible murder of Ms. Page.
The students divided into groups of four as investigative teams, assigning positions of chief investigator, photographer, evidence collector, and scene sketcher. All teachers were suspects and were available for interviews, and the students had many leads, as throughout the week different teachers from the science department had come into the class and publicly patronized or yelled at Ms. Page, greatly confusing the students at the time.
The students began investigating immediately, taking pictures of everything in the classroom, filling out evidence reports on anything they found suspicious, and conducting interrogations on any teacher they mistrusted. The students had until the end of the week to collect all evidence and conduct all interviews and then over Christmas break they would compile all of their findings into a final report.
Senior Jordan Tobolka “felt like a real investigator” as he hunted down suspects around the school. “I felt like I was a part of CSI, it was pretty exciting. I thought it was Mr. Von at first because he seems like the murdering type to me.” However, Mr. Von it was not. After a long investigation most groups were able to discover the true killer: Mrs. Julie Carver, who out of hatred had poisoned Ms. Page.
The idea for the project was all Ms. Page’s, as she had used similar projects at schools where she had previously been employed; however she had never actually died in class. “This way the students can put together everything they have learned, starting from the very beginning, which is looking at the crime scene and finding clues,” said Mrs. Page. “From there they are able to build off everything else they have learned in class, such as crime scene sketching and collecting evidence, and ultimately do something they hadn’t done yet in class in interrogating suspects.”
The class worked hard on solving the murder and “four out of the nine groups were able to successfully come to the correct conclusion,” according to Ms. Page. As for Mrs. Carver: Her trial date has yet to be set and she is being held captive in the Jesuit Science Department.
