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A group of 8th grade girls are already thinking about their futures in forensic science, thanks to a summer camp designed to encourage girls to pursue careers historically dominated by men. TPR’s Eileen Pace reports.
August 9, 2010 · The students are spending the week running tests on a crime scene at Elmendorff Lake. Kay Stanson, director of Our Lady of the Lake University's College Conexion, created the summer camp at the college, where female students work a CSI-style investigation like they’ve seen on TV.
“For our scenario, we had dead fish, and we had a dead body. So we’re trying to figure out was it the dissolved oxygen -- the lack of it -- that caused the fish to be dead? Or if it could be an acid problem,” Stanson said.
The students this week have done fingerprinting, reconstructed the victim’s face, and taken dental impressions. Girls like Erika Paz already are expressing an increased desire to go to college.
“You start learning it, and you want to learn more and more and more,” Paz said.
The camp is part of a Time Warner initiative called "Collect a Million Minds," which strives to get more kids interested in science and technology. Stanson says the CSI camp is successful because it gives a positive message about college to girls.
“I work my kids, and I bring them here. I don’t go out to the schools. They must come to me, and that has made a world of difference, because when they’re on the campus here, they feel like they’re worthy. They feel like they can do things,” Stanson said.
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