Many people watch true crime shows and wonder how all of the science works to nab the perpetrators. Students at Marist High School, 4200 W. 115th St., don’t have to wonder; thanks to a long-running forensic science class, they learn how it works with hands-on activities.
What started out as one semester class 20 years ago expanded into a yearlong course for juniors and seniors, said Thomas Murphy, a 2004 Marist graduate who has taught the class for 13 years.
“It is a fan favorite,” Murphy said. “The kids really enjoy it. They look forward to it.”
Marist teachers developed the class and its curriculum themselves. The first few years it was a traditional class with notes and instruction, Murphy said.
“We would talk about cases, but we sort of shied away from real cases, because we thought it was too gruesome,” Murphy said.
That changed after they learned students were watching true crime documentaries and crime shows outside of class.
“We thought it was silly for us to just keep making up stuff when we could really pull from the real-life stuff,” Murphy said. “We try to focus each unit on a case.”
The three teachers who teach the class developed new ways to present the topics.
“We talk about how you would process a crime scene, so we thought, ‘Let’s actually do that. Let’s create a fake crime scene,’” Murphy said.
In one corner of the lab, which is located in the school’s $15 million STEM wing, they set up an area with dirt to simulate real crime scenes like the basement of local serial killer John Wayne Gacy, where investigators found the remains of his victims.
“There were times that overnight the janitors would clean it up because they thought it was dirt and not for us,” Murphy said.
The students really love the crime scene, he said.
During the class, they will use the cases to talk about the different forensic processes. For example, they use the O.J. Simpson case, where the ex-football star was accused of killing his ex-wife and her friend, to talk about how DNA is collected and processed in a crime scene. During a unit on Gacy, they focus on bone decomposition.
“We try to make it very hands-on. We don’t give a lot of notes because we feel the kids learn more when they’re actually doing it,” Murphy said.
The class helps students interested in criminology or law learn more about possible career paths.
One of those students is senior Sarah Shefcik, who hopes to pursue a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigations. She watches true crime shows and loves studying crime.
Shefcik said she would have taken the class anyway, but the fact that it came highly recommended by fellow students was a bonus.
“The class is all those things combined,” Shefcik said. “I’ve been wanting to do it since I got here.”
She enjoys the hands-on nature of the class and using the mock crime scene. Shefcik pointed to the ceiling in the corner of the lab where faint streaks of red remained from a unit on blood splatter.
“It’s not like other classes where it’s just an iPad, notes and the whole thing. You’re never bored. You’re always doing something,” said Shefcik.
The class has helped her narrow down what courses she wants to take in college.
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do forensics or criminology. It taught me the difference. It gave me a glimpse into the future,” she said.
Senior Joseph Hughes was also drawn to the class by an innate interest in science and true crime.
“I really like watching crime documentaries. It’s very interesting and very different,” Hughes said of the class.
He enjoys learning about the intricate parts of cases, like the 1996 unsolved murder of JonBenét Ramsey, and the science behind the case.
“I’m very much an information person and we watch all the documentaries and correlate them to the class,” he said.
He too said he enjoys the hands-on nature of the class.
“It’s a lot of factual things and things you never think about or would never know if I hadn’t taken this class,” he said. “It kind of gives you a better sense of our justice system in America because we learn about cases, for example, where evidence wasn’t handled properly or not all evidence was recorded.”
As a student ambassador who gives tours to perspective students and their families, Hughes said the class is a plus for Marist.
“There’s nothing else like this at any of the neighboring schools, which makes us stand out and makes us unique. And even if they have a class like this, it’s definitely not as hands-on,” he said. “We’re really blessed to have these opportunities here.”