Rowan County Youth Get Lesson in Forensic Science

Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency Helps Youth to Prep for the Future

To succeed in business, you’ve got to work as part of a team, follow the right procedures and know how to use state-of-the-art tools. The same holds true in solving crimes.

That’s why Christina Brooks’ forensics workshop was a good fit for this year’s class of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Summer Youth Employment students at Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency (SRCAA). SRCAA is the WIA Youth services provider in Rowan and Cabarrus counties for the Centralina Workforce Development Board.

This month, those young people enrolled in WIA have gone to work at summer job sites around Rowan and Cabarrus counties.

The WIA students received valuable training and motivation, culminating with Brooks’ mock crime scene investigation on the grounds of Livingstone College.

Brooks, a professor at Winthrop University, is a forensic anthropologist, just like Emily Deschanel’s character Dr. Temperance Brennan on the Fox television show”Bones.“

But she said she doesn’t watch the show — it’s too unrealistic for her taste.

Forensic anthropologists work to help identify victims and causes of death in investigations.

For the presentation, Brooks helped students learn the basics of an investigation, and how to use tools for fingerprinting and collecting evidence.

She then turned the group of 25 young people loose on a mock crime scene, where a”victim“lay in a trash can with several clues to be found around her.

”You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to do this, “Brooks said.

”It’s observation and careful collection. “

Brooks helped give pointers and answered the student investigators’ questions, turning up at the right times with lab reports, an autopsy report and more.The point of the exercise: build teamwork and help students think and work on a problem using tools they might not ordinarily use.In addition, WIA spokesperson Almond Miller said the program is a chance to show a realistic view of science.

”The conditions aren’t always comfortable, and it’s not always as easy as it looks on TV, “Miller said.

Just the same, the work environment may be challenging, but challenges bring about rewards.

”The work may not always be easy, but it can be gratifying, “Brooks said.”People’s lives are at stake.“

The WIA students range in age from 16 to 21. Many of them are working on earning their high-school equivalency.

The program helps teach strategies for employment. This month’s other sessions included a banking and finance workshop, facts about employment law and information on a variety of careers.

WIA program director Joann Diggs said the purpose was to introduce students to many different career paths, especially the sciences and biotechnology and the opportunities available in this region.

”I’m an advocate of trade schools, “Diggs said.

She touted the programs at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and other nearby schools as a way to help develop the 21st-century workforce.Diggs also said the chance for students to visit Livingstone was important.

”Some of these kids have never been on a college campus, “Diggs said.

The mock investigation focused on a”body“found in a trash can with some suspicious materials around it.Students collected a bag of powder (which turned out to be”cocaine“) and investigated the scene for fingerprints and footprints.Among other things, they found a check for $6,000 at the scene.

”What would you do with that? “ Brooks asked.

”Cash it! “one student quipped.

”What would you do with it as an investigator? “ Brooks asked.

There was a chorus of answers:”Call the bank. “”Investigate the people involved.“

Phoenix Nabozny, 19, is in her second year of WIA training. Her job in the mock investigation was evidence collection.

” (WIA) teaches you skills for the workplace, and how to stand out in a positive way, “Nabozny said.Tenkamenin Crowder, 19, heard about the WIA program from a friend who’d been through it in the past.

”It gives me experience. I haven’t had a job yet, “Crowder said.

Having seen some of the career options that lay open to them, and learned the basics of tax law and worker’s compensation, those students have now gone to work at a number of local businesses and charitable organizations.

Job sites for WIA students this summer include Habitat for Humanity ReStores in Kannapolis and Salisbury, Rowan Helping Ministries and the North Carolina Research Campus.

But one student, Sarah Dunlap, 17, said the event was more than just common-sense training.She just finished her high-school equivalency and plans to seek a degree in forensic science at Pfeiffer University.

”It gives me experience in how it actually is, and not how Hollywood portrays it to be, “Dunlap said.

The Centralina Workforce Development Board and the Centralina Youth Council are strong partners with the Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency and is happy to see them educating the youth in the region on state of the art careers. For more information on the Workforce Investment Act program or on this even please contact Natasha Pender at (704) 348-2725 or by e-mail at npender@centralina.org.

photo above article: Colleen McEnaney collects fingerprints from the mock crime scene during Forensics 101" program for WIA Summer Youth Employment students.