Story by advanced journalism student Kiri Bunch
There may not be yellow police tape around Room C213, but every day is a crime scene investigation in Tanya McCormack’s new forensic science class at Princeton High School.
McCormack, who is the science department lead teacher, taught a forensics course prior to working at PHS and was the driving force behind the proposal to add the class as an elective option.
“I had to do a lot of convincing to get forensic science,” McCormack said. “I wrote several proposals and was denied initially due to a lack of interest.”
McCormack was the PHS astronomy teacher before taking on the new class, but she said she missed the labs and biology components of forensics.
“I pour my heart into everything that I do, but felt like something was missing,” McCormack said. “Teaching a class like astronomy that is mostly theoretical with minimal labs was not for me. Forensic science and AP Biology is where my heart lies.”
Though her initial proposal was denied, she sent another request and list of interested students to Richard Boring when he arrived last year as the new PHS principal in the middle of the school year.
“And I was like, cool, I think students would love it,” Boring said. “Now I needed to see when students did registration that a good amount of students wanted to take this class because I’m not going to make a class and have nobody take it. She showed that there were a lot of students interested, so we created the class.”
Because she took astronomy with McCormack, senior Gabby Wilson learned about the new class.
“I’d always been into true crime and murder investigations,” Gabby said. “So I thought forensics would be a good fit for me.”
McCormack is trying to make her coursework fun but also meaningful.
“I’m most nervous about starting a new class and all the prep work that goes into building that class,” McCormack said. “I don't want to overload students, but I don't want the class to be too easy either.”
According to McCormack, the students look forward to the science labs to put their new knowledge to practice.
“I like the labs because they're very hands-on and a lot different from other science classes,” Kenzie Militech said. “My favorite lab was probably the fingerprint lab where we lifted our own fingerprints using techniques that other forensic scientists use. It’s fun and intriguing and keeps you on your toes.”
Kenzie plans to use information from this course as part of the background knowledge for a potential career option.
“I want to be a pharmacist, so it would be nice to learn how medications and drugs interact with the body and how they can be involved in crimes,” Kenzie said. “Not to mention, it would be interesting to see how I could potentially contribute to crimes when I give out prescriptions.”
As the program expands, McCormack wants the class to become an endorsement pathway for PHS students.
“There are two options, law enforcement and legal studies, and either would be an asset to Princeton,” McCormack said. “I would like to get more professionals in the field to be in the classroom. Hopefully, we can get them here soon.”
McCormack said her favorite part of forensics is the science component.
“Students will learn real-world applications to how crime scene investigation works,” McCormack said. “I hope this class gives some students a sense of direction and what they want to do after high school, and fall in love with science again.”
- PHS