Students have the opportunity to pick their electives every year. They have options between art classes, technology classes, and language classes. The electives all fall into different pathways, but one of the coolest programs on campus is probably the criminal justice program. Here, students learn about topics such as processing crime scenes, taking fingerprints, identifying patterns, and more.

All of these activities take place in the T-buildings. In courses ranging from Forensic Science to Criminal Investigations and Law Enforcement, students are able to dive deep into the core of criminal justice. 

One of the classes available is Criminal Investigations, taught by Mr. Duncan in T-Building 2. Students will do multiple projects that are all hands on to understand the work that goes into investigating a crime scene. Students are taught a multitude of subjects ranging from blood spatter, arson, fingerprinting and much more. To understand each subject, students usually do a project that’s nothing like the projects done in your other classes.

For example, for the Blood Spatter unit, students filled plastic eggs with blood and were allowed to pick an object to hit the egg with. Depending on where the egg was hit and how much force was used, the blood would fly in different directions and have different shapes. To make the project as real as possible, students used cow blood since it had the most consistency as real blood.

“I think people should take the class,” senior Aryn Barnes said. “It’s a whole lot of fun with low stress work.”

Another class worth mentioning is Forensic Science taught by Mrs. Schultz in T Building 3. This is the class to take if you love criminal justice and would love to learn the science behind solving a crime. Students learn how math and science is involved with blood spatter, ballistics, and all things involving crime scenes.

One of the projects was done for the Ballistics unit picking out 10 bullet casings and using a microscope to find out what the caliber was, the firing pin mark location, and the extraction mark location. This allowed students to understand what the caliber of their firearm was and identify a specific trait that could be linked to a specific firearm in a criminal case.

The criminal justice program also offers SkillsUSA where students compete in events ranging from Criminal Justice Quiz Bowl, Crime Scene Investigation, Felony and Traffic Stop. Students also have the opportunity to participate in competitions outside of criminal justice such as Quiz Bowl, Speech, Photography, Technical Math, Customer Services, where students are given tasks while under pressure and much more.

“In SkillsUSA, students practice what they learn in their criminal justice class after school,” senior Alexi Urbina said. “You will get the chance to go to state competitions and have fun with friends.”

The Criminal Justice Pathway is exhilarating, fun, and an experience like no other. If you have a passion for criminal justice, love to watch crime shows such as Criminal Minds, Bones, or CSI, or just want to understand criminal behavior, I would recommend taking a class in the Criminal Justice Pathway, you will not be disappointed.