Apr 25, 2016 By Joey Buchanan for The Yellow Jacket 3 min read

Although the semester is coming to an end, a few Forensic Science Club students have managed to maintain their motivation, choosing to spend time at an after-school program for middle school and high school students.  

“The Communities that Care program promotes drug and alcohol awareness for children as well as gives them a safe place to go to every Wednesday after school,” said Jelena Kyle, president of the Forensic Science Club. 

Six members of Waynesburg University’s Forensic Science Club were invited April 13 to West Sides, located across from the Pennsylvania Live Stock Auction, to talk about the impact of drugs and the dangers of using them, and to provide the 12 children with a mock crime scene. 

“Usually, whenever we do our talks, it’s to high school kids,” said Kyle. “Some of these kids were in sixth grade so it was nice to know that we got to talk to them before they got into high school.”

Children at the program were given the chance to be the lead investigator of a mock crime that involved a drug overdose. The kids had to collect evidence and interview someone in order to figure out what happened at the scene. 

“Not only did they get how much work it takes to process a crime scene, but for some of them it might [have given] them a possible career opportunity,” said Kyle. 

During the presentation, students talked about the impact of drugs and the consequences of getting in trouble for drug use. They also presented the students with before and after pictures of people that use drugs to show the physical impacts to the body. 

According to Faith Musko, instructor of forensic science, heroin is a drug that is prominent in the town of Waynesburg, and it is important that high school students that have a higher vulnerability to drugs and drug abuse see what these drugs actually do to the human body. 

“We all have a responsibility to keep the community healthy, to keep the community positive and to keep the community informed because the more informed people are the better choices they can make,” said Musko. 

Kyle said there aren’t many local high schools that provide programs such as this one. The kids at West Sides were very interested in listening to the information that the university students were presenting to them, according to Kyle. 

“I think that it has a bigger impact that kids closer to their age are coming to talk to them about this, not so much as an adult, where they might not pay attention as much to them because they aren’t as close in age,” said Kyle.

 Kyle said the hard work was all worth it in the end, and gave them a chance to brush up on leadership skills and prior knowledge.

“We were kind of hesitant about doing this because it was a lot of work,” said Kyle. “But once you put in that work and go do it, you see all the kids smiling faces and they’re all excited, you feel good about it. So we’re definitely doing it again.”