New Addition to Casady School: A Fun Forensics Course
Ellington Dorr (‘26), Arts/Entertainment Editor
This year, the Casady upper division added a new class to its repertoire. This course is offered to senior students, and focuses around forensics. Mr. Delgrosso, who also teaches Honors Biology for freshman, and AP Biology, got this class up and running. When asked, Mr. Delgrosso said that “there was a NEED” for a forensics class offering, here in the upper division. So, with this opinion in mind, Mr. Delgrosso set off on his journey, and made it one!
The class focuses on processes which are performed by forensic scientist technicians, how these processes work, and many labs are done in the class to teach such situations. To go further, Mr. Delgrosso touched on how one of his "plans for the course is to start, on the Casady campus, an actual body farm." No, not a human body farm, but one for fresh roadkill he plans to pick up and use. With this roadkill, students will be able to observe it decompose, and study the various types of insects which colonize the animal's corpses.
Mr. Delgrosso and his class also set up mini crime scenes to analyze, so as to simulate the experience of a real one. For example, they do so to “determine the angle at which the drops hit the wall” and “find the source of where the blood originated,” in hopes of imitating a real murder. The class, though meant to be instructive and informative, has the aura of a good time, and is meant to be interesting to those participating.
I asked Mr. Delgrosso inspired him to get into forensics, and I was met with quite a fun answer. His response was as follows, "I have always had a passing interest in forensics, from watching various forensic related shows, such as Quincy M.E.” Such shows are very popular, and one could say that if you are interested in them, you should definitely take this class. Mr. Delgrosso says that all you need is "a good sense of humor, and the ability to tie strings around skinny poles."
As Mr. Delgrosso was inspired by watching such things, he gave me some shows he thinks his students should watch, and why. Forensics Files, available on Hulu and Peacock, shows "actual forensic practices," Man Hunter: Unabomber, available on Hulu, is "good for a look at forensic linguistics." Available only on Netflix, Mindhunters "highlights forensic psychology," the film The Bone Collector "highlights detective work from the forensic side," and CSI, on Hulu and Paramount Plus, is Mr. Delgrosso's personal favorite. Many of these, though educational and interesting, are entertaining, like his class, too. “It’s nothing super complicated”, just a fun time to learn!
