Since Sammi Stewart-James was a kindergartener, she was set on becoming a veterinarian. That all changed after her granddad, Dick James, visited her elementary school class where the professor of chemistry conducted little science experiments with Sammi and her classmates. The small introduction into the world of chemistry was the spark that eventually grew into a flame that led Sammi to a different science-based occupation, forensic science. “That’s what initially interested me,” she says of her grandfather’s visit. Then, in her freshman year at Kimball Area High School, she took a class in chemistry. “That’s what decided me on what I wanted to do.” Then an opportunity too good to pass up arrived in the Stewart-James’ mailbox earlier this year. Johns Hopkins University offered a 10-day course in crime scene investigation (CSI), along with three college credits. She enrolled for the summer class. A few days before the class started, Sammi and her mom, Candy, flew to the East Coast to take in a little sightseeing. Up and down the Washington, D.C., mall they visited well-known historical sites like the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian, and the National Museum of Natural History. Candy flew home, and Sammi headed to Johns Hopkins’ Baltimore, Md., campus to begin the 10 intensive, busy days in the short-term study of forensic science. Sammi estimates that somewhere between 150-200 other like-minded science students gathered for the session. They were all placed into groups of 20, each having a volunteer team leader, a person who worked in the field in some capacity. Team leaders were available to answer their questions but could provide no help beyond that. Sammi’s team leader was a biochemist; a few came from the FBI and other entities. Students spent their entire focus for the 10 days on one assignment only – studying and investigating the fake crime scene that had been previously set up for them; collecting evidence and analyzing it in the lab. Their days were filled with a variety of college-level classes, like labs, taught by team leaders. “There were certain days when we’d rotate and go through five or six labs during the day,” she said, “testing for blood and fingerprints, and facial reconstruction.” At the end of the 10 days, each team had to present a report to the panel responsible for awarding the college credits. Had Sammi and her team arrived at the correct conclusion? “My team was completely wrong,” she laughs, “but we weren’t judged on that, but rather on how we went about the presentation.” The experience was a valuable one for Sammi. In her first taste of college life, she’d attended lectures each morning given by leaders in the field who talked candidly about what the field was really like; lived in a dorm room, and dined on college cuisine served in the campus cafeteria. Sammi is heading into a cram-packed school year, her last year at Kimball Area High School. Meanwhile, she’s giving careful consideration to the college where she’ll begin undergraduate studies. Though she hasn’t decided on one yet, whichever one she picks will have a strong chemistry department. With her successful experience at Johns Hopkins behind her, Sammi came away with another reason why it was valuable to her: she learned that she wants to put her education and training to work in a lab because she doesn’t “like investigating dead bodies.”
