SAN BENITO — The students were shocked to find a “dead body” lying on the floor.
Blood had spilled out of the body of the actress and also was splattered on the nearby wall.
“This is GT camp,” Devante Alaniz said with a smile. “It’s amazing you can make new friends and learn new things.”
Devante along with the rest of the 73 San Benito gifted and talented students who participated in the camp worked together investigating to solve why and what caused the woman’s death by examining the surrounding clues.
It was day three of the camp students said they never wanted to end, even though their summer vacation had already began.
The students used crime scene investigation and applied forensic science analysis to eventually figure out the “murder.”
Each student examined the obvious to the almost invisible evidence within the crime range.
“And they figured out the girl was killed with a Coke can,” said Dr. Yevette Cantu, San Benito CISD gifted and talented director. “The activity kept them thinking and problem solving all day long.”
The four-day GT summer camp offered by the district to its more than 300 students in the gifted and talented program was in partnership with the Texas Valley Communities Foundation’s ENCORE initiative, geared to engage students for college and career readiness.
“There are lots of careers in the STEM areas and we have trouble filling those careers,” Cantu said. “There is also an underrepresentation of Hispanics and females in the STEM fields.”
She said the goal of the camp was to show the students STEM careers and introduce them to the various kinds of careers.
“The students are actually experiencing what it’s like to work in these fields,” Cantu said about the camp activities.
Throughout the camp, students worked on team projects within the areas of science, technology, engineering and medical.
“I want to be a scientist,” said Chrissandra Hernandez, a GT student who participated in the camp.
She said she enjoyed learning about the anatomy of the eye and creating a rocket that launched higher than the nearby trees.
“If you try hard you can be a really good scientist,” Hernandez said.
She said activities like these help her want to continue to go into the science field of chemistry or biology to one day help find the cure for cancer and other diseases.
Hernandez and all the students were also taught how to read DNA sequencing, about the human eye, and they dissected a sheep’s eye to see the similarities it has to a human eye.
But that was not all. The students worked on STEM learning activities involving the design of a robot, roller coaster, wind lift and a rocket to learn about the concepts and careers in the field of engineering.
And yesterday the students studied robotic science as they worked to create a robotic arm capable of movement with the ability to lift objects.
“I’m going to miss this but I’m going to come here next year,” Alaniz said. “I really liked building the rockets and learning crime scene investigation.”
