Thomas County Central High School Forensics Team worked its way past the yellow tape and earned a place on the podium in a recent skills competition.

The team placed third in Crime Scene Investigation during the SkillsUSA conference held in Atlanta. This is the first time in TCCHS Forensics program history a team has made it to the podium in this event.

“I am pretty sure I was more excited than my team,” advisor and TCCHS Forensics teacher Dr. Scott Sweeting said of the win. “This has been four years in the making, which has been preceded by disappointment and frustration while watching the North Georgia academies and schools take all three places on the podium. To have our South Georgia school grab a spot up on the stage and receive a medal was an extremely proud moment for me.”

TCCHS team members are juniors Jennifer Shoup and Angie Gutierrez, and senior Emily Corbitt. Team alternate is Jiquis “JJ” Ward. Each active member is either enrolled in the Forensics course or has taken recently taken it.

“We really worked hard this year,” member Emily Corbitt said. “I tried to push us more this year so we could do better and I could go out as a senior knowing I did my job. Being able to walk out on the stage was the perfect ending to a great senior year.”

Team advisors are Sweeting and Deputy John Sellers, the school’s resource officer.

Sellers said the competition gets stiffer every year, but the TCCHS team has “progressively gotten better each year” and he “fully expected” them to place.

“The kids have worked really, really hard and have improved so much,” he said. “We are ecstatic.”

The competition consisted of a written test and a mock crime scene where students got 15 minutes “to properly approach, document, and collect physical evidence,” Sweeting explained.

Sellers said he was impressed with how team members handled themselves during the scene, including how they answered questions asked by judges as they worked.

Alternate JJ Ward, a freshman, didn’t participate in the actual presentation, but said it went well.

“I was the observer that stood back and watched my teammates go to work,” he said of the competition. “Honestly, I thought they did very good. Even better than what we do in practice.”

The team prepared for competition through classroom instruction and mock crime scenes conducted after school.

Sellers helped the team prepare by guiding them through the different steps to working a real crime scene, such as collecting evidence and lifting fingerprints, just like a real crime scene technician would do.

“We processed small crime scenes, slowly shaving down our time with each practice,” member Jennifer Shoup said.

The team allows students to learn how to properly process a crime scene, and see what a career path as a crime scene technician could be like, while also expanding and developing critical thinking, presentation, research, interpretation, leadership and social skills.

“Forensic science is a rapidly growing field that law enforcement officials increasingly rely upon to help in bringing resolution to an investigation,” Sweeting said. “Allowing students who show real interest in the field to obtain real world experience while they are still in high school is of great benefit to the student and the community.”

Also, to keep the team strong and evolving, it was opened up to lower grades and an alternate position added to give an upcoming member time to gain experience.

Ward has attended team practices and observed the team all year long to prepare him to join next school year. He enjoys forensic science and likes “figuring out” what happened in crime scenarios.

“Being a part of this team was very fun and exciting,” Ward said. “I learned a lot of new things about forensics that I will need to know next year. I have a lot to learn because I am still a freshman right now. Coming back next year will be even more fun.”

Members are proud to be part of the TCCHS Forensics Team and say the experience is something they’ll never forget.

“Being a part of this team was an amazing experience and, out of everything I have done this year, it was the best,” Shoup said.

Sellers is already looking toward next year.

“It was really awesome to get to work with these kids,” he said. “They are stand up kids. I look forward to watching them stand in first place next year. They definitely have the potential to do it.”