Several local students win 1st place at National Crime Scene Investigation Competition
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - A local group of students placed first in a national crime scene investigations competition.
The students and their advisor talk about how they were able to become the best in the U.S.
Three Kofa High School students took home gold in the Skills USA championship in Georgia this year.
The students competed with 36 teams from around the nation on tasks like evidence collection, forensics, and crime scene documentation.
Ayzia Ramos, a high school senior & competition winner says, "Looking back on it, I am still in awe that my team was able to do this and win first in the nation."
The students are part of a Law and Public Safety dual-credit program at Kofa High School. They shared what goes into becoming a crime scene investigating student.
Natalie Cordova, also a high school senior & competition winner, says "During summer, we would come three times a week almost and just do crime scenes, and practice our individual skills, during school hours, we would stay after school hours until 5 or 6 p.m. and just train and train and train and do multiple crime scenes to make sure we perfected our skills."
The students have placed fourth at nationals in the past three years.
Irene Garcia, a recent Kofa High School graduate & competition winner says, "We didn't get here the first time we tried, we actually stuck to it and kept trying even though we failed the first time we kept going with it, and I think that's really important to realize that you are not going to get something the first time you have to keep going with and don't get discouraged."
The girls all say their favorite part about all this is the bond they made with each other.
Ramos adds, "You have the most success when you're with people with the same mindset as you and who want the same goal as you so I think we were just able to lift each other up through the struggles and win this together."
Their advisor, Eric Frost, a former homicide investigator, tells us what these students gain from his class.
"One thing interesting about my class is I have 10 years as a homicide investigator and we take real-life scenarios and do them in the classroom. If they're looking at going to YPD or the Sheriff's Office they know their phonetic alphabet, they know their 10 codes, they know how to do a crime-scene entry log, they can set up a crime scene and break it down. They're actually learning real-life skills to go out and do this," says Frost.
He shares what he admires most about his team.
"These kids, they battle each other every day, they prepare, they help each other, we have multiple crime scene teams, and even though they're competing against each other, they were constantly helping each other. We have people just wanting to see the best for them and so seeing the growth in these students has been amazing," he adds.
All three of the winners say they're interested in pursuing careers in law enforcement.
