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WEST HAVEN >> Crammed into a University of New Haven-owned residence at 196 Rockdale Road, 36 high school students from across the country put their newly learned forensic skills to the test, trying to figure out what happened at various mock crime scenes.

Crime Scene Investigation Academy is a week-long program that gives high school students the chance to gain hands-on experience in the field of criminal justice and forensic science. The campers spent four days learning about fingerprinting, blood spatter analysis, and crime scene investigation as a whole, and Friday they got a chance to apply the skills.

We kind of walk them through the whole process of what it takes to process a crime scene. Both from the legal standpoint and the practical, and then we culminate it ... with this big [practicum], said Peter Massey, director of CSI Academy.

The capstone experience is extremely involved as the students not only had to document and photograph the crime scene, but they also needed to get search warrants, send evidence to the lab for testing and canvass the neighborhood for potential witnesses.

Ellen Lassig, 17, of East Hanover, New Jersey, said she has been to other forensic-oriented camps, but they were larger and not as detailed and experienced. She said everyone participating at UNH gets the opportunity to do something.

Massey said there is no real answer to these scenes and that it is more a matter of process. He said what they are really looking for is ... can [the students] utilize the skill sets theyve gained during the week in this final product ... and present it in a public forum?

Bianca Randazzo, 16, of Norwalk, said while she learned how to determine the cause and manner of death as well as how to act at a crime scene, she also learned the how difficult the entire process can be.

You just think, Oh thats so easy, but then you come here and you have to figure out a whole scenario and you have no information. You just try to figure out by what you have, she said.

Massey said while forensic science and crime scene investigation may seem glamorous on television shows, the work can be pretty toiling in the real world, citing the long hours and unpredictable weather as examples.

The idea is to give the students a real-life look at how this works. They all watch the shows on television, and theyre learning its not like it is on television, Co-Director Daniel Maxwell added.

Some of the campers have graduated high school and going to college while others still are in high school. Maxwell said most of the students want to pursue careers in law enforcement, forensic psychology or forensic anthropology, and CSI Academy allows them to gain hands-on experience to see whether this is what they really want to do.

I didnt have opportunities like this in high school, but I think its a really good way for them to experience stuff like this, added Jennifer Busk, 23, a graduate student at UNH studying forensic science. I took a class that we do exactly stuff like this at UNH, but doing it as a high schooler gives you the opportunity to say, Hey, is this really what I want to do? and maybe even spark that interest and excite them.

Aaron Ostroff, 17, of South Brunswick, New Jersey, said his forensic science class last year was not as in-depth as CSI Academy. He said this camp offers him the opportunity to work on a real case as opposed to fake and silly cases he did in school.

This is the whole deal. This is not a summer camp; this is reality here, Maxwell said.

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CSI West Haven: Students attend forensic science camp at University of New Haven - Litchfield County Times