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BENNINGTON The Crime Scene Investigation team from Southwest Vermont Regional Technical School won the high school bronze medal in the national SkillsUSA competition.

On June 22 and 23 in Atlanta, Ga., Sierra Brown, Regan Hurley and Lauren Gervais competed against teams from other states in the annual event that showcases the work of students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. The competition allows students who won at their own state level to vie for recognition on the national stage.

To prepare for the competition, Gervais said the entire team stayed up until 12:30 a.m. studying the night before they competed to go over various CSI topics and procedures that could be a part of the competition.

This studying is in addition to the coursework they completed at Southwest Tech and their previous preparation for the state and national competitions.

The first section of the competition is a written test made out of 50 multiple choice questions. They cover various topics from case law to what type of flies are attracted to decomposing bodies.

A little gruesome, but it helps. Because if theres a certain kind of fly, then thats like, been there for a day or its been there for a week, said Brown.

The second section of the competition involves scenario-based exercises. First, the team had 15 minutes to find, photograph and label the evidence in a crime scene. Then, each team member had about 30 minutes to write a report on what they found.

Gervais said the students were all aggressive with each other, but in a competitive and supportive way.

There were several aspects of the national competition that differed from the state level. The sections of the competition were organized differently and emphasized different skills. The team was told to process the evidence, not collect it. So that was very different for us, said Hurley.

The team also was accustomed to writing more complex narratives for their crime scenes, according to Gervais.

At this point, the team was focused on doing well in the second section of the competition.

If we messed up the first part, we got to do one hundred percent on this part, she said. So we can at least place, like, 20th.

The efficiency of their teamwork was put to the test in the second section. Fingerprint analysis was incorporated into the competition, and it was kind of a surprise thing, said Gervais. Thankfully, Hurley previously took a forensics class and had prior knowledge of fingerprinting. So, she taught us while we were looking at them.

We work really well together, said Gervais. Their leader and teacher, James Gulley, said, They all have a unique skill set that allows the team to be balanced.

The final section of the competition was where I think we really did our best, said Gervais. Each member of the team did something different, and each task played to the team members strength.

Brown took over evidence collection; Hurley did fingerprints; and Gervais handled the blood swab.

We didnt see what each other were doing. But [the tasks were] in little stalls kind of next to each other, said Gervais.

Even though the team worked diligently, they were not expecting such a significant victory. Instead of anticipating a win, they went to the aquarium the morning of the awards ceremony. They spent about 30 minutes getting ready, instead of meticulously getting dressed like they had for the beginning of the competition.

When it was their time to be called on stage, Hurley stood by herself as Gervais and Brown casually got drinks. Another Southwest Tech student called them and urged them to get to the stage as fast as possible, because they won the bronze medal.

Now that the national competition is over, Brown and Gervais have officially graduated. Brown, from Mount Anthony Union High School, plans to become a game warden in Vermont after possibly joining the Air Force and getting her commercial pilots license. Gervais, from Burr and Burton Academy, has aspirations of going to community college and joining the Coast Guard.

Hurley, from MAU, still has one more year of high school before going on to studying forensic psychology. Shes also in charge of choosing the SkillsUSA teammates shell be competing with next year. Gulley believes Hurleys teammates left big shoes to fill.

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