“I just want to make sure that every child gets the opportunity to know that greatness doesn’t stop in the classroom”

Cheryl Rami is a science teacher and department head at Celerity Crestworth. She was selected to receive a $500 ExxonMobil Star Teacher Grant to purchase a forensic science crime scene kit. The kit was used to deepen fifth, sixth, and seventh graders’ knowledge and understanding of forensic science concepts like deductive reasoning, evidence collection, and analysis.Students entered Rami’s classroom on the last day of school to find a full-blown crime scene including caution tape, footprints, and a (fake) body. Students were given a scenario and told to come up with a presentation concluding their findings. One group of students raved about how much they love Law and Order SVU and was excited to be uncovering a case of their own. “I’m learning how to use DNA and blood samples to show what happened in sequence. How we can bring everything together using small clues to create a whole picture,” said a seventh grader who now wants to pursue a degree in forensic science.[gallery size="medium" link="none" ids="https://newschoolsbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Copy-of-DSC04352.png|,https://newschoolsbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Copy-of-DSC04433.png|,https://newschoolsbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Copy-of-DSC04377.png|,https://newschoolsbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Copy-of-DSC04381.png|,https://newschoolsbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Copy-of-DSC04384.png|,https://newschoolsbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Copy-of-DSC04419.png|"]Rami understands the need to invest students in STEM to not only better our community, but to show students they have the ability to reach their full potential in any subject. “I want my students to be able to say, ‘Here are all the different things I’ve learned and this how it relates to the world’, not just that one area,” said Rami.After the students gave their presentations, a police officer joined them to talk about police reports, crime scenes, current juvenile and incarceration rates, and how it all affects the lives of students, like them, living in Baton Rouge.Rami is passionate about educating students by integrating topics that peak their interest, such as Law and Order SVU. She understands the need to connect lessons in the classroom to what’s going on in students’ worlds outside of school. “I just want to make sure that every child gets the opportunity to know that greatness doesn’t stop in the classroom,” Rami said.Click here to meet more ExxonMobil Star Teachers.