They took fingerprints and followed the clues; sang and
danced to show tunes; spoke persuasively in front of a
crowd; and learned special effects that make movie magic
so profound.
Approximately 50 high school students went to college
early this year as part of EMU's Summerquest program. Summerquest
is a camp where students, entering grades 10-12, pursued
potential career interests, including CSI, theater, forensics,
and multimedia and 3-D computer modeling. The high school
students learned about their subjects of interest from
EMU instructors and students.
 |
A TRAIL OF CLUES: (above, from left) Shaaban
Dari
,
Elise Denniysen and an unidentified student put their
fingerprinting skills to use to
determine who
committed a mock crime. The two were
part of a
group of area high school students who
participated
in the CSI session track during EMU's
Summerquest.
Photo
by Carrie Halliburton
|
From June 25-July 1, the students lived and ate on campus,
attended classes during the day and participated in planned
evening activities, including folk dancing and etiquette
classes.
Fans of the show "CSI" experienced the science of crime
scene investigation first-hand in the CSI session of Summerquest.
These students spent their week performing experiments
to figure out "whodunit."
Experiments were designed to analyze mock crime scenes,
with activities such as fingerprinting, making plaster
molds of shoeprints, ink analysis, testing water for chemicals,
using a spectrophotometer to test the concentration of
poison in water and blood splatter analysis.
"This is hex-chromium, the toxic chemical from the movie 'Erin
Brockovich,'" Larry Kolopajlo, instructor of the CSI session,
told aspiring lab rats during the water chemical test. "It
turns the water purple."
"I'm most interested in analyzing blood and fingerprints," said
Shaaban Dari, a freshman from Ann Arbor. "I want to get
a job with the FBI."
While CSI students were confined to the classroom lab,
students in the theatre and forensics sessions had a little
more room to spread their creative wings. Theatre students
spent eight hours a day acting and singing, but that didn't
seem to bother them.
"They work very hard, but they're also having fun," said
Sandra Nelson, assistant acting and musical director for
the Summerquest program. "Everybody likes each other and
they have a lot of talent to bring."
"We're thicker than blood," said Bren York, a senior from
Grand Blanc, while hugging a fellow student. "What's something
thicker than blood? Syrup. We're thicker than syrup."
The theatre session not only taught singing and acting
skills — such as character analysis, and voice, articulation
and performance techniques — it also introduced the
students to some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of theater.
Costumes, improvisation, lighting, directing, stage technology
and makeup were workshop topics.
 |
PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ : Summerquest
theatre students finish makeup
preparations while receiving last-minute
instructions
from Melanie Schuessler, an
assistant professor in
communication and
theatre arts and costume designer
for EMU
Theatre, before hitting the stage.
Photo by Wendy Kivi |
At the end of the week, the aspiring thespians applied
the skills they learned in an hour-long performance for
friends and family. The group performed five songs, including "The
Impossible Dream" from "Man of La Mancha," and the title
track from "Oklahoma." In addition, each student performed
a monologue.
"Some may come in shy but, by the end of the week, they
will have grown in talent and confidence and made many
fun friends," said Nelson.
The theatre students also bonded with the forensics (competitive
speaking) students, co-mingling during warm-up sessions
and certain workshops. One such workshop was improvisation,
taught by members from the sketch comedy group, "The Corner," a
contingent consisting entirely of EMU students and alumni.
The improvisation workshop included games that tested
the students' ability to think quickly. "Name three," for
example, had the students picking a category and asking
another student to name three items in that category. The
game started out as simple as "name three colors," but
quickly progressed to things more familiar to the theater
buff (name three songs from "Rent") or the skeptic forensics
student (name three conspiracies). Any hesitation or use
of "um" when answering disqualified the player.
"Improv is important in forensics because, if you forget
your lines, you need to cover it up," said Richard Brophy,
a junior on the EMU forensics team who coached Summerquest
participants.
Students practiced and prepared for forensics competitions
at the high school level. The camp included students at
all experience levels, from a student who had never competed
before to a student who was two-time defending state champion.
Jonathon Stowell, a senior from Flint, prepared an extemporaneous
piece that he performed for coaches Brophy and Erika Badour.
Extemporaneous speaking is a competition in which students
are given three questions. Students must answer one persuasively
in a seven-minute speech. They research the topic to find
real-world examples that apply to their argument. Stowell's
speech focused on the impact of the two new Supreme Court
judges.
"They haven't influenced the Supreme Court much," said
Stowell, arguing that the Court has not seen any influential
cases since the appointment of the new judges, and that
the opinions of the court have not seemed to shift or become
more aggressive. "The biggest change in attitude is that
this Court is much funnier than the last. According to
the New York Times, Samuel Alito is 19 times funnier than
Sandra Day O'Connor."
Badour and Brophy offered constructive criticism about
delivery, arguments, pauses, tiebacks and relaxation techniques.
"I see a lot of my flaws in him," said Brophy. "When I'm
removed from the situation, I can look at it more objectively.
It helps me improve as well as him."
In addition, forensics students practiced
prose, poetry, rhetorical criticism and sales. They researched
the topics individually and practiced their speeches in
front of other students and coaches.
"I see the students improving as people, not only as performers," said
Brophy. "I've really discovered that forensics is about
passion, speaking about what you truly believe in and not
just what you think will be a successful topic."
Unfortunately, some students weren't able to explore their
passion at Summerquest because some sessions they enrolled
in were cancelled due to lack of interest. These included
TeenCERT, health careers, and technology and African American
studies.
However, students enrolled in these sessions turned setback
into opportunity. Many enrolled in the multimedia and 3-D
modeling and simulation class, a new addition to Summerquest
this year. Multimedia and 3-D combines CAD software, used
for designing and assembling products, and multimedia software,
used for animating and making movies. The students built
a staple remover on the computer, first creating the parts
and then assembling them. They used 3-D Studio Max to animate
the staple remover, and to create a moving logo.
Michelle Douglas, of Ypsilanti, originally signed up for
the health careers session, but ended up enrolling in the
multimedia and 3-D career track.
"I thought it was something that I could learn and it's
pretty fun," said Douglas. "Although, I still want to be
a pediatrician."
"They all came in with no experience using this
kind of software before, but they're having a great time," said
Jeremy Catarino, an EMU graduate student who assists the
students at Summerquest. "It's a fun side of computers."
Ryan Burdic, from Ypsilanti, signed up for this session
because he wants to work on movies in the future.
"This design software is good to know because movies are
starting to use this (for set design) instead of real buildings," said
Burdic. "This class is interesting and I've learned a lot."
Even though she doesn't plan to work with computers as
a career, Douglas believes that her Summerquest experience
will help ease her transition into college life. Like many
of her fellow students, she said that the best part of
camp was making new friends.
"It's a way of meeting new people," said Douglas, who
is considering attending an out-of-state college. "It's
a skill that will come in handy if I don't know anybody
there."
