Press Release

Metropolitan Education District 760 Hillsdale Ave San Jose, CA 95136 May 14, 2008

Contact: Michelle Alaimo Communication Specialist (408) 723-6464 malaimo@metroed.net

Central County Occupational Center to Hold Third Annual MetroED Forensic Challenge

Central County Occupational Center will hold its Third Annual MetroED Forensic Challenge on May 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 760 Hillsdale Avenue, San Jose. "This is a great opportunity for these students to take the skills and knowledge they've acquired at CCOC throughout this school year and show off what they have learned," CCOC Forensic Investigation Instructor, Voula Kokkalis, said.

As part of the challenge, at least 20 student teams of Evidence Collection Technicians (ECT's) will need to establish contamination controls, document critical evidence, collect and preserve evidence, and conduct preliminary analysis of the evidence. Scenes are contained in tents and surrounded by crime tape.

Each of the teams, based on their interpretation of the evidence, will make a presentation on why the District Attorney's office should conduct DNA testing on their suspect to confirm the evidence students found at the crime scene and to decide on further prosecution. Jim Leonard from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office will judge the students on their presentations. In addition, several criminalists from the DA's office have been invited to serve as field judges.

Each team will be told, after their presentation, if the DA's office would agree to conduct testing or why the evidence was not enough to convince the DA's office to spend money on further testing. The challenge is part of the student's final assessment of forensic investigation skills for the year.

The Forensic Investigation class is one of CCOC's wide variety of career-technical education programs for high school students. Kokkalis has more than 12 years of international forensic investigation experience and teaches the basics of what forensic investigation is about through plenty of hands-on training during her two three-hour classes each day.

The 525 hour certificate program is taught by Kokkalis who uses a combination of lectures, hands-on activities, guest speakers and field trips to teach students about every aspect of forensic investigation.

CCOC-a unit of MetroED-provides career-technical education for high school students in six Districts: Campbell Union High School District, East Side Union High School District, Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, Milpitas Unified School District, San Jose Unified School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District.

For more information on CCOC or the Forensic Challenge, contact Michelle Alaimo at 408-723-6464.

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MetroED is the largest career-oriented educational organization in Santa Clara County, comprised of high school and adult occupational, academic and community programs.

MetroED annually provides 50,000 diverse students with the skills to help them be productive, income-earning and tax-paying contributors to Silicon Valley.