With a rise in interest in crime dramas and forensic investigation, the Criminology Club has started up to allow students with an interest in all aspects of forensics to connect.

“My friend Allee and I had always talked about forensics and criminology,” founder Emily Merlo said. “We wanted to [start the club] because we both want to go into the field of criminology and this was a way for us to educate ourselves and also show others the interests that we have.”

In addition to sharing their love of criminology, founders Emily Merlo and Allee Lin hope that the club can fill a gap that was present. 

“We don’t have anything at school that relates to criminal forensics,” Merlo said. “I know other schools have classes for forensics, so we wanted to implement stuff from not just the FBI. We wanted to include [other] career paths and other stuff that people could be interested in.”

The club plans on bringing in guest speakers to educate members on various topics.

“We’re gonna be having FBI agents coming in,” Merlo said. “We’re gonna have them explain, kind of like, what they do on their day to day basis. We also plan on having canine police officers, and so I think by the audience seeing real people in the industry. I think that will inspire them [to join a career field].”

Additionally, the club will be hosting hands-on activities.

“We want to try to hit every sort of field,” Lin said. “Anthropology, blood analysis and psychology, mainly whatever the club members are interested in. We want to get their feedback and then try to circle our activities around that.”

The club’s long-term goal is to make sure members learn something new and get something useful out of the club.

“I hope people can get something out of it,” Lin said. “If they’re interested in [a] career path, I hope they can get inspired by it, If they’re not interested, I hope they still like the activities we do, [and] they try to look into it more.”