But this hasn't stopped them from wanting to be a part of this club that's new to campus this year.

"This is a very realistic group," biology teacher and club sponsor Deborah Conners said. "They have a very practical outlook on crime investigation and forensic medicine."

Conners is no stranger to the workings of forensic medicine during her educational career. While she is very interested in the field, she taught a "criminalistics" course at Elk Grove High School.

The course is part of the science curriculum, and the school implemented it because it touches on many different disciplines within the subject.

When she came to Prospect this year, Conners had students approach her about starting a crime science club.

"By our second meeting we had 20 students show up, and we're not even completely organized yet," she said. "There's something about solving mysteries and the techniques involved that's really appealing to them."

Freshman Lisa Nellessen of Arlington Heights approached Conners about starting the club. She has a deep interest in forensic science and would like to have a career as a forensic pathologist.

"I want to understand the concepts of what (pathologists) deal with and how they analyze crimes," she said. "It's amazing how they can find the smallest things to help solve a crime."

The club has watched different videos on crime investigation, from non-fiction shows on the Discovery Channel to the popular CBS show "CSI."

Conners said she wanted to help students "debunk" the latter program.

"It's Hollywood so they glamorize (crime scene investigation) and make it look flashy," she said. "Most police departments don't have a special group of people to do this work. The people who process a crime scene are everyday police officers."

To show members how the science of crime investigation works, the club will have several guest speakers.

Scott Jensen, lab director for the Illinois State Police in Westchester, spoke to the club at its meeting last week.

He told the club about the different divisions of lab work at the State Police and the best educational paths students can take who might be interested in this line of work.

"The idea of forensic science is to put a victim and suspect together at a crime scene," Jensen said. "You have to be able to link people together through physical evidence."

Jensen said there are eight State Police labs throughout Illinois. As a lab technician, a person becomes a specialist in a specific discipline based on his or her educational background.

People with chemistry backgrounds can specialize in drug and trace chemistry or toxicology.

Drug chemists can determine if materials are controlled substances. Trace chemists analyze different materials such as paint, glass, hair or fibers to connect a suspect to a crime scene.

A biology major will specialize in DNA evidence. They will gather DNA profiles and submit them to databases for possible matches.

Other science majors can become "patterned evidence" specialists. These technicians are experts in areas such as handwriting recognition, latent fingerprints and ballistics.

Jensen also explained the "CSI factor" in comparing the television series to real lab work. He said it's not uncommon for there to be a six-month delay before specialists even start looking at cases.

He added not every lab has the same resources as viewers might see on television.

"There was a joke going around that the lab shown on CSI Las Vegas had better equipment than the metro police," Jensen said.

The club also will host an expert in trace evidence. Skip Palenik from Elgin-based Microtrace Corp. will speak on Thursday, Dec. 9. Palenik's specialty is analyzing evidence with microscopes.

With interest in the club increasing practically every week, Conners is looking for additional activities. She received a donation where she will purchase microscopes, and students will bring in hair and other samples for study.