Middle school girls analyzed hair and blood samples, tool markings, and ink from a ransom note, all to uncover the identity of Willie the Wildcat’s kidnapper.
“We’re trying to identify hairs found at the scene,” said Marisa Miller, a seventh-grader from Salina.  “Whoa!”
    Under the microscope, the tiny hair resembled a tube with a stack of bubbles in it. Miller and her partner, eighth-grader Micah Matthews from Salina, sketched the bubble-tube in their lab manuals.
    Miller and Matthews were part of an event Saturday called “CSI: K-State,” which was designed to stimulate interest in science among middle school girls.
    Girls Researching Our World, an organization that encourages girls and women to pursue science, mathematics, engineering and technology, organized the event, which included laboratory exercises set up to help participants solve two mock crimes.
    About 85 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade girls from nearby schools participated in the program, said Susan Arnold Christian, outreach program coordinator for K-State’s Women in Engineering and Science Program, which helped sponsor the event.
    “We put on this event to get girls excited about science and engineering,” said Kathryn Mahoney, freshman in chemical engineering and mentor at the CSI event.
    In one crime scenario, four groups of girls investigated the kidnapping of Willie the Wildcat. For the second scenario, four groups tried to determine who kidnapped K-State basketball player Shalee Lehning’s lucky sneakers.
    “At the end of the day, the data from all four labs will come together, and they should be able to figure out which suspect kidnapped Willie,” said Janessa Weder, a GROW activity leader and sophomore in mechanical engineering.
    “The mentors have been great at getting the girls involved and explaining the event to them,” said Pam Collins, a Manhattan resident whose daughter participated in the event.
    “They present math and science in a fun and exciting way. They may not like sitting in school doing boring problems.”
    Manhattan seventh-grader Victoria Vanhook said she is reading about plate tectonics in school.
    This Saturday, Vanhook learned how to estimate someone’s height and weight based on a footprint, then identified powder at the scene of the stolen sneakers.
    She put samples of powders into an oven to observe their reactions under heat.
    “Hazardous waste! Run for your life!” she joked.    

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