Willow Grove Forensic Lab Guiding Students Through Mentorship, Hands-On Experience

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Some local students are spending their summer getting hands-on experience in a forensic lab.

"We mentor high school students and teach them about forensic science. We take in international visiting scholars. We also have about 19 interns from undergraduate and graduate programs around the U.S. that are working with us here over the summer," said Heather McKiernan with the Center for Forensic Science and Research Foundation.

This summer internship at the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education in Willow Grove is meant to guide high school interns from around the area through the forensics process using equipment in a state-of-the-art lab that medical examiners, police and federal officials from around the country use to help solve crimes.

"Taking biology and chemistry and toxicology and applying that in the forensic field, that's a cool opportunity because at school we learn about these subjects but we never get to apply them to the real world," said summer intern Aidan Reed.

"I watch a lot of NCIS and Bones and stuff, it looks so cool on TV, so I thought this would be like a perfect way to see if this is what I really want to do as a career," said Muskaan Uppal.

As many as 12 students, many from low-income families, work with mentors who help to teach them not just about science but life lessons as well. Students also gain valuable, hands-on experience that will set them apart from the rest.

"A lot of the students that we have in for this program would be the first in their family to go to college. So, working with a mentor they learn what it's like to apply to college, they work with them on putting together a college essay, " said McKiernan.