Transition Year JFK Forensics Workshop

By Padraig Englishby and Erin Melligan, TY 

Last Monday the TY students in Athboy C.S. took part in a JFK Forensics workshop. The students investigated the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, starting from the last day he was alive, retracing his steps on his final day, as well as looking at the movements of his alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, as well as other people who were involved in the assassination. 

The workshop was held by ‘Forensic Fun’. The students got to interact with various displays and learn more about the day JFK was assassinated and the aftermath, including the gun and bullets he was shot with and doing a gunpowder test that would have been done on his alleged assassin. They also investigated fingerprint evidence in general and found out about fingerprints that were found on the scene of the assassination. They also learned about and investigated the autopsy of JFK. 

The students finished the workshop by getting together again and discussing what they think happened on the day of JFK’s death and sharing their theories.  

The workshop challenged participants as to the accuracy of the official narrative of the shooting, which is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, with no outside help. This narrative has been challenged by Americans ever since. The workshop taught us about the importance of questioning everything we are told, and trusting the science and thorough investigating. Overall it was a very interesting workshop and everyone got a lot out of it.