Last March, Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School received $99,479 in a “life sciences grant.”

Now, Library and Media Specialist Marcia Kessler says the students have “gone CSI.”

Old Colony was one of 32 schools to receive the grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. The Center is financed with $1 billion in state revenue through the 2006 Economic Stimulus Bill to invest in life science education through 2016.

The school used the grant to purchase digital microscopes with imaging that can be projected from slides and saved on a computer, as well as hands-on science kits that students use to experiment with DNA and genetics.

Kessler, who applied for the grant, said that when the school was notified about the available funding from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Equipment and Supply grant, officials did not hesitate to go for it.

“We jumped on it, because we were looking to provide a more hands-on approach to science-type activities,” Kessler said. “So much of what we do here is directed towards professions. With this, we can strengthen the sciences for students.”

Since the school has received the grant, all of the money has been spent on new equipment and software for the life sciences.

This, Kessler said, increases student participation in the labs.

“I see them with their aprons and their goggles on, and you can see how excited they are to use the new equipment,” she said. “They get to look at their own fingerprints, rather than watch a projection or a video of someone else doing it.”

Kessler said the school officials were equally excited to receive the life sciences grant as they are currently in the process of applying for a school building grant to refurbish the science labs sometime next year.

Kessler said the Center saw a need in the state’s science industry for experienced, qualified people.

“There are not a lot of kids enrolling in sciences at 2 or 4 year post-secondary schools,” Kessler said. “In Massachusetts, we see people from the world over come here for medical care. You have that layer before that which is biology research.  We want to get kids excited and broaden their experience beyond biology and see life sciences as a potential career field. There are a lot of jobs that currently cannot be filled.”

Old Colony, Kessler said, has integrated life sciences into biology and chemistry classes for every student to study life sciences at some point in their high school career.

This was done, she said, to allow the science-oriented students access to the labs and to help others become interested.

The school has been increasingly active in turning out students bound for careers in the life sciences Kessler said. The school’s Certified Nursing Assistant program has 63 students enrolled. Kessler also said the school has seen an increase in it’s Machine Tool Technology program, in which students work 30 hours a week studying prosthetic limbs.

“One of the biggest deciding factors for kids is that they see themselves as capable,” Kessler said. “It’s about them trying new things and learning that they are capable of doing more than they ever imagined.”