Students Help Solve An Amazon Mystery

By Sarah Scinto

A Hawley Elementary School classroom was transformed into an Amazonian Crime Scene in a camp offered through the Newtown Parks & Recreation Department by Science Made Fun.

“We think we’re pretty close,” student Claire Fiordelisi said as she examined clues. The class set out to find a scientist who had gone missing in the Amazon jungle, using letters, animal bones, powders, and letters among other evidence to track him. Instructor Robert Castello laid the clues out for the students, and helped them to unearth and decipher each one.

One of their most recent finds was a journal containing entries from the scientist himself.

“He keeps writing ‘I miss Jessica.’ We think she’s his daughter.” Claire said.

The class continued to hunt for clues that would lead them to the missing scientist by the final day of the program.