Lake Land College Mystery Activity Concludes; Resolutions Revealed

Lake Land College hosted a mystery event in which more than 534 high school students from 22 schools as well as more than 250 Lake Land College students and even a few community members participated.

The event consisted of a two-week mystery project to solve, including activities in which participants sought out sources of information by utilizing their own resources and inquiring among a predetermined group of people to draw conclusions based on evidence.

Many participants took part in a survey about their findings, leading to the fictional arrests of Division Chair Agriculture/Agriculture Instructor Ryan Orrick, President Josh Bullock and Dean for Workforce Solutions & Community Education Chris Strohl.

“We’ve seen really great engagement from a lot of the people participating,” Philosophy/English Instructor Tara Blaser said. “It’s really great to see how they are analyzing situations and thinking critically to deduce things on their own. It’s very exciting for us to see the participants get so excited about the project.”

Students from local high schools including Altamont, Beecher City, Brownstown, Casey-Westfield, Dieterich, Kansas, Marshall, Mattoon, North Clay, Okaw Valley, Pana, Ramsey, Shelbyville, South Central, Stew-Stras, Sullivan and Windsor came to campus to participate in the mystery while five schools took part in the activity virtually including Effingham, Teutopolis, Faith Bible, St. Elmo and MAPS.

Several participating characters in the mystery shared their thoughts on what it was like to play such a crucial role in the activity.

President Josh Bullock said, “I was so honored to play an active role in the College Mystery. I enjoyed meeting so many inquisitive and engaged students and community members, who asked thoughtful questions and demonstrated strong critical thinking skills. The opportunity to interact with high school and Lake Land students in such a creative way was a fun and memorable experience.”

Dean for Workforce Solutions and Community Education Chris Strohl said, “This was truly a great experience for staff and faculty at Lake Land College.  We were able to interact with high school and college students, hear some really great questions, and see students flourish as we played our parts in the murder mystery.  It was both a privilege and an honor to be part of the Lake Land College Murder Mystery 2023!  I can’t wait until next time!”

Director of Student Success Services Kim Hunter said, “For me, the experience was phenomenal. Seeing students so engaged and entertained with an activity was really rewarding as someone who is engaged in the academic side of things at the college. It also stretched my own acting skills! What a fun opportunity for everyone involved.”

Sociology Instructor Katie Parrish said, “The mystery was so much fun to participate in.  It was wonderful seeing so many students engaged in this mystery and how much fun they were having with it.  I really enjoyed seeing where the clues took the students and watching them use critical thinking trying to piece it all together.  This mystery was definitely one of the most fun and rewarding projects I have been a part of.”

Several students from participating high schools shared positive feedback, including their favorite aspects of the activity and how much they enjoyed the participating suspects’ acting.

Biological Science Instructor David Turnbull was also able to utilize new Anatomage table technology for the activity, allowing participants to interact with a realistic virtual cadaver.

“The Anatomage table is a good way for students to familiarize themselves with different aspects of the human body before beginning to work with real cadavers and such,” Turnbull said. “There are some people who have very strong negative feelings about cadavers, and this is a good way to accommodate and help prepare them. Also, the table has things like color coding and the ability to zoom in or rotate, so this helps students to see concepts firsthand and become familiar with the shapes, sizes and areas of organs and things before seeing them firsthand.”

For more information or to catch up on the mystery, search #LLCMystery on social media or visit //youtube.com/@LakeLandCollegeIL to see all of the video updates.