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What's in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet.
— William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare intuitively coined the oh so familiar phrase over 400 years ago. It still holds true today, however, not all names are created equal. The name
Graham Jones (President of the American Academy of Forensic Science) carries a lot more weight than mine. For that matter, your name probably carries more weight as well. A name not only serves as a means of identification, but has also come to embody the individual. Or in this particular case, an organization.
Steve Batterman, past president of the AAFS, realized that there was a need to increase the number of young people within the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. His foresight brought about the inception of the Young Forensic Scientists in 1995. Rumor has it that the YFS started off as a small group that literally met in a closest. Since then, the small group has grown in size and now responds to various email inquiries, maintains a website, and issues a newsletter on a semi-regular basis (both the website and newsletter are done with the assistance of the Academy staff). The YFS also sponsors a variety of events at the annual meetings which include a day-long Special Session, a Bring Your Own Slides
Session, and a Breakfast Meeting. The organization has out-grown the closet in which it once convened and the committee feels that it has out-grown the name as well.
On paper, the YFS is comprised of those with five years or less experience in the field of forensic science or pursuing a career in the field. "Young" does not pertain to the age of the individual in as much as it does the number of years or level of experience. For that reason, the committee has decided to bring it before the, for lack of a better term, membership. Although committee involvement is limited to members of the Academy, the YFS is not an organization that one must join. As a reader of this newsletter, you could very well be considered a young forensic scientist or at least have an interest in what we as young forensic scientists have to contribute. We would like to change the name of the organization and this is why your input is being solicited. The committee has tossed around the name of Emerging Forensic Scientists as a possibility, but we would like to see what suggestions you might have. Please email possible name changes to
Ken Williams at lppwillc@gw.njsp.org
by August 10th. In September, all suggestions, along with the existing name, will be placed on the website for on-line voting. If your suggestion is chosen for the new name of the
YFS, you may be eligible for an all expense paid trip to Disney World. That would be nice, but all we can truly afford is registration to the Young Forensic Scientist Forum in Chicago, not to be confused with the registration cost of the meeting. However, the Academy is usually very good to us, so there is the slight possibility that we might be able to get the registration fee waived as well. Once we throw in an introduction at the Special Session, that should be a prize worth considering. So to quote William Shakespeare again:
To be, or not to be...
considered young, that is our question.
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