June 16, 2005

Today's workshop began with Sandy presenting his solution to the infamous 'A Code Challenge.' His determination to crack such a challenging code astonished and impressed all of his classmates. (We will keep the actual solution a secret, but if you would like to try to solve it, download this file.)

The day's official activities began by students learning that a Shodor intern had his laptop stolen. Coming together, they brainstormed questions to ask Jacob for more information about the theft. After deciding on a set of questions they interviewed Jacob. With their collected information they prepared a set of questions to ask other interns in the office and traveled around the building interrogating different employees and interns. Some common questions were used to find out everyone's location, while others focused on the motive of the crime.

After the initial questioning, the students sat down to decide who they thought were likely suspects. After choosing suspects, they decided they wanted to search the suspect's belongings, but realized that they would need a warrant. So, they went to a judge and argued for a warrant, listing reasons for why they wanted to search the suspects' property. After getting the warrant, the students confiscated a laptop that matched the description of the stolen one, and a piece of paper with an unknown code on it.

At this point, it was announced that an employee had been poisoned and died. The rest of the time was then spent deciphering the code, and trying to figure out why each event had occurred. As time ran out they set aside their evidence to continue the case the next day.