A HALESOWEN schoolgirl got to live out her dream of being a CSI style sleuth in America during her work experience placement.

Alice Rodgers, who is a massive fan of US crime series CSI, grabbed the chance to work for a police and fire department near San Francisco and even learnt how to disarm a bomb.

The 15-year-old Windsor High School pupil was taught how to lift fingerprints from guns, work in a high tech laboratory and even was taken to the firing range by her American bosses.

The once-in-a-life time trip happened after her parents got chatting to an American couple on holiday who took a shine to Alice and arranged her work experience.

She said: “It was so overwhelming and a really great experience, I love watching CSI New York so to get to work in a forensic lab in California was just amazing.

“I don’t think any of my friends understood what I was doing for work experience but when I showed them pictures of me at the firing range they could not believe it.”

The house prefect added: “I spent time in the laboratory as well as going out on jobs with detectives in the afternoon, I could not believe it when they asked me to go to the firing range.

“I worked my way up from using a pistol to a shotgun in one afternoon that I will never forget.”

Over five days Alice got to work with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms laboratory in Walnut Creek, the City of Galt Police Department, private fire investigators EFI Global and the Contra Costa County Fire Investigation Unit.

Fire investigator Geoff Spinner, who helped organise the trip, said: “Every place that Alice visited contacted me and spoke of an intelligent, well-mannered mature young lady who took pride in all of the tasks set for her.

“They were all very impressed with the way Alice conducted herself in a truly unfamiliar environment.“ The high flying teenager has set her heart on being a forensic scientist and she impressed her American bosses at EFI Global so much they have arranged for her to visit their London offices.

She said: “Now I have done it once I want to do it all the time and I am now working towards getting a sponsorship to America which would be awesome.”

Alice has already taken her chemistry, biology and physics GCSEs and will take the rest of her exams next year and is hoping to ace them to improve her chances of being accepted for a scholarship