Engineering school helping county health department
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on April 17, 2008 1:52 PM
Students at the newest public high school will assist the Wayne County Health Department this season in efforts to reduce the mosquito population.
Beginning April 22, 75 students from Wayne School of Engineering will spend four weeks canvassing the community, conducting a brief survey and handing out educational information about what homeowners can do.
Groups will be divided up in the northern end of the county, covering the Lane Tree, North Creek, Fallingbrook and Morgan Trace communities.
Once the canvass is completed, students will then have the opportunity to study local mosquitoes captured in traps set by Wayne County Environmental Health.
"Students have been studying mosquitoes, as well as different types of surveys and how to conduct them," said Principal Gary Hales. "With the mosquito harborage survey, students will get hands on with actual data collection, and be able to incorporate math and statistics when they go to interpret the data."
The students were also able to contribute questions for the survey, said Kevin Whitley, environmental health director.
Environmental Health has been an educational partner of the school since the beginning of the school year. The partnership has provided a learning opportunity that translates from the classroom to the workplace.
"We hope this project will educate students on how to conduct surveys. We also hope this experience will inspire them to pursue careers in environmental health, and maybe come back to work for us one day," Whitley said.