Maggie Desch

Desch wants to help 180 U-32 High School sophomores expand the science department's existing scientific study of Lyme Disease as part of the program, "Ticked Off! A Risk Assessment of Lyme Disease in Vermont". For the past two years, U-32 High School has led a tick monitoring program to determine the population densities and infection rates of deer ticks, carriers of Lyme Disease. The results have been shared with the Vermont Department of Health and the Agency of Agriculture which tests the tick specimens for the presence of Lyme Disease bacterium. This year, students want to recruit students from at least two other high schools to conduct annual surveys. U-32 students will design information packets and send them to schools throughout the state and later, they will lead training sessions in sampling methods and review data collected by the participating schools. Additionally, students will design a database for cataloging all data and the information will be used to create a Lyme Disease risk-assessment map. All information will be available to the public on a webpage created and maintained by U-32 students and through online links at participating schools' websites. Desch lives in Montpelier.