A North East High School team is headed to the NCF-Envirothon international competition this summer after winning local and state titles.
The five-member team won Envirothon competitions in Erie County and Pennsylvania in May to advance to the big event. A program of the National Conservation Foundation, the Envirothon is an international environmental and natural resource problem-solving competition. Envirothon programs are located in the United States, Canada, China and Singapore, according to the competition website.
What is Envirothon?
At the local and state level, the Envirothon is an all-day competition at which teams demonstrate their knowledge of environmental resources, their interrelationships and the effects of human activities on those resources. The international competition is a multi-day event.
Participants are tested on their knowledge of aquatic ecology, forestry, soil/land use, wildlife and a current environmental issue, which is renewable energy this year. They also analyze a real-world environmental/natural resource issue, develop a plan to address the issue and give an oral presentation about their plan to a panel of judges.
More than 25,000 high school students across the United States, Canada, China and Singapore participate in the program, according to the NCF-Envirothon website.
More about the team
Known as the “Green Flash,” the team from North East High School includes seniors Carter Fox, Sam Stanbro, Parker Beardsley, Grant Shirey and Jesse Johnson. Their team advisers are John Hallenburg and Jenna Kunst.
What they’ve won
In early May, the North East team came out on top of schools from around Erie County in the local Envirothon held at Headwaters Park and sponsored by the Erie County Conservation District.
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The North East team then represented Erie County at the state Envirothon held at Camp Luther in Union County. North East accumulated 537 points out of a possible 600 to defeat second place Monroe County, with 535 points, and third place York County, 534. The North East students also earned their first perfect score in the oral component, according to information from Hallenburg provided via the Conservation District.
In addition to the state championship trophy, the Green Flash was awarded trophies for first in the state in Aquatic Ecology by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and first in Wildlife by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Each student was awarded $3,000 in college scholarships from the Erie County Conservation District and the state Envirothon board.
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Where they’re headed
The 2024 NCF-Envirothon will be held July 28 to Aug. 3 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.
The first-place team from each state, provincial and partner nation Envirothon competition is eligible to attend, according to the NCF-Envirothon website.
Dana Massing can be reached at dmassing@timesnews.com.
Source: North East High School team wins Envirothon at local, state levels
