State Envirothon Set For May 19 At Bald Eagle State Park

The 26th annual Pennsylvania State Envirothon will take place on May 19 at Bald Eagle State Park, Centre County. Sixty-six teams of high school students are expected to compete at this year’s event.

 

The Envirothon, an environmental education and natural resource program, consists of the annual Pennsylvania State Envirothon Competition in which winning teams from participating counties compete for recognition and scholarships by demonstrating their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management.

 

The competition is centered on four universal testing categories (i.e., soils/land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, and wildlife) and a current environmental issue. Envirothon is designed to help educators and students move beyond the classroom into the outdoors preparing them to complete written exams, including hands-on experiences, developed by soil scientists, aquatic biologists, foresters, wildlife managers and natural resource professionals.

 

Conservation districts from Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are expected to sponsor county level Envirothon events reaching over 15,000 youth from over 700 high schools. Five-member Envirothon teams prepare for competition from late autumn until spring before working their way through the County Envirothon event. Winning county Envirothon teams earn the honor to represent their county and travel to Bald Eagle State Park to participate in the State Competition where they compete for over $10,000 in scholarships and other prizes.

 

The Pennsylvania Envirothon partners with the U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fish and Boat Commission, Game Commission, DCNR Bureaus of Forestry and State Parks, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Education.

 

These committed partners provide educational reference materials for over 700 participating high school teams as well as technical expertise, knowledge, and manpower at not only the state event but also at 67 county events, assuring the continued success of the program.

 

Pennsylvania’s sixty-six county conservation districts, the State Conservation Commission and the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts sponsor the Envirothon program.

 

Corporate sponsorship from EXCO North Coast Energy, PPL Corporation, Nestle Water North America, The Hershey Company, Air Products Foundation, Bayer HealthCare, and Dutch Mill Bulbs along with state grants allows the Pennsylvania Envirothon Board of Directors to continue to ensure a quality event for all those who participate.

 

Sponsors and partners of the program award the top ten teams. Again this year, team members of the overall winning first, second and third place teams receive scholarships that can be used toward post secondary education. The scholarships are funded by the Department of Agriculture in partnership with the State Conservation Commission. Station awards are also presented to the teams with the highest score in a specific area.

 

The highest scoring team from the State Competition achieves the ultimate goal to represent Pennsylvania at the Canon Envirothon, North America’s largest environmental competition for high school students, which takes place August 2 – 8 at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Pennsylvania has won 10 of 21 Canon Envirothon events.

 

For additional information, visit the Pennsylvania Envirothon website or call Lorelle Steach, Program Coordinator at 814-623-7900 ext. 111, or send email to: paenvirothon@pennswoods.net.