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2012 Pennsylvania Envirothon May 22-23 In Johnstown
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The 29th annual Pennsylvania State Envirothon will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 22 and 23. The competition will be held at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown, Cambria 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 66 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 competitions.
Winning county Envirothon teams earn the honor to represent their county and travel to the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown to participate in the State Competition where they compete for scholarships and other prizes.
The Pennsylvania Envirothon partners with the U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fish and Boat Commission, Game Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Department of Agriculture.
These committed partners provide educational reference materials to participating high school teams as well as technical expertise, knowledge, and manpower at not only the state event but also at the 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 PPL Corporation, The Hershey Company, Nestle Waters North America, Air Products Foundation, Bayer HealthCare, PA Outdoor Writers Association, PA Trapper’s Association, Friends of Envirothon, Canon Envirothon, Cargill, Dwight Lewis Lumber, and Lewis Lumber Products 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 will receive scholarships that can be used toward post-secondary education. 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 25th annual Canon Envirothon, North America’s largest environmental competition for high school students, which takes place July 22 – 27 at Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA.
Pennsylvania teams have won 11 of 24 Canon Envirothon events.
For additional information, visit the Pennsylvania Envirothon website, call Lorelle Steach, Program Coordinator at 814-623-7900 ext. 111, or send email to: paenvirothon@pennswoods.net.
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5/7/2012 |
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