More than 300 high school students from 64 counties took part in Pennsylvania’s 22nd Annual State Envirothon this week held at Bloomsburg University and the PPL Montour Preserve.

Participating teams represent the best and the brightest of the thousands of high school teens who competed in local Envirothons sponsored by county conservation districts across the state.

The champions of the 2005 State Envirothon are from Penncrest High School in Delaware County. Team members include: Joe Walker, Aimee Davis, Michelle Henry, Emily Moberg, and Vic Janmey. Team advisors are: Mark Samilenko and Chrissa Kuntz.

Second place was captured by the team from Blue Mountain High School in

Schuylkill County. Teams finishing out the top five were North East High School, in Erie County; Future Hope Homelearners in Snyder County: and Center Area High School, Beaver County.

For the first time ever, the PA Envirothon awarded scholarships to the first, second, and third place teams. The scholarships were sponsored by the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the State Conservation Commission.

DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty and Dennis Wolff, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, presented the awards to the top teams.

The Envirothon is designed to give students an opportunity to acquire and demonstrate knowledge of environmental resources and their connection to each other and human activities. The students are challenged in the areas of aquatic ecology, forestry, soil, land use, wildlife, and a current environmental issue. The 2005 current environmental issue was managing cultural landscapes.

At the state level, the Envirothon is sponsored by Pennsylvania’s sixty-six conservation districts, the State Conservation Commission, and the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts. The program is managed by a board of directors representing those sponsors. Technical expertise is provided by the following agency partners: Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Game Commission, Fish and Boat Commission, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Financial sponsors of the 2005 Envirothon are Air Products and Chemicals, PPL Corporation, PA Outdoor Writers Association, Nestle Water North America, the PA Growing Greener Program.

The 2005 Pennsylvania Envirothon champions will represent the Commonwealth at the 18th Canon Envirothon North American competition planned for mid-July at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.

Pennsylvania won the national event in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2003. More than 40 states and nine Canadian provinces have Envirothon contests based on the program that was originally developed by Pennsylvania’s conservation districts.

For the fourth year, an oral component event was held on the Monday before the testing event. The oral component consists of a team presentation to a panel of judges taking part in a question/answer session based on the current issue theme. A timed event, the competition tests a team’s ability to consider an environmental issue, discuss its likely ramifications and effects, develop possible solutions, and then make a presentation before a group of judges and answer their questions.

This year’s oral component scenario was based on how to manage cultural landscapes. Participation was voluntary and was not included in the overall competition score.

The top five teams in the oral component: First Place – Westmoreland County; Second Place – Warren County; Third Place – Lawrence County; Fourth Place – Delaware County; and Fifth Place – Northampton County.

For more information contact your local conservation district, visit the PA Envirothon webpage, call 814-623-7900 ext. 111 or send email to: paenvirothon@pennswoods.net .

NewsClips: Snyder County Homeschooled Students Place 4^th in Envirothon

Delaware County Team Wins 2005 PA Envirothon

5/27/2005