The five-member Envirothon team from North East High School in Erie County placed eighth in the NCF International Envirothon Competition at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York last week.

This year’s competition brought together 50 teams of high school students from states across the U.S., Canadian provinces as well as China and Singapore.

Throughout the week-long competition, students demonstrated their knowledge of soils and land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife management, and the current issue through written tests and prepared oral presentations.

The 2024 current environmental issue focused on-- Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Future.

Click Here for the complete announcement.

Visit the NCF International Envirothon Competition website for more information on the competition.

PA Envirothon

Teams participating in the PA Envirothon represent the best and the brightest of the thousands of high school teens who have competed in county Envirothon competitions sponsored by Conservation Districts from across the Commonwealth.

At the state level, the Envirothon is sponsored by Pennsylvania’s sixty-six county 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 partners: Department of Agriculture, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Game Commission, Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Education, and the U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Sponsors and partners of the 2024 Envirothon include the Department of Environmental Protection, State Conservation Commission, Digital First Sponsor PSECU, Shell Oil Company, PPL Electric Utilities, Northumberland National Bank, Weis Markets, UGI Utilities, PA Trappers Association, Chesapeake Energy, EQT Corporation, and Pennsylvania American Water.

Envirothon History

The first-ever Envirothon competition was created in Pennsylvania in 1979 by the Fulton, Luzerne and Schuylkill conservation districts and by 1984 the program expanded to a statewide competition and then nationally and internationally.

Now more than 15,000 high school students across the state compete in 67 county Envirothons.

Pennsylvania won the International Envirothon competition in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2017 and frequently places in the top 10 finishers.

In 2023, the Penncrest High School Team from Delaware County took second place in the International Envirothon competition in New Brunswick, Canada and in 2022 a team from the same high school placed 10th in the same competition.  Read more here.

For more information on the Envirothon program, contact the county conservation district or visit the Pennsylvania Envirothon website or Facebook page or call (570) 837-3000 or send email to execdirector@envirothonpa.org.

(Photo: Back row - Grant Shirey, Sam Stanbro, Parker Beardsley and adviser Jenna Kunst; Front row - Carter Fox, advisor John Hallenburg and Jesse Johnson, Erie Times.)

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[Posted: August 3, 2024]

8/5/2024