L to R - Tammy Deemer, advisor, and students Naomi Westerman, Matthew Holbein, Heather Holbein, Faith Hipple, and Evan Zajdel. WCCC Photo

For the third year in a row, students from the Westmoreland Enrichment Classes, a group of home school students based in Norwin, this week won the Westmoreland County Conservation District Envirothon.

The Westmoreland Enrichment Classes team of Faith Hipple, Heather Holbein, Matthew Holbein, Naomi Westerman, and Evan Zajdel bested 105 other students representing 11 other Westmoreland County high schools in their knowledge of forests, soil, wildlife, aquatic environments, and alternative energy during the day-long Envirothon, held on May 7 at Mammoth Park.

The Envirothon is an academic competition in which teams of ninth- to twelfth-grade students vie against each other in outdoor situations that test their knowledge of the natural world. The program began in Pennsylvania, but expanded rapidly to include competitions throughout North America.

The Enrichment Classes team now is preparing for the next leg of the competition – the Pennsylvania State Envirothon – which will be held on May 21 and 22 at Penn State University, University Park, in Centre County. The winner of the state competition then goes on to the national/international Envirothon at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in New York from July 29 to August 4.

Franklin Regional High School brought two teams to the competition, and they took both second and third place. The Franklin Regional team of Kevin Baldasare, Alex Fontaine, Tim Forrester, Kevin Iacovino, and Amy Kerschner took second place and the Franklin Regional team of Zach Flynn, Benjy Lombard, Sean McHugh, Matt O’Brien, and Chris Slatosky took third place.

One of the teams’ advisors, Tom Pearson, has been preparing teams for the competition for every one of the 22 years it has been held. He is retiring from teaching this year.

Also competing were teams from Burrell, Derry Area Senior, Greensburg Central Catholic, Greensburg Salem, Kiski Area, The Kiski School, Mount Pleasant Area, Norwin Senior, Southmoreland, and Yough Senior high schools.

Assisting the Westmoreland Conservation District in hosting this year’s Envirothon were the following partners: The Game Commission; the DCNR Bureau of Forestry; the Natural Resources Conservation Service; Penn State Cooperative Extension, Westmoreland County; the Westmoreland County Bureau of Parks and Recreation; Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve; and Westmoreland Cleanways.

Major corporate underwriters of the 2007 Westmoreland County Envirothon are Cleveland Brothers CAT, Giant Eagle, and Sony Technology Center.

5/11/2007