Do you remember participating on your high school team of five students who awoke in the early hours of April, traveled two to three hours to the competition site, slipped down into a muddy soil pit, collected water samples in a cold stream, sorted through to identify wildlife pelts and plotted the number of trees per acre?
Can you answer or remember the following questions: What is the lower layer of cold, more dense water called? What is the insect vector for thousand canker disease? Which native nocturnal bird lays its eggs on the forest floor? If your answers are Hypolimnion; Walnut twig beetle and Eastern Whip-poor-will, then you most likely are an alumni of the Ohio Envirothon.
The members of the Ohio Envirothon Committee are on a crusade to locate past high school students who have competed in an Ohio Envirothon competition on the local, state or national level at any time since the Ohio program was organized back in 1990.
Ohio alumni proud
How has your involvement in the Envirothon impacted your leadership skills, your knowledge of the environment or your career path? Ohio’s long history of student participation in the Envirothon competition has allowed for the mentoring and support of youth development and beyond.
We really would like to hear your story. It is our hope to be able to share Ohio’s alumni experiences and successes with the next generation of leaders.
Since the organization of the Envirothon in Ohio more than 100,000 students have participated in the various levels of competition, working in teams to answer the site-specific, eco-station questions that focus on soils, forestry, aquatics, wildlife and current environmental issues. The state level competition includes an oral presentation component.
Under the sponsorship of the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation District, the 88 Ohio soil and water conservation districts have coordinated program for more than 30 years and, consequently, teams from Ohio have competed successfully in the national competition: the National Conservation Foundation Envirothon.
The Envirothon is a hands-on outdoor environmental competition that tests the natural resources knowledge of high school students. The Envirothon encourages cooperative decision making, team building, and problem solving. Students who participate gain a greater awareness of natural resources and environmental issues. They also meet a wide range of professionals and are exposed to various “promoting conservation of our lands and waters” points of view on environmental issues, while learning about the diversity of natural resources and environmental career opportunities.
National competition coming to Ohio. The National Conservation Foundation Envirothon, or NCFE, is North America’s largest environmental competition and each year the event is rotated to a different state or Canadian province. In 2022 Ohio will host the NCFE at Miami University located in Oxford, Butler County.
Numerous teams from participating states, Canadian provinces and China who have won their state or provincial event will travel to Miami University. They will compete for recognition and scholarships by embarking on a journey to offer solutions on how to balance quality of life and the quality of the environment. In recent years, the NCFE has held competitions in Montana, North Carolina, Maryland and Ontario.
Invitation to alumni
The open invitation to tell us about your years following your Envirothon experiences is extended to all Envirothon alumni.
On behalf of the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and their partners, we eagerly await and look forward to hearing about your life’s journey, no matter what stage of your journey. Please reach out to imoore@jeffersoncountyoh.com for more information.
