ORD TEAM IS FIRST AT STATE ENVIROTHON, WILL REPRESENT NEBRASKA AT NATIONAL EVENT
A team from Ord High School has won the 2009 Nebraska Envirothon State Championship. Team members Aaron Kokes, Kris Hornickel, Amanda Duvall, Samantha Krikac and Debra Wray posted the top score in the contest. Their coach/advisor is Dave Ference.
The Canon Envirothon is a national program for 9th – 12th grade students who compete in a wide array of subjects relating to natural resources and the environment. Twelve high school Envirothon teams from around the state took part in the contest at Ponca State Park Education Center on the Missouri River in northeast Nebraska on Saturday, May 2nd.
A team from Superior High School were runners-up and Bellevue East High School finished in third place.
The Ord team will now represent Nebraska at the Canon Envirothon and receives a $1000 scholarship offered by the Nebraska Envirothon. The 2009 Canon Envirothon will be held at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The week long contest, August 2nd – 8th, involves testing, touring, learning sessions, and opportunities for students to meet other state champions. Over 50 teams from across the U.S. and Canada are expected to participate at this year’s national competition.
In the state contest, five-member teams compete in seven areas of environmental studies: soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, range, policy and a current environmental issue. This year's special topic was titled "Biodiversity in a Changing World." Many of the test questions require hands-on observations, measurements and calculations. To advance to the state competition, the student teams first compete in regional contests held around the state. The winners of each region and six wildcard teams then compete at the state competition.
The state champion Ord High School team is the first from a school in the Lower Loup NRD to represent Nebraska at the national contest. The District will provide a portion of the funding to send the students to the competition in North Carolina.
Jed Wagner, Programs Director for the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts, said “The Envirothon also serves to interest students in potential careers in natural resources management. It is important to fill the pipeline with excited and educated young people who will one day become the stewards of our environment.”
