Teams in Lower Loup NRD Win Division Honors at State Envirothon
High schoolers from teams across the Lower Loup NRD took divisional honors at the annual Nebraska State Envirothon on April 27. Concordia Lutheran High School of Omaha took home the championship and will represent Nebraska at the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Envirothon in July.
Forestry (tie): St. Paul Team 1 and Milford tied for first place in the forestry division. Loup City Team 2 took top honors in natural resources policy. The Burwell team was number one in the range division. St. Paul Team 1 and Concordia Lutheran tied for the top spot in soils. The complete contest score sheet is available here.
Envirothon is an environmental education program for high school students that combines classroom learning and outdoor activities. This year’s competition was hosted at Camp Comeca near Cozad.
During the state competition, five-member teams were tested on their knowledge of aquatics, forestry, policy, range, soils and wildlife, as well as prepared and delivered an oral presentation focusing on a current environmental issue.
The 2022 oral presentation theme “Waste to Resources” challenged teams to propose a solution on a complex problem before a panel of judges.
The Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD) Foundation awarded cash prizes to the top three teams at the state competition:
First Place ($1,500): Concordia Lutheran (Omaha, Nebraska)
Second Place ($1,000): Norris High School (Firth, Nebraska)
Third Place ($500): Milford High School (Milford, Nebraska)
Additional prizes were awarded to the top teams in each testing category:
Seventy-five teams competed in the regional contests during February and March, and 14 teams qualified to participate at the state competition.
Concordia Lutheran will represent Nebraska at the NCF-Envirothon July 24-30, 2022, to compete for a top prize of $15,000. The international NCF-Envirothon will be hosted at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and include more than 40 teams from the U.S., Canada and China.
