Learning environment
By Brandy Nance
Originally published 02:56 p.m., May 15, 2008
Updated 02:56 p.m., May 15, 2008
Black Bear Bosin shelter near Wolf Creek was hopping Wednesday as high school students from across the state participated in the annual Envirothon sponsored by Coffey County.
Fifteen teams of five students each rotated around five stations: soils, forestry, aquatics, current issues and wildlife. In the morning, the students rotated among stations and listened to presentations. In the afternoon, they were tested on what they learned in the morning. They were able to apply their knowledge with hands-on activities such as measuring trees, soil analysis and skull identifications.
Other counties that participated in Wednesday’s event were: Barton, Brown, Clay, Crawford, Doniphan, Graham, Jackson, Marion, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawatomie, Riley, Saline, Washington and Wilson counties. One team per county was admitted into Wednesday’s competition. To advance to Wednesday’s state competition, teams had to place first in regional competitions around the state. Lyon County placed first in soils and wildlife, earning them a slot in the state competition.
Lyon County was represented by a team from Northern Heights High School. The students include Katelyn Zornes, freshman; Sarah Edwards, senior; Derrek Swanson, junior, Alex DeLong, junior; and Erik Pracht, junior. Their sponsor is Gina Lyon. This is the first trip to the competition for this year’s team of students and Lyon County’s third trip to the competition, Lyon said.
Janice Plummer of the Pottawatomie County Conservation District and Peggy Ricker of Lane County Conservation District spoke about how the event got started. The event originally started in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. When Kansas started one, it was the only event of its kind west of the Mississippi, Ricker said. Plummer said there are lots of environmental-themed events geared toward younger students, but not high school students. Wednesday’s Envirothon was only for high school students.
Students took a lot from Wednesday’s competition, including how to preserve the environment and how to identify things in the environment.
“You learn how to pick out important stuff,” Pracht said. “... You get to learn more about your surroundings.”
Lyon agreed.
“Who knew how much wood you could get out of a tree?” she said, adding that the students also learned the importance of cleaning off boats after leaving a lake to prevent the spread of zebra mussels to other water bodies.
“It’s the environment,” Zornes said. “You learn how to take care of the environment.”
Each team member has something to offer, Pracht said. The team is tested as a group and learns to lean on the one who is best in each area.
“You’re a team, but one person usually specializes in something,” he said.