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NIAGARA/ORLEANS ENVIROTHON

ALL ABOUT THE ENVIROTHON

The Envirothon is a simple idea--combine the proven concepts of hands-on education with the excitement of a good competition and the fun of spending a day in the outdoors. The result is an effective educational tool that will help our state’s schools nurture environmentally aware students and meet the immediate need to teach more environmental education.  Because of its diversity and complexity, environmental science is a mixture of disciplines difficult to integrate together.  To help teachers with the task, schools around the country have begun using supplemental curricula and activities, often developed with the help of various community resources.  Envirothon, with its rapid growth and exciting success, is a first rate example of how well such a program can work.

 Essentially, Envirothon is a series of hands-on contests in which teams of high school students complete to solve environmental problems.  The event works much like an athletic competition where the winners of each event get a chance to compete at a higher level (County, State, International).  Envirothon stimulates practical curriculum development by establishing broad study areas and helping schools to find useful resources in their community.  Partnering schools with your local Soil & Water Conservation District, and other environmentally concerned organizations, is a smart match.  It can provide students with a first hand look at what environmental careers are like.

The Envirothon is designed to: 

            * Test students’ knowledge and understanding of natural resource issues.

            * Cultivate students’ desire to learn more about our natural resources and environmental issues.

Envirothon activities begin locally with teams of five high school students (grades 9-12) competing against other school teams for their county title.  An advisor (teacher, parent, community leader, etc) is required for each team.  The role of the advisor is to assist students in preparing for the competition and to accompany them the day of the event.  The same advisor may represent more than one team.  Team knowledge is challenged in five areas: aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife and this year’s current issues topic “Agricultural Land Conservation and Preservation”. Also required is a prepared problem-solving presentation by the entire team, discussing and offering solutions to a given situation based on the current issues topic. This counts as 1/6^th of the score.  At the state and national levels the presentation is done “live”.  Due to time constraints, the presentation for the regional competition is pre-recorded on video by each school.

The county soil & water conservation districts sponsor local competitions, with a helping hand from local environmentally conscious companies or civic groups.  County winners then move on to the State Envirothon.  Once a team has been chosen as State Champ, its members become New York’s representatives at the Canon International Envirothon, this year being held in Maryland.  New York State teams have placed in the top ten at national competitions since in 1991.  The continuing success of the program reflects the participation and support of the schools, county conservation districts, local companies and clubs, and various state and federal agencies.

Check out the State Envirothon website at www.nysenvirothon.org or the Canon Envirothon website at www.envirothon.org for information on topic outlines and study guides.

N.Y.S. ENVIROTHON BROCHURE

Register to participate in the Envirothon with the Niagara County Soil & Water Conservation District.  Contact Darcy Rae Tone at #434-4949.